Dear San Juan County Council, Planning, and Public Works;
In response to the upcoming Planning Commission meeting and comment time for the Critical Areas Ordinance final draft, many questions arise.
What effect do our comments actually have in the course of deciding the final wording on the documents and amendments? I would like to know that what I and others say will count in the final draft, and that all points of view are taken into consideration, but that is not what I have seen in my 30 years of living here. What I have seen instead is cumulative and irreversible damage and destruction of the environment and critical areas, especially in non-shoreline areas, where the state only has advisory capacity and no real jurisdiction. Our forested and marshland wetlands have been consistently compromised and thrown under the bus. This concerns me greatly, especially in UGA areas, where it is most crucial to protect our wetlands. Both Lopez Village and Eastsound contain large category 2 wetlands, as well as other so-called "lesser" wetlands.
Some of us, perhaps the minority, want to ensure protection of our critical areas because once you damage and destroy them, the damage is irreversible and collectively, we really have no idea long-term, of what this means for the greater whole in the long term. We as a county are advised again and again by state DOE to take the path of no harm or least harm; that mitigation is not a real option – rather, no action is advised until all scientific facts are known - and this gets repeatedly ignored by developers and by the county; all because of some projected population growth numbers and refusal to think outside the box. It’s exasperating.
We have no real hope of enforcement for land use laws or the CAO; everyone knows it. Without fixing the enforcement issues so that there is at least one enforcement officer per island and follow-through on enforcement orders, none of this matters because people will keep violating the land and waters, just as they are now and have done all along. What is really going to change that? Besides enforcement, what are the incentives for people to choose to do the right thing, and the education that may help them make these land use decisions?
Why is the Polaris Mapping System not used extensively in land use decisions? Why do the wetland areas appear much larger on the Polaris maps than the county claims they are, and why are we not factoring in the degradation that has already happened? All maps need to all be used, so that we can see the cumulative damage we have altready caused, and therefore exercise extreme caution in the future not to do any worse damage. What is proposed instead? To re-map (ie shrink the wetlands) and then discount the other older maps, which clearly show the degradation over time. We put roads through wetlands, killing countless amphibians. We widen and straighten them, destroying beautiful, healthy mature trees in the process. It hurts my heart to think of all the creatures dependent on these ecosystems and their wholesale slaughter. Is this the best we can do?
I understand that the county has a budget shortfall. So do we workers, who are asked to carry the tax load of the entire nation on our backs. What I don't understand is the propensity of the county to use grant monies to build and engineer elaborate projects and then consistently run out of money for the upkeep and monitoring of these projects, which is exactly what will happen with Eastsound's Mount Property Stormwater Treatment Facility. It will destroy habitat for countless birds, frogs, bats, and will destroy many mature trees and the only windbreak left in that area of Eastsound.
Excuse my seeming cynisicm, but I want some honest and well-thought-out answers and solutions to these complex questions and concerns. To watch this continued destruction of all the plants and creatures who can’t speak for themselves over time has been heartbreaking and infuriating, and leaves me with little trust for County officials, no matter how well-meaning their intentions.
