A missed step was made up in the land swap transaction between Langley and owners of the Dog House Tavern with a public hearing Monday night.
The partial street vacation is required because the city is giving up part of what is technically Anthes Avenue down the hill from First Street to Seawall Park. State law has strict conditions about when a city may give away or sell public property, particularly when it leads to public waterfront or water access. One means of doing so is by acquiring more property or improving waterfront access, which is what Langley is arguing will be accomplished by the land swap by receiving property on the water side of the parcel.
A public hearing was required, but missed after several back-and-forths and a few halts in the process between Langley City Hall and the owners, Charlie and Janice Kleiner. The land swap was agreed to by the Langley City Council in March.
Everything was thrown for a loop at a council meeting in August when the Kleiners told the council they were irate that the land swap deal seemed to be taken out from under them.
That understanding was incorrect, the mayor and planner said, and the deal was still on despite some concerns raised by the city’s attorney, Jeff Taraday of Lighthouse Law Group in Seattle.
But the city first needed to host a public hearing because the transaction was technically a partial street vacation.
Only one person not involved in the deal, Whidbey Island Natural owner Kim Tiller, spoke during the 40-minute public hearing. She supported Dog House Tavern owners Charlie and Janice Kleiner in their quest to renovate and reopen the beloved 100-year-old building, saying she wanted the former restaurant and bar to open soon.
“I think the Kleiners are going to do a beautiful job.”
Both of the Kleiners were present for the hearing and again chided the city for what they perceived as a resistant administration.
Inflaming tensions on both sides of the deal were two conditions added to the deal by Director of Community Planning Michael Davolio. He proposed restricting use of the west deck/walkway to access only, hoping to prevent noise issues for neighboring businesses similar to those facing Mo’s Pub & Eatery and its neighbors on Second Street.
That quickly drew the ire of Councilman Jim Sundberg, who said the city has an ordinance in place to deal with excessive noise issues. Holding possible noise problems as a means of limiting what the future owners of the property could do with it seemed, to him, excessive and unnecessary.
Davolio also proposed a condition of nullifying the land swap if the Dog House Tavern was demolished.
It upset the Kleiners. Speaking during the public hearing portion Monday, Janice Kleiner defended their need to outright own the property under the deck and stairs and on the back end of the building. The main reason, she said, was that they need the space for structural improvements. Plus, if some day they want to sell it, conditions could become a barrier.
“We’re never going to be able to sell the building if there are ridiculous restrictions put on it,” she said.
Sundberg again questioned the reason for such a condition. The city already has established steps an owner must take in order to destroy a building on or eligible for the National Historic Register. More than that, he argued having the property swap reversed would not be in the city’s best interest. Losing added property to Seawall Park in favor of a small strip immediately adjacent to the Dog House building and under its decks would not be of much use to the public.
“The exchange, we want to do it,” Charlie Kleiner said. “But it’s gotta be under the right terms.”
The council unanimously approved striking both conditions and moving the public hearing and land swap deal to a second reading at the Sept. 21 meeting.
