Business leaders say they need more clarification ahead of state reopening

SEATTLE — Days before Washington State begins to slowly reopen, automotive and outdoor recreation leaders expressed uncertainty about how the plan would be carried out.

“We’re a very seasonal industry,” said George Harris, Northwest Marine Trade Association. “Forty percent of our sales happen between now and June, so (state leaders) need to take care of business right now.”

“We hope that plan will entail us selling cars, and not just to essential people, but to people who do need cars who are not essential,” said Scott Tanner, owner of Lotvid.com, an automotive technology website.

Ahead of the start of Phase 1 Tuesday, May 5th, KIRO 7 News spoke to leaders in both the automotive and outdoor recreation industries.

Beyond the optimism of a new beginning, they said they’re facing a cloudy picture.

For car dealers in Washington, workers said there are still questions about how many customers they’ll be able to accommodate.

“In an hour’s time, there’s more people who will go through a 7-11 than they will in three days in a car dealership and some of these car dealerships are tremendous in size,” said Tanner.

On the outdoor and recreation side, leaders want to know why car sales will be allowed, but boat sales won’t be.

They’ve already reached out to the governor’s office for clarification.

“We’ve already provided a 49 point plan to the governor on how boat dealers can operate in the Covid environment,” Harris told KIRO 7 News.

Both men said this is a time of encouragement, with plenty of unknown.

"I think there’s a lot that needs to be sorted out in Phase 1,” Harris added.

According to Gov. Inslee, Phase 1 could last until the end of May.

During Phase 2, restaurants could reopen across Washington with limited capacity. The target date to start Phase 2 is around June 1.

© 2020 Cox Media Group