REZONING COULD BRING INNOVATIVE AQUATIC CENTER FUNDING

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

The Forks Planning Commission has unanimously approved a request by the Quillayute Valley Park and Recreation District for rezoning of a six-acre parcel located adjacent to the shuttered Forks Aquatic Center.

The Forks City Council is set to vote on final approval for the upzoning in late May. The parcel is now zoned for moderate density residential, upzoned from the public land designation given to park lands and other lands used by government in Forks.

Income from a subdivision of the land and construction of low-income housing would help maintain the center and clear debts, while providing a site for much-needed affordable housing in Forks, QVPRD commissioner Deb Anderson told the Forks Planning Commission on Wednesday, April 23.

Four rental houses already located on the parcel now provide income to the QVPRD, and were sold about five years ago to the City of Forks along with the land by the National Forest Service. The homes formerly housed national forest employees stationed in Forks.

The income helps towards meeting insurance and other bills for the Forks Aquatic Center, which was closed down in September 2006 by the QVPRD due to lack of operating funds.

City of Forks Attorney/Planner Rod Fleck said at the meeting that the former national forest lands include three parcels – the six-acre parcel, the parcel the Forks Aquatic Center is sited on and a third adjacent parcel that includes the parking lot adjacent to the aquatic center.

Fleck said interest has been shown by an unnamed charitable religious organization in developing a limited number of affordable housing units on the property.

Anderson said now that the rezoning is approved, the QVPRD will begin considering housing plans from outside organizations, though no development plans are currently being worked on.

She said there are immediate plans to seek a subdivision approval from the planning commission, or to take any steps towards developing the parcel.

While the six acres could legally be used for dozens of housing units, with 3,000 square feet of housing per acre permitable, Fleck said, a likely development would be in the range of 12-25 units, to be built around the existing four units. It is also possible, the four units built in the 1950s or 1960s, could be torn down and replaced by new construction.
“It’s just an interesting idea now,” Fleck commented.

He said development would likely require hooking up the housing to the Forks sewer system.
Anderson, who is secretary-treasurer of QVPRD, and Sandra Carter, the elected group’s chairperson, approved the zoning request at a meeting held on Monday, April 21 in the new Forks Community Center.

“This has the potential benefit of a revenue stream to the district to support its recreational goals and also further service to the community of needed rental units,” the QVPRD zoning request letter states.
Housing trends

Fleck told of housing development trends with a 20-year cycle occurring in Forks since World War II, with the decline of logging following the Northern spotted owl decision causing the town to miss a cycle of affordable housing construction.
He said that workers retiring in Forks are now often staying in the area rather than moving away, creating a need for more reasonably-priced housing in the town.

Planning commissioner Gerald Bauer, speaking over an amplified phone connection, said he was concerned that the construction of affordable housing could lure non-residents to Forks to take advantage of the low-income rent levels.
Fleck said a good supply of low-income housing projects is being planned, including an affordable one adjacent to the Forks Community Hospital’s new clinic being built along Bogachiel Way.

Planning Commissioner Richard Miller told of the Forks Food Bank serving over 50 people each week, with about a half dozen new faces regularly showing up.

Fleck said public school demographics show a rise to about 70 percent from about 55-60 percent of students in Forks public schools receiving free or reduced lunches. The lunch count is used as a gauge for the level of low-income population residing in a school district.