Other News
Apr 25, 2025: New Daily Service Schedule, Growing Ridership & Other Insights on County’s Pilot Transport Services
Apr 24, 2025: Building and Land Use Permits, Long-Range Planning Projects, & Staff Recruitments: DCD Leadership Provides Spring Update
Apr 4, 2025: 2025 Comp Plan Update: Transportation Element, Plan Intro, & Administration Piece Ready for Review
Mar 19, 2025: San Juan County Establishes Interim Inter-Island Transportation Services as RFP Process Continues
Mar 7, 2025: 2025 Comp Plan Update: Climate Element and Draft Official Map Amendments Available for Review
Mar 6, 2025: Governor Ferguson announces plan to restore Washington State Ferries to full service by this summer
Mar 4, 2025: Public Meeting: Land Bank Using Prescribed Fires to Manage Wildfire Risks & Restore Ecosystems
Feb 19, 2025: San Juan County Seeks Proposals from Transportation Service Providers for Pilot Project
Feb 12, 2025: Call for Candidates: Three-Day Special Filing Period for Lopez Metropolitan Park District Commissioners
Jan 19, 2025: Four districts, six unions, three PTAs, and county leadership all agree: legislators must take action to fully fund education no
Dec 19, 2024: San Juan County Parks and Fair Announces New Camping Software; Delaying Reservation Availability
Dec 10, 2024: County Council Considers Extending Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste to Allow for More Collaboration
Dec 5, 2024: San Juan County to Consider Updated Interlocal Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District
Dec 2, 2024: San Juan County Council Sets Public Hearing for Cultural Access Sales Tax at Dec. 10 Meeting
Nov 25, 2024: San Juan County Celebrates Completion of Lopez Skate Park and Calls for Inaugural Skaters
Nov 7, 2024: How Has Extreme Weather Impacted You? Participate in the County’s Climate Resilience Planning Effort
Nov 1, 2024: UPDATE: Sea Wall Repairs Temporarily Close MacKaye Harbor Dock and Boat Ramp on Lopez Island
Oct 22, 2024: DRAFT North Shore Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Oct 21, 2024: Reminder: You’re Invited to Attend Open Houses for the 2025 Comp Plan Update This Fall
Oct 1, 2024: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE SAN JUANS SPONSORS OCTOBER COUNTY COUNCIL VOTER FORUMS ON SJI, ORCAS, AND LOPEZ
Sep 24, 2024: County Hosts Community Meeting on Lopez Island to Discuss Public Safety during Hunting Season
Sep 24, 2024: SJC Reviews Shoreline Habitat & Infrastructure Adaptation Strategies in the face of Sea Level Rise
Sep 23, 2024: DRAFT Watmough Bay Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Aug 29, 2024: San Juan County’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Survey Sets Baseline for Ongoing Change
Aug 27, 2024: 2024 San Juan County WSU Master Gardeners Gardening Workshop Series, October 15-24, 2024
Aug 27, 2024: County Representatives Discuss Solutions to Ferry Service Disruptions with Governor Inslee
Aug 21, 2024: County Council’s Request to Governor for Relief from Ferry Service Disruptions Not Fulfilled
Aug 20, 2024: San Juan County Certifies Primary Election Results & Celebrates Highest Primary Turnout in Years
Aug 13, 2024: WSF Commits Additional Crews to Interisland Route to Ensure Service During County Fair Week
Aug 13, 2024: Ferry Data from Staff and Local Partners Shapes Council Request for ‘Executive Relief’ From WA State
Aug 5, 2024: The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival returns to Lopez for its 27th Summer Concert Season
May 2, 2024: WA State Governor and Assistant Secretary of WSF Talk Ferry Service & Solar Power with SJC Officials
Apr 11, 2024: Community Meeting: Sea Level Rise Adaptation for Outer Bay and Agate Beach Areas on Lopez Island
Mar 11, 2024: Queers in Unexpected Places: Searching for (and Finding) Gender and Sexual Non-Conformity in the Rural and Early PNW
Mar 7, 2024: DRAFT Richardson Marsh Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Dec 5, 2023: County Council Member Jane Fuller and Senator Liz Lovelett to Host Public Meeting on Lopez
Nov 3, 2023: County and Town Send Open Letter to State Officials Regarding Impacts of Poor Ferry Service
Sep 29, 2023: Conservation Land Bank Announces Special Meeting to Discuss Watmough Bay Preserve Addition
Sep 14, 2023: The mobile dental van is coming to Lopez! // ¡La camioneta dental móvil ya llega a López!
Aug 22, 2023: San Juan County Adopts 32-Hour Work Week in the Name of Fiscal Health, Recruitment, and Islander Wellness
May 25, 2023: Recap of Lopez Neighborhood Meeting Regarding the Relocation of Public Works Facilities
May 23, 2023: District 3 Councilmember Jane Fuller Opens Office on Lopez and Hosts Community Conversation
Apr 17, 2023: Give Lopez Starts April 17th - A two week fundraiser benefiting 15 Lopez Island Non-Profits
Sep 22, 2022: Interim Watmough Preserve Addition Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
An Update on the Galley Restaurant
Apr 14, 2021
By the Galley Restaurant
A letter from the Galley to the Lopez community.
Dear Friends of the Galley,
We know many of you have reached out asking for an update on the Galley and we hope that this note can shed a little bit of light on our current status. Please know that we greatly appreciate many of the comments shared on social media and elsewhere that reflect encouragement, understanding, patience, and optimism for our project. We also appreciate the April Fool’s Day "Golden Arches" fun. All these things inspire us to keep moving forward in good humor and with a positive attitude.
For many weeks we have wanted to message the greater Lopez community and hope to use this forum as our primary way to provide future updates.
First and foremost, please know that our aim has never changed - which is to re-open the restaurant in a new and exciting way that the entire community will enjoy for years to come. We want the future Galley to be clean, safe and really fun for people of all agesâ€"not to mention we want it to serve great food. And while there has not been much visible activity on the site, there has been a great deal of time and effort behind the scenes working to figure out how we can move this project forward in a thoughtful and contemporary way.
With the Galley, we have come to expect the unexpected. We began our work just a month before COVID entered our lives and without sharing too many longwinded details, our biggest challenge has been the structure itself. When we set out with our plan, our goal was to configure the restaurant in a way that was similar to its original layout. This of course was easier said than done and as we started peeling back the layers, we found ourselves faced with significant structural and unexpected conditional challenges that required remediation. This has of course not only slowed our progress, but in several instances has compelled us to review our design vision with the goal of trying to come up with a sensible and economical way to bring the structure up to current code.
To make matters more complex, in the late fall of 2020, the earth shifted above the restaurant and there was a landslide above the South retaining wall causing the wall structure to lean in towards the restaurant. We had no other option but to deem this area unsafe for work and have paused while we determine how to best address the reconstruction/retrofit of this wall. Work on this structure will require warmer and dryer weather and we have slated September as the best month to begin dismantling and rebuilding it.
The last noteworthy part of our project that we believe is worth mentioning relates to the conversation that many are having about the future of restaurants in general in the post-pandemic era. We want to make sure that whatever version of the Galley we build, that it is one that is takes into account the transformation that is rapidly occurring in our industry. As many of us may know, the restaurant industry faced devastating losses due to COVID. And while some of our favorite spots survived (and in some cases thrived) far more were forced to close their doors permanently. With this in mind, we have been asking some really important questions along the way, all of which have significant impact on our project and how we consider completing our build-out. Questions like whether restaurants should have greater outdoor seating capacity and/or flex space? Will social distancing be a permanent requirement for indoor spaces and what does that mean in terms of guest capacity? Should all restaurants be equipped to serve in a contactless manner? Should we be better equipped for take-out? All of these questions - and so many more - are on the forefront of our minds as we consider how our original vision of the Galley needs to adapt to be sustainable for the future.
Please know we hope to continue to provide updates when we have meaningful information to share. And if you see us onsite, please stop by and say hello. Your positive words of encouragement and support truly do make a difference.
Sincerely,
The Galley Team
We know many of you have reached out asking for an update on the Galley and we hope that this note can shed a little bit of light on our current status. Please know that we greatly appreciate many of the comments shared on social media and elsewhere that reflect encouragement, understanding, patience, and optimism for our project. We also appreciate the April Fool’s Day "Golden Arches" fun. All these things inspire us to keep moving forward in good humor and with a positive attitude.
For many weeks we have wanted to message the greater Lopez community and hope to use this forum as our primary way to provide future updates.
First and foremost, please know that our aim has never changed - which is to re-open the restaurant in a new and exciting way that the entire community will enjoy for years to come. We want the future Galley to be clean, safe and really fun for people of all agesâ€"not to mention we want it to serve great food. And while there has not been much visible activity on the site, there has been a great deal of time and effort behind the scenes working to figure out how we can move this project forward in a thoughtful and contemporary way.
With the Galley, we have come to expect the unexpected. We began our work just a month before COVID entered our lives and without sharing too many longwinded details, our biggest challenge has been the structure itself. When we set out with our plan, our goal was to configure the restaurant in a way that was similar to its original layout. This of course was easier said than done and as we started peeling back the layers, we found ourselves faced with significant structural and unexpected conditional challenges that required remediation. This has of course not only slowed our progress, but in several instances has compelled us to review our design vision with the goal of trying to come up with a sensible and economical way to bring the structure up to current code.
To make matters more complex, in the late fall of 2020, the earth shifted above the restaurant and there was a landslide above the South retaining wall causing the wall structure to lean in towards the restaurant. We had no other option but to deem this area unsafe for work and have paused while we determine how to best address the reconstruction/retrofit of this wall. Work on this structure will require warmer and dryer weather and we have slated September as the best month to begin dismantling and rebuilding it.
The last noteworthy part of our project that we believe is worth mentioning relates to the conversation that many are having about the future of restaurants in general in the post-pandemic era. We want to make sure that whatever version of the Galley we build, that it is one that is takes into account the transformation that is rapidly occurring in our industry. As many of us may know, the restaurant industry faced devastating losses due to COVID. And while some of our favorite spots survived (and in some cases thrived) far more were forced to close their doors permanently. With this in mind, we have been asking some really important questions along the way, all of which have significant impact on our project and how we consider completing our build-out. Questions like whether restaurants should have greater outdoor seating capacity and/or flex space? Will social distancing be a permanent requirement for indoor spaces and what does that mean in terms of guest capacity? Should all restaurants be equipped to serve in a contactless manner? Should we be better equipped for take-out? All of these questions - and so many more - are on the forefront of our minds as we consider how our original vision of the Galley needs to adapt to be sustainable for the future.
Please know we hope to continue to provide updates when we have meaningful information to share. And if you see us onsite, please stop by and say hello. Your positive words of encouragement and support truly do make a difference.
Sincerely,
The Galley Team