A divided Langley City Council considered the implications of honoring a request to give up the city’s access to a part of a property for utility-related reasons.

During a special meeting this week, the council spent nearly an hour discussing whether or not to relinquish a sewer easement for 510 Cascade Ave. The property’s owners first asked the city in June 2022 for this action.

Deanna Nollette, one of the property owners, addressed the council during Monday night’s meeting.

Nollette explained that the current easement bisects the property and makes any design and future construction very expensive and complex. She said she has spoken to other municipalities and that they routinely vacate unused easements.

Though the council had several options to consider – including relocating the easement – Nollette advocated for them to relinquish it and accept the $500 she and Marco Diaz, the other property owner, are offering as compensation.

“The public understands that a large vacant property, as you enter town, does not help businesses or to create the feeling of a thriving Village by the Sea,” Nollette said. “A vacant building does not provide a place for people to live, work or shop in town.”

The property is the site of the former Edgecliff Restaurant, which went out of business in 2010, according to an article in the South Whidbey Record.

Nollette and Diaz presented plans last year to the city’s citizen-led Design Review Board for a bed and breakfast on the property.

Former mayor Tim Callison spoke in support of the property owners during the meeting this week.

“It’s one of the three areas that I was always asked about whenever I was in a meeting anywhere else on the island – what’s going on with Mike’s Place, what’s going on with the Dog House and what’s going on with the Edgecliff?” he said, naming several vacant buildings around the Village by the Sea. “People always wanted to know.”

According to a memo from city staff, the purpose of the easement is to provide a location for a sewer main that provides gravity sewer service to three parcels. Two side sewers for the two other properties, however, were relocated and no longer utilize the easement. The city’s previous public works director went against field staff recommendation in 2015 and made a verbal agreement to cover the cost of operation and maintenance for one of the side sewers. The memo notes that the current public works department has a plan to fix this blunder.

The memo outlined that the council could choose to wait until the city’s Public Works Advisory Commission makes a recommendation on the matter. Other options include retaining the easement but relocating it, or keeping it in the same location. A third option honors the original request by relinquishing the easement.

Councilmember Rhonda Salerno worried about a gift of public funds if the council pursued the latter option, but Sara Springer, the city’s attorney, assured her that the property owners would have to provide just compensation for the value of the easement.

Meredith Penny, director of community planning, said staff have reached out to two different appraisers who focus on municipal appraisals, and the estimates the city has received have both been in the ballpark of $5,000.

Records indicate that the city of Langley purchased the original easement in 1964 for just one dollar.

Councilmembers expressed concerns about impacts to the bluff the property is located near, and wondered if a relocation of the easement would help alleviate potential harm to the environment.

Wanting more time to continue the discussion, and with the input of the property owners, Councilmember Craig Cyr made a motion to table the topic, which failed. Eager to make a decision that night, the majority of the council decided to retain the easement and relocate it to a different spot on the property. As a result, the developer will need to propose the alternative location.

The motion passed 3-0, with Cyr and Councilmember Bobis abstaining from the vote. Bobis said she abstained because she did not have enough information, and Cyr gave his above reason.