The Board of Island County Commissioners has called a special session Tuesday in Freeland to hold public hearings on changes to the speed limits on Glendale, Lancaster and East Harbor roads.
Commissioners will also take comment on an ordinance that would eliminate a stretch of parking space along Ferry Dock Road in Clinton.
The meeting is 6 p.m. Oct. 11 in the new building at Trinity Lutheran Church.
County commissioners are looking at restricting parking along Ferry Dock Road and making it a one-way road south from Highway 525.
The first 225 feet of Ferry Dock Road closest to the highway would become a 20-minute parking/loading zone. County officials estimate that the space would be used by about 10 vehicles — a 60-percent increase to the existing loading/unloading area.
Parking further south along Ferry Dock Road would be prohibited.
Currently, the first 75 feet of Ferry Dock Road has been posted as a 20-minute loading zone. But some property owners near the ferry dock have complained that new signs placed on Ferry Dock Road last year has prompted Washington State Ferries employees and others to park south of the 20-minute parking signs. Residents have said it led to congestion on Columbia Beach Drive.
Public hearings on other road rule changes will also be held during Tuesday’s meeting.
Officials in the Island County Public Works Department have recommended reducing the speed limit for a stretch of Glendale Road that is still closed due to the landslide that destroyed a portion of the road between Jewett and Holst roads in 2009. The speed limit would drop to 25 mph about a quarter-mile before the road closure barricade on Glendale Road.
On East Harbor Road, the speed limit would be lowered from 50 mph to 40 mph between Passage Way and Ashley Loop.
On Lancaster Road, the existing 25 mph speed limit would be extended from its intersection with Woodard Avenue to the Lancaster Road-Wahl Road intersection.
An engineering and traffic investigation on all three speed limit changes was conducted by the county’s Public Works Department.
