600 Sq. Ft.
It was a brisk Tuesday morning when members of the FHA's Shorelines Master Program Revision Workgroup huddled with representatives of the city's Department of Planning and Development on Log Foundation's 2019 Fairview dock. Maggie Glowacki, Lead DPD Land Use Planner, had accepted an invitation to visit the floating homes community and learn more about what makes a houseboat float. The ice was broken with a quick primer on houseboat history and then the conversation moved on to the more controversial topics such as "consolidating" conforming and non-conforming floating homes regulations. When a houseboat on a float larger than the conforming limit of 1200 square feet has to be replaced, Glowacki said, pointing at the rambling single-story on an 1800 sq. ft. float next to her, we would require it to be cut back to the conforming limit, thus restoring 600 sq. ft. of water for fish habitat to the lake.
DPD Field Trip |
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The Association's SMP Workgroup members met with DPD Representatives on the Log Foundation Moorage. From left: Bill Keasler, FHA Pres; Ed Waddington, FHA Co-Treas; Dave LaClergue, DPD Planner; Bob Bowman, Workgroup Chair; Brennon Staley, DPD Planner; Amalia Walton, FHA Board; Sid McFarland, Houseboat Contractor; Maggie Glowacki, Lead DPD Planner. Photo By Jann McFarland. |
Conforming Standards
The FHA members took this opportunity to explain the loss of value that the theoretical cutting back would entail as well as the physical impossibility of chopping off part of a houseboat float. Glowacki offered that, in compensation, the houseboat would be allowed to go up to the conforming limit of 21 feet. Someone mentioned that moorage home owner associations might have bylaws that would not allow this and would not be easy for an individual to change. A spirited conversation ensued over the practical difficulty of the idea and the necessity for implementing it.
As complicated as this exchange was, communicating our reality through a dock tour was an improvement over previous discussions with DPD, during which it was apparent that they had only a vague notion of the impact their water coverage and flotation proposals would have on floating homes. (See FHA Meets With DPD.) Thus, after imagining the loss of some forty homes on a single dock converted to conforming status, the Workgroup was relieved to hear that DPD was not interested in reducing the number of houseboats, but in clearing the water around them.
Specific Factors
Asked about the specific factors driving their planning, Glowacki listed over water coverage, loss of underwater "area" and habitat in general, and heat and sound from below-water structures. The visitors from DPD focused on regulating flotation and hoped that a single standard might be applied that limited a houseboat's "intrusion" into the water. Sid McFarland, whose business is houseboat flotation, explained the mechanics of keeping a house afloat, including stringers and the wide variety of floats and the flotation one might find under any given home.
Ed Waddington, a UW professor of Earth Science whose business is analyzing the physics of such things, pointed out the minuscule effect houseboats have on the temperature of the water, especially considering the enormous range of "natural" variation of the lake.
Cold Comfort
By the end of the meeting DPD was discussing type A and B houseboats rather than conforming / non-conforming because "non-conforming anticipates conforming, which is not the case here." They did admit that they were "back to the drawing board," because of what they learned that morning, although they did not have a lot of detail to give the Workgroup at that time. Afterward, Workgroup members agreed that more useful information had been exchanged than at any past meetings. There is, however, still lingering anxiety about DPD's next proposal and a concern that they do not have a complete understanding of what keeps our community afloat.