The Trojan Heron

An investigative newsblog about environmental
deception in the San Juan Islands of Washington
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The Critical Areas Ordinances (CAOs) are a requirement of the Growth
Management Act (GMA).  Unknown to many is the fact that the oversight
agency for the GMA is the Department of Commerce, not the
Department of Ecology.  The GMA requires that Commerce consult with Ecology on critical areas.  However, Ecology
has no authority, under the GMA, to involve itself at the local level.
Ecology's local participation occurs only with the tolerance, permission,
or invitation of our local government.

According to independent analysis
of the County's critical areas maps, critical areas will affect 50% of parcels
covering 78% of the area of the county -- even before buffers are
added.  Technically, the critical aquifer recharge area (CARA) map affected 100% of parcels, but the land-use
restrictions of that particular CAO were slight.  By contrast, the effects
of the upcoming CAOs will have onerous restrictions for affected citizens.

When the GMA was enacted, San Juan County was not required to fully
participate (fully plan, as it is called).  However, our County
Commissioners at the time (Cowan, LaPorte, and Orchid) opted in.  In all,
29 of the 39 counties in Washington were eventually required to fully plan.
While the CAOs are required of all counties, whether they fully plan or
not, the CAOs of the ten counties who do not fully plan cannot have their CAOs
appealed before the Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB).  That is an
often-used legal threat made by Ecology and the Friends of the San Juans:
that if the Council is not appropriately strict, they will be challenged
before the GMHB.

The County has a sensitive areas ordinance, wetlands
protections, and buffers already on the books.  We voluntarily instituted
shoreline setbacks for aesthetic reasons many years ago.  We are required
under the GMA to
review, and if needed, revise the policies and development regulations
related to critical areas.  The County Council has forgone review and gone
straight to revise.

The County was required to adopt Best Available Science (BAS) as part of its CAO revision
process.  There is no evidence within the BAS
of a compelling general environmental problem here. The Friends of the San Juans
often bring up data related to pyrethrins gathered by KWIAHT, but this data
fails to meet state standards for credible data, a requirement of the Clean
Water Act, and cannot be considered scientifically valid. Moreover, the County's
wetland consultant determined that the median rating for
suspected wetlands in the County is an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, with no
statistically significant difference between the ratings of "wetlands" on
developed parcels versus undeveloped parcels. Our County has even been turned
down for grants from EPA because our water is reportedly too clean.

The
Council has refused to identify the problem(s) that are supposedly being
addressed by the revised CAO.  Individual Council members sometimes say our
late revisions to the CAOs have cost us millions of dollars in state funding and
that they must now face the tough choices that previous Councils have dodged.
However, there is no basis for these statements.

The law says that
if we fail to comply with the GMA, the GMHB may recommend to the Governor that sanctions be imposed.
San Juan County has never been sanctioned, and the imposition of sanctions
is at the Governor's discretion, with or without a GMHB recommendation.

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From
Buffers to Bulldozers - As the BAS Turns

Damn
It Feels Good to Be a CAO Gangsta!

Ecology
Is Just Soooo Helpful

Lipstick
on a CAO - The Inside Story on Buffers

Myth:
The CAOs Scientifically Address Ecological R...

Myth:
We Have a Water Quality Problem

Our
Independent Expert Doesn't Appear to be Either...

For
Adamus, "Review" Apparently Doesn't Mean "Read...

Friends
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Who
Would Gandhi Beat Up?

Friends
Had 16% Profit in 2010

More
Public Records - Jamie and a Constituent Talk...

Going
Down Down Down Down ...

Friends
Board Member Armors Shoreline?

When
Can SHE Expect a Final Decision?

Stephanie
Buffum - Welcome to Use the CDPD Databas...

When
the consultants like it ...

Who
is Charles Dalton?

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