Pier 48, home to the Princess Marguerite for decades before the popular ship ended its dialing sailings to and from Victoria, B.C., in 1999, always seems to grab the limelight. For the past seven months, it has been home to a Thrifty Car and Trunk rental unit.
A volunteer community advisory committee studying the Port of Seattle Seaport Division's operations said a significant element of the study was an assessment of real estate options, opportunities and strategies to guide the Port's real estate portfolio.
The Harbor Development Strategy 21 Committee (HDS 21) has met nearly three dozen times since last summer to review the Seaport Division's operations and to develop recommendations for how the Port can make an even stronger positive impact on the community.
In its recommendations, the committee advises the Port continue to develop its container terminal operations, which create some of the highest paying jobs on the waterfront. Also, the committee recommends a limited number of recreational boats be allowed to moor at Fishermen's Terminal in Ballard, a possibility that tweaked a tender nerve with some Northwest fishermen.
The HDS 21 Advisory Committee emphasized in its recommendations to the Port Commission that significant changes may be necessary in some of the Seaport's businesses. These changes are necessary if the Port is going to remain successful in achieving a "triple bottom line" on behalf of the community.
The three parts of that formula include the financial return on the projects the Port undertakes, the economic impact and benefits of those projects, and the environmental and community benefits those projects have, said Committee Chair Aubrey Davis.
"The fact that the Port is a business and a government makes it both complicated and interesting," Davis said. "The triple bottom line is the way we suggest the Port looks at itself. We broadened the Port's bottom line so that it doesn't just measure dollars and cents, but the Port's benefits to the economy and environment as well. We think this is going to be a useful product for the Port."
The HDS 21 Advisory Committee's recommendations constitute the first step in updating the Port's policies and decision-making tools, which were last updated in the first HDS project in 1990. The Port Commission could adopt new HDS policies in June.
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