The final Environmental Impact Statement for the San Juan Island Transfer Station replacement project site selection is now available for download from the county’s Web site.

To read the “Updated Supplemental Alternatives Analysis,” click here.

To read the “Supplemental Alternatives Analysis Spreadsheet,” click here.

About noon today, free electronic copies of the impact statement will available on CD at the Community Development and Planning Department, 135 Rhone St., Friday Harbor. Hard copies will be available at the cost of 15 cents per page.

Reference copies of the impact statement are located at the Community Development and Planning Department and at the San Juan Island Library, 1010 Guard St.

The Friday Harbor Town Council meets tonight at 5 for a presentation by Steve Alexander, San Juan County solid waste manager, regarding the site recommendation and decision process. The meeting, in the Town Hall Council Chambers, is open to the public and the public will be allowed time to comment.

The town owns the current waste transfer station property on Sutton Road and leases it to the county. The county claims the current site in insufficient to meet the county’s future waste transfer, waste reduction and recycling needs.

The transfer station project is on the March 24 agenda of the County Council/Town Council’s joint meeting.

Also to be discussed at that meeting is a response to a state Department of Ecology inspection of the Sutton Road facility, which cited environmental and operational problems that need to be addressed. The San Juan Island transfer station is operating under a waiver from Ecology which is contingent on progress being made toward its replacement.

The County Council will invite the public to provide input on the San Juan Island transfer station project at its regular meeting on March 31.

The issuance of the final Environmental Impact Statement includes the results of traffic studies performed on the five prospective sites, plus responses to all questions and comments received during the comment period following the release of the project’s draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The responses address concerns raised about legal issues including the siting process and the county Comprehensive Plan, the Washington Administrative Code, questions about the potential impact on airport flight operations and other areas of public concern.

The county has posted two additional documents in the transfer station project section of its Web site: an updated “Supplemental Alternatives Analysis,” which provides additional information about non-environmental attributes and constraints of the site, funding options and rough “planning level cost” estimates. The third document, lays out the supplemental analysis data for each site side-by-side in a spreadsheet.

The issuance of the final Environmental Impact Statement starts a 21-day appeal period that closes on April 2. Appeal procedures are found in San Juan County Code 18.80.140. Appeals are filed at the Community Development and Planning Department; there is a $555 fee for filing an appeal.

The site selection process for the San Juan Island transfer station began, at the request of the County Council, more than two years ago. After studying five alternative sites – including the current site on Sutton Road — the county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee recommended in January that the new facility be located on a 27-acre tract of county-owned land on Beaverton Valley Road.

On March 2, the Public Works Department endorsed the same site.