We are writing this letter as representatives of the Lopez Island Conservation Corps, a local 501c3 nonprofit organization that is dedicated to engaging volunteers, primarily youth, through the maintenance and exploration of our special public lands.
Happy to see the ad by the Sheriffs Dept. in the March 13 Weekly announcing a county anonymous “tip” line. Now at last we can turn in our neighbors for what we think they “might” be doing, completely anonymously. At the very least we can get them on the sheriffs ‘watch’ list, they’re surly up to something ! I heard on NPR the other night that it is expected there will be up to 30,000 drone aircraft flying American skies within 5 years. Just think of how safe we will all be then !!??
For some time I have wanted to express my thanks to those who conceived the idea of “The Hamlet” on Lopez and made it happen. My family and I discovered the San Juan Islands in the early 1970’s.
Site-specific buffers are complex. In a perfect world, site-specific buffers would be better for property owners and better for our environment. But the costs to administer a system of this complexity will be high, both in time and money, unless the new regulations are clear, consistent and GMA-compliant.
Good grief, don’t pay ‘em another dime! Weren’t Adamus, Herrera, et.al., hired to present scientifically substantiated findings/BAS that bear some reasonable relationship to San Juan County? Then how is it that Herrera turned out the most negative report on “paradise” to ever see the light of day? All we have to do is look around this beautiful county to know that this is preposterous. Makes one think that the folks that wrote this dubious tome need a high colonic.
Last month, the San Juan County Hearing Examiner decided that conservancy land-use allows the county to make a 2 acre clear-cut and add a new parking lot, port-a-potties, and even electric lights to our little historic park here on Shaw Island.
George Orwell likely wrote “1984” without knowing of the San Juan Islands but his world of Big Brother is coming closer with the latest County Council plan for amending the existing Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO).
As I read the 51 pages of the Community Development and Planning staff report and proposed CAO ordinance general regulations the other night I broke out in a cold sweat trying to wrap my mind around the complexity of these regulations and restrictions. I am no slouch when it comes to critical analysis and unraveling complex issues, but I have trouble finding the time to keep up with these proposed regulations, much less predicting the impact they will have on our community.
Under the council’s proposed Critical Area Ordinance, applicants will be required to navigate a complex set of rules and restrictions to get the county’s approval for the use of their land. Applicants will have to prove they will not “impact” the environment with the “development” they propose on their land and implement expensive “mitigation” of the theoretical impacts.
As I read the 51 pages of the Community Development and Planning staff report and proposed CAO ordinance general regulations the other night I broke out in a cold sweat trying to wrap my mind around the complexity of these regulations and restrictions. I am no slouch when it comes to critical analysis and unraveling complex issues, but I have trouble finding the time to keep up with these proposed regulations, much less predicting the impact they will have on our community.
The San Juan County Council is proposing new rules and restrictions on property owners in the county under what they are calling the Critical Areas Ordinance.
On Jan. 21, the nation marks the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, a decision that enabled corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence federal and state elections. As the 2012 election season ramps up, so will the corporate, union and special interest financing of political advertising. With the proliferation of SuperPACS and 501(c) organizations, major donors funding election advertising remain unidentified to the voters.
“The County Council is completing the General Section of the CAO update. This section covers Mitigation, Reasonable Use Exception, and Nonconforming Use. The latter two are pretty straight forward legal issues, mitigation is not,” writes San Olson.
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