“A first-time visitor to the island drives off the ferry, up the hill to the stoplight at Winslow Way, and glances to the left, towards downtown Winslow.And sees a vacant lot on the southwest corner of the intersection – hardly indicative of the vibrancy the downtown area wants to project.The lot owner – Union Oil of California – is now exploring what productive uses can be made of the land. The company has filed a pre-application with the city to put an office building on the site.That’s strictly conceptual, said Bainbridge architect Bruce Anderson, who is representing Unocal. That is one possible use of the site. Our objective at this point is to open a discussion with the city about what can be done.City officials are supportive, at least generally.It’s not terribly attractive as it is, but it could be turned into something that would be an asset to the community, Mayor Dwight Sutton said.The high-visibility corner of Winslow Way and Highway 305 was last used as a Unocal gas station.But it failed, paradoxically, because there was too much traffic.Local people were hesitant to go in there because the ferry traffic would prevent you from getting back out, Sutton said. And people headed for the ferry were in a hurry to get on the boat.The station was dismantled, and the lot has sat vacant for a decade.The site is contaminated with hydrocarbon residues. So long as the site remains unused and contamination is not migrating off-site – and there are no current indications of migration – Unocal is not obligated to clean up the property.But although the present inactive status postpones any cleanup requirement, it doesn’t serve Unocal’s interest either, Anderson said.Part of the goal is to clean up the property and turn it into an economic generator, he said.Other than traffic access, the main problem with the site is the small size of the level area between the sidewalk and the ravine, which backs up to the property.The city requires a buffer area back from the ravine, and it measures the buffer from the edge of the bank, not from the edge of the stream. And a further setback is required between the buffer area and any building.If you measure the setback requirements from the ravine, you’re already at the sidewalk, Anderson said. So any development would have to be in the ‘reasonable use’ category, which requires waiver of certain setbacks if no reasonable use can otherwise be made of a piece of property.The city’s goals are somewhat conflicting, Anderson said. On the one hand, they want to protect the ravine. On the other hand, they want a strong development on that corner.Anderson said that it is too early in the process to know what kind of development might be proposed.We are looking at options. It might not be an office building. In fact, Unocal hasn’t decided whether to develop it themselves or sell the property to someone else, he said.The one certainty, he said, is that the ravine will remain open space, and not be proposed for any type of development.Sutton said that because of the traffic situation, a pedestrian-oriented development might be more feasible than something requiring vehicle access.There’s been talk for years about it being a gateway information center or something of that nature, he said. But it could also be someplace where a person getting to the ferry early could get a cup of coffee and wait, or someone getting off the boat could duck in and wait 20 minutes for traffic to thin out. “