The Anacortes City Council voted unanimously Dec. 15 to relinquish a retained utility easement that staff said was larger than the city needs and interfered with the Port of Anacortes's planned West Basin development.

City staff explained the easements date to prior right-of-way vacations (cited as ordinances 1201 and 2086 in the meeting packet) that had retained utility easements across the full width of vacated streets. "The easements at this point, because it's a bigger footprint than the city actually needs, is impacting and interfering with the port's ability to proceed with the West Basin development," staff said during the public hearing.

The Port's representative, Adam Morrow of Pacific Surveying and Engineering, called the request a routine cleanup of remnant easements and said replacing the remnant easements with focused water and storm easements will let future adjustments be handled administratively by public works. The council closed the public hearing and adopted Resolution 3199 after a motion by Councilmember McDougal and second by Miss Hubick; roll-call recorded unanimous yes votes.

Staff said the exchange will grant the city easements specifically tailored to the location of existing water and storm infrastructure and that maps and legal exhibits are in the council packet. No additional public testimony was recorded at the hearing.