First of all, my deepest apologies to all of the non-human the inhabitants of the mixed-forest Ecosystem dwelling on the Mount Property; tree beings, plant beings, birds, frogs, salamanders, bats, bees, and other creatures - for not following through and insisting that public Works give us a much better publicized open house after Mid- July. I dropped the ball. Secondly, equally heartfelt apologies to the Citizens who don't yet know what will hit them, especially the citizens of the UGA and the people who worked hard at the Stormwater Facility Aesthetics meetings. No excuses will cut it, but burnout and exhaustion and a broken heart all contributed to the ball drop. This was NOT the time to drop the ball! I feel I let you all down. I let myself down, and the few people who wanted to stop this project or stall it until sanity prevailed. I wish I could have done more for you all instead of retreating. I had to walk away. I wish I didn't have to, could have managed it. This is a set of questions I drafted in June, and apparently never sent to the Aesthetics Committee for feedback and brainstorming. I want it here for posterity.
***********************
email from June 17, 2011
Hello.
I want to thank everyone on the Aesthetics Committee and concerned citizens for their input on the Mount Property Stormwater Facility. I apologize for not contacting Shannon about another open house. I left the ball in her court with the last email I sent her, which was unwise. Frankly, I dropped the ball. If that open house was going to happen, I should have kept at her to do it. I didn't. Had to walk away. I'm sorry, and feel that I let us all down. Still having a very hard time with this project's immanence, and still feel upset that they're going through with this plan. But if not for you people, it would have been worse - so thank you for your time, efforts, and energy. It was a pleasure to watch you all work together and brainstorm your good ideas and intelligent questions and concerns and make the best of a less than ideal situation.
For what it's worth, I'd still like to hear your input on the process if you feel like taking the time; especially any questions you have that are still unresolved, any new questions or concerns. Below is the original draft of concerns to present to your perusal, the public, and PW before the open house that never followed. Thanks again.
Sadie
***********************
Written June 17
Public Works has made some concessions, thanks to good input from Michael and Fred. But from what Shannon said yesterday, I have questions and maybe some of you do too. I would like to compile a list of questions we already asked, questions still to ask, and any answers you got and how satisfied or concerned you are with the answers you got.
The biggies that stand out for me are maintenance and monitoring,. PW consistently seems to run out of money when a big project is done, and they don't seem to factor-in operational, maintenance, suppliy, or monitoring costs. A look at their projects would point to the fact that there might be little to no maintenance and a bigger load on the workers, and this is a concern.
What will happen to the standing trees without tree support in an extreme wind tunnel, and the visual shock of no taller greenery in places where people are used to seeing it? Is the public at all prepared for what they're going to see, including all the old and new commercial construction which will now be visible?
How are affected neighbors feeling, and what suggestions do they have to minimize any negative visual impacts? How will these be satisfied? What has been promised?
Shannon addressed the question of hawthorn seedlings; she said that PW would pull them at the "annual maintenance." Does this mean that they actually think they can weed only once per year? Yikes; terrifying thought.What about the reed canary grass, holly, blackberry, and other weed seedlings that birds and wind will bring in? did anyone find out how often PW plans to weed? Water?
Did anyone talk with mindy? Do you think she is going to bid on the planting job or was she present to write another article for Bullwings? Has anyone contacted Ted T about bidding on the plantings or his thoughts on this project or alternatives he would propose? (Moot questions, since Robin K got the bid; but I'd still like to know Ted's take on things.)
What kind of job do you think Orcas Ex will do on the bulldoze/grade/etc? Sensitive? Not?
Monitoring.... Did anyone hear (and get in writing) what they were planning to do for testing and monitoring? This is hugely important, since this is the whole reason the facility is being engineered. What are the actual plans for monitoring? How will they be implemented? By whom? How often? For what will they test? How much will it cost, now and in the long term? Are there written plans and figures for the public to see?
Why do they have to move the berm further south and thus sacrifice the native crabapples and young scoulers willows on the SW corner? Shannon said it was because they had to make the basin bigger to make up for the shallower settling ponds. Can't that be done instead with gentle meandering grading and mounding? Thoughts?
People who attended the open house; would you please weigh in on what questions you asked and what responses you got? I still think this is important to get documented for including in the public records on this project.
Does anyone know if a representative from the Tribes will be present to be sure that no middens are disturbed? Who would contact Tribal officials - PW? Can we follow through to see if this was done?
Although i am pleased that Michael's and Fred's input at least had some better effect, i still feel that more can be done to minimize the impact without compromising the function of the constructed wetland; and far more cheaply, leaving more money for monitoring and operations. Is this reasoning off base? Anyone else feeling this way too? Ideas?
I missed the bid walk-through at the end of June. Did anyone tag along and see where the trees had been marked more clearly regarding what stays and goes? I asked that they mark the trees and delineation of the existing wetland still staying.
What do you think of PW's answer about the discrepancy between the Polaris map and what the wetland expert said is the existing wetland? I attribute that discrepancy to more degradation of the Swale, thus making it appear to be a less sensitive or important wetland. But all this and more was all once a part of Eastsound Swale. Where does degradation factor in? What will happen to the alluvial soil being removed from this site? It is supposed to be put back, and if tarped, probably could. It's important to save the alluvial soil so the wetland can recover if this plan doesn't work out, and I am skeptical that it will work out, from all the science I have read on emergent wetland stormwater treatment facilities.
Anyone want to document a "maturity count" of trees bigger than 12" diameter at chest height? That would be good to do, unless PW already did that and it's obtainable. If so, would someone please direct me to that link or whom to ask for the documents on that?
If Shannon agrees to another open house, late July, this would be helpful. We can then present accurately to the public what's been answered and what still has holes. That date is fast approaching. (MOOT - too bad. The public should have been more involved in this process)
Who got to see the final planting list? Any red flags there? Has anyone seen copies of this on PW website or in the library, as promised?
all the best,
Sadie
Thursday, August 25, 2011
RE: the Sounder's August 24 article on the Critical Areas Ordinance
Well done. Interesting article and thanks for the sensitive coverage.
Huh. As one of the 50% of us who must live in the UGA for economic reasons, seeing working homeowners and first time buyers with modest incomes forced to hook up to sewer at exhorbitant rates for our all-too-low incomes; as I see more and more UGA homes get foreclosed, and as I watch our trees die due to water diversion, poor planning and siting, overbuilding for a population that may or may not occupy the businesses being built; and as I watch certain commercial developers' unscrupulosity and the county repeatedly "missing" important environmental regulations put in place to protect places like Eastsound Swale - I take offense to Richard Fralick's insulting misbelief that we need little or no buffers protecting our critical areas in the UGA and elsewhere. I also rankle every time Mr. Fralick mentions that the "county can do whatever it wants" and his idea that "big dumb buffers" must go. I think the EPA and the State would also find alarming the idea that the County Council feels it can relax most or all environmental protections on one of our largest - if not the largest - category 2 wetland on the island. And, as the article points out, Eastsound has two of the largest category 2 wetlands out of 5. (Lopez Village UGA faces similar environmental issues.)
It insults our intelligence and care and stewardship of a part of the Island (Eastsound Basin) that affects all other parts due to its geological vulnerability, infrastructure, and shoreline habitat. Fishing Bay is one of the few herring spawning places on the Island. The waters do not flush out, thus everything we dump into it stays there.
Some of us are tired of seeing rampant commercial development going through in the UGA, with no EIS, no ramifications, and much of the time, repeat violators obtaining no legal permits - while homeowners get the brunt of the enforcement and heavy-handedness from CD&P, so I agree to a certain extent with property rights viewpoints and their concerns - provided that we all remember that our first mandate is to protect Critical Areas, while balancing the rest of the14 points in our County Charter.
I don't mind "giving a little" and compromise. I understand that all of us must give a little in order to have a situation that is fair. But it seems to me that the low and middle income people forced to live in the UGAs are giving up a lot - almost everything; and they have neither the time nor the money to fight the real deep pockets - those bent on profit first, even if it means destroying the Critical Areas there. Then when any of us tries to stop the destruction, we are seen as dragging the county down. The fact is, the County dragged itself down, and dragged its feet on the CAO for YEARS; thus we have lost a lot of grant opportunities and monies that would have helped to protect our Critical Areas and given the County a financial hand in doing it, and now the larger government will be ineffective to help us, due to attacks on the EPA and DOE.
For years, some of us have said repeatedly that Eastsound was a lousy place for a UGA - it's geographically, geologically, a hazard!. It contains sensitive areas everywhere. It is a narrow land bridge between two steep hills, at sea level. Nobody listened and nobody is listening now. The Growth Management Act doesn't only say that 50% of us must live in a UGA. It also says that we are mandated to protect our critical areas (even in a UGA). The UGA puts the burden on those who can least afford the time or the money to fight rampant commercial development in an area that is supposed to be slated for housing 50% of us, which none of us chose! It seems a little "sprawl" could happen in villages and hamlets and on the other 99% of the islands, thus unburdening us of a bit of our fate. If a tsunami hits Eastsound (likely) this discussion will all be moot because 50% of us and our housing will be washed away.
The decisions being made this year and next will affect all of us, long term. Can we all agree to some compromise, or will 50% of us be the sacrificial lambs for the wants of the rest?
If anyone else in the UGA is interested in more visionary planning and saving our Critical Areas from destruction (outsiders welcome!), then we need some intelligent dialogue, long-term visionary planning and actions to address our conflicting issues in a balanced way. Perhaps it's time for a UGA Citizens' Watchdog Group if the County won't do its job to protect our critical areas. Interested parties, please contact me. I'm in the phone book; or stop and talk with me at Island Market.
Huh. As one of the 50% of us who must live in the UGA for economic reasons, seeing working homeowners and first time buyers with modest incomes forced to hook up to sewer at exhorbitant rates for our all-too-low incomes; as I see more and more UGA homes get foreclosed, and as I watch our trees die due to water diversion, poor planning and siting, overbuilding for a population that may or may not occupy the businesses being built; and as I watch certain commercial developers' unscrupulosity and the county repeatedly "missing" important environmental regulations put in place to protect places like Eastsound Swale - I take offense to Richard Fralick's insulting misbelief that we need little or no buffers protecting our critical areas in the UGA and elsewhere. I also rankle every time Mr. Fralick mentions that the "county can do whatever it wants" and his idea that "big dumb buffers" must go. I think the EPA and the State would also find alarming the idea that the County Council feels it can relax most or all environmental protections on one of our largest - if not the largest - category 2 wetland on the island. And, as the article points out, Eastsound has two of the largest category 2 wetlands out of 5. (Lopez Village UGA faces similar environmental issues.)
It insults our intelligence and care and stewardship of a part of the Island (Eastsound Basin) that affects all other parts due to its geological vulnerability, infrastructure, and shoreline habitat. Fishing Bay is one of the few herring spawning places on the Island. The waters do not flush out, thus everything we dump into it stays there.
Some of us are tired of seeing rampant commercial development going through in the UGA, with no EIS, no ramifications, and much of the time, repeat violators obtaining no legal permits - while homeowners get the brunt of the enforcement and heavy-handedness from CD&P, so I agree to a certain extent with property rights viewpoints and their concerns - provided that we all remember that our first mandate is to protect Critical Areas, while balancing the rest of the14 points in our County Charter.
I don't mind "giving a little" and compromise. I understand that all of us must give a little in order to have a situation that is fair. But it seems to me that the low and middle income people forced to live in the UGAs are giving up a lot - almost everything; and they have neither the time nor the money to fight the real deep pockets - those bent on profit first, even if it means destroying the Critical Areas there. Then when any of us tries to stop the destruction, we are seen as dragging the county down. The fact is, the County dragged itself down, and dragged its feet on the CAO for YEARS; thus we have lost a lot of grant opportunities and monies that would have helped to protect our Critical Areas and given the County a financial hand in doing it, and now the larger government will be ineffective to help us, due to attacks on the EPA and DOE.
For years, some of us have said repeatedly that Eastsound was a lousy place for a UGA - it's geographically, geologically, a hazard!. It contains sensitive areas everywhere. It is a narrow land bridge between two steep hills, at sea level. Nobody listened and nobody is listening now. The Growth Management Act doesn't only say that 50% of us must live in a UGA. It also says that we are mandated to protect our critical areas (even in a UGA). The UGA puts the burden on those who can least afford the time or the money to fight rampant commercial development in an area that is supposed to be slated for housing 50% of us, which none of us chose! It seems a little "sprawl" could happen in villages and hamlets and on the other 99% of the islands, thus unburdening us of a bit of our fate. If a tsunami hits Eastsound (likely) this discussion will all be moot because 50% of us and our housing will be washed away.
The decisions being made this year and next will affect all of us, long term. Can we all agree to some compromise, or will 50% of us be the sacrificial lambs for the wants of the rest?
If anyone else in the UGA is interested in more visionary planning and saving our Critical Areas from destruction (outsiders welcome!), then we need some intelligent dialogue, long-term visionary planning and actions to address our conflicting issues in a balanced way. Perhaps it's time for a UGA Citizens' Watchdog Group if the County won't do its job to protect our critical areas. Interested parties, please contact me. I'm in the phone book; or stop and talk with me at Island Market.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Say Goodbye: September 7; the day the bulldozers begin deconstructing a functional mixed-forest wetland for an "engineered wetland" stormwater treatment facility
Mark your calendars. September 7, 2011.
The grim and, to my mind, horrible, beginning of a dubious experiment will begin on this day. Amid the sounds of grinding engines, scraping blades, chain saw roars, snapping tree limbs and trunks, roots ripping from the earth, amid the scramble of terrified birds, bats, and amphibians to escape the crushing 'dozers and find themselves homeless and possibly doomed to die, amid confused bees with no place to go or winter over - 'progress' is being made by destroying a functional wetland ecosystem that only needed a little help, in order to build an elaborate "engineered wetland stormwater treatment facility."
After June's 'open house' with 3 days notice for a handful of people, no newspaper notifications, the inevitability of this disastrous error looming, and the refusal of Public Works to entertain a low-impact alternative requiring only simple grading with shovels and some low-key clearing with maybe a backhoe - much, much cheaper - I'll admit I just wanted to curl into a fetal ball and suck my thumb until the carnage was over. Only it doesn't end in September. We will be seeing the visual impact of this and the dearth of diversity for a long time to come. Think on how long it took to grow each and every filtering tree. Think of all the bio-diverse life that each tree and shrub houses, shelters, shades. Think of all the mature and maturing trees - all soon to be lost.
To their misguided credit, Public Works actually thinks they are doing the right thing: No blame. But they're sadly mistaken. Besides the small plant specimens picked to stay within the woefully inadequate plant budget, many of which will need to be caged for a long time against the onslaughts of rabbits and deer, there are other crucial issues as yet unaddressed. This site is a wind tunnel in an extreme wind area. This parcel is the last forested piece in this particular north-south strip of land - on a section of Orcas that is only one mile wide and at sea level; Eastsound Urban Growth Area. This area contains a large category two wetland - Eastsound Swale. The stormwater facility parcel was once part of the Swale, and not that long ago. 20 yrs. max. Another pressing question that has yet to be satisfactorily answered is: will the grant money run out with no money left for maintenance (weeding, watering), monitoring of how well the filtering is working, and operational costs? From the other projects done by PW, I feel pessimistic, and pretty sure there'll be no money for operations. So what's the motive for obtaining large grants to engineer elaborate things with no budget to follow through and monitor and maintain?
Then there's the science. Scientific field evidence (some of which is included in the Best Available Science documents for SJC's Critical Areas Ordinance in the Wetlands and Stormwater sections), seems to point to 4 unavoidable facts about why this project is likely to fail:
1) stormwater should be diverted AWAY from an existing functional wetland, not into it. Why? Because they eventually, within 20 years, dry it up, as do sedimentation ponds.
2) After 20 or so years of observing failed and failing "emergent" engineered stormwater treatment facilities, the conclusion from many wetland field scientists is that mixed-forest is, after all, best. (We already have that now.)
3) When you remove alluvial soil from a wetland (which Public Works plans to do), it can't recover; maybe not ever.
4)Sedimentation ponds such as retention and detention ponds (which will be built on this site) are not advised for dryland summer areas (two or more months of dry weather, which is what the San Juans have.)The pollution issue alone of storms after a dry season is scary, and probably a topic for another blog post.
At the end of this post I put up a few pictures of the "proposed stormwater site" that I took in spring. The trees were blooming, the bees were humming, the place was full of life, horsetail softly waving on the forest floor, and the honey smells of blooming flowers. Birds darted among the trees. Coolness and shade, wind shelter, and so many shades of green graced this land. I will not forget.
Walk this land while you still have time. Get in touch with the pulse of Life there. Appreciate all that is there; life in abundance. Say good bye. And vow to be vigilant to never to let a poorly planned, over-engineered project such as this happen again in our "Urban Growth Area" home. We must do better to protect our critical areas.
-
Surround this land with protection and your highest thoughts. Send your love and good energy to the tree-beings and their inhabitants and dependents, that their spirits remain eternal and intact although their bodies will die. Send your healing thoughts to the soils and waters of the wetland, that they be protected. Send your respect to the Native ancestors who might lie here, perhaps in middens. (I hope at least we can have someone on site to observe if there are bones, and stop work if there are.) Send your scientific evidence to Public Works and the Council and ask that it be put into the records. Ask, in whatever fashion you do, that the Universe helps the new plant beings to be nurtured and grow and thrive to heal the land.
The grim and, to my mind, horrible, beginning of a dubious experiment will begin on this day. Amid the sounds of grinding engines, scraping blades, chain saw roars, snapping tree limbs and trunks, roots ripping from the earth, amid the scramble of terrified birds, bats, and amphibians to escape the crushing 'dozers and find themselves homeless and possibly doomed to die, amid confused bees with no place to go or winter over - 'progress' is being made by destroying a functional wetland ecosystem that only needed a little help, in order to build an elaborate "engineered wetland stormwater treatment facility."
After June's 'open house' with 3 days notice for a handful of people, no newspaper notifications, the inevitability of this disastrous error looming, and the refusal of Public Works to entertain a low-impact alternative requiring only simple grading with shovels and some low-key clearing with maybe a backhoe - much, much cheaper - I'll admit I just wanted to curl into a fetal ball and suck my thumb until the carnage was over. Only it doesn't end in September. We will be seeing the visual impact of this and the dearth of diversity for a long time to come. Think on how long it took to grow each and every filtering tree. Think of all the bio-diverse life that each tree and shrub houses, shelters, shades. Think of all the mature and maturing trees - all soon to be lost.
To their misguided credit, Public Works actually thinks they are doing the right thing: No blame. But they're sadly mistaken. Besides the small plant specimens picked to stay within the woefully inadequate plant budget, many of which will need to be caged for a long time against the onslaughts of rabbits and deer, there are other crucial issues as yet unaddressed. This site is a wind tunnel in an extreme wind area. This parcel is the last forested piece in this particular north-south strip of land - on a section of Orcas that is only one mile wide and at sea level; Eastsound Urban Growth Area. This area contains a large category two wetland - Eastsound Swale. The stormwater facility parcel was once part of the Swale, and not that long ago. 20 yrs. max. Another pressing question that has yet to be satisfactorily answered is: will the grant money run out with no money left for maintenance (weeding, watering), monitoring of how well the filtering is working, and operational costs? From the other projects done by PW, I feel pessimistic, and pretty sure there'll be no money for operations. So what's the motive for obtaining large grants to engineer elaborate things with no budget to follow through and monitor and maintain?
Then there's the science. Scientific field evidence (some of which is included in the Best Available Science documents for SJC's Critical Areas Ordinance in the Wetlands and Stormwater sections), seems to point to 4 unavoidable facts about why this project is likely to fail:
1) stormwater should be diverted AWAY from an existing functional wetland, not into it. Why? Because they eventually, within 20 years, dry it up, as do sedimentation ponds.
2) After 20 or so years of observing failed and failing "emergent" engineered stormwater treatment facilities, the conclusion from many wetland field scientists is that mixed-forest is, after all, best. (We already have that now.)
3) When you remove alluvial soil from a wetland (which Public Works plans to do), it can't recover; maybe not ever.
4)Sedimentation ponds such as retention and detention ponds (which will be built on this site) are not advised for dryland summer areas (two or more months of dry weather, which is what the San Juans have.)The pollution issue alone of storms after a dry season is scary, and probably a topic for another blog post.
At the end of this post I put up a few pictures of the "proposed stormwater site" that I took in spring. The trees were blooming, the bees were humming, the place was full of life, horsetail softly waving on the forest floor, and the honey smells of blooming flowers. Birds darted among the trees. Coolness and shade, wind shelter, and so many shades of green graced this land. I will not forget.
Walk this land while you still have time. Get in touch with the pulse of Life there. Appreciate all that is there; life in abundance. Say good bye. And vow to be vigilant to never to let a poorly planned, over-engineered project such as this happen again in our "Urban Growth Area" home. We must do better to protect our critical areas.
-
Surround this land with protection and your highest thoughts. Send your love and good energy to the tree-beings and their inhabitants and dependents, that their spirits remain eternal and intact although their bodies will die. Send your healing thoughts to the soils and waters of the wetland, that they be protected. Send your respect to the Native ancestors who might lie here, perhaps in middens. (I hope at least we can have someone on site to observe if there are bones, and stop work if there are.) Send your scientific evidence to Public Works and the Council and ask that it be put into the records. Ask, in whatever fashion you do, that the Universe helps the new plant beings to be nurtured and grow and thrive to heal the land.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
A Letter to San Juan County Planners, Public Works, and County Council
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.
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.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Eastsound Stormwater treatment facility; This.... or THIS?
What would you rather have: This?
...or THIS?
(These two photos are an estimate - not claimed to be accurate, but more to give a scale and a visual idea of what will be lost, based on the latest 80% Grading Plan provided by Public Works. This will be corrected if the final plan shows something different, and as more accurate information comes in.) That's Eastsound Swale and the hill West of Lovers Lane behind the Swale trees.
The short version and upshot of this is that Public Works puts this project out for bid on May 31 - less than 5 days from now, with excavation beginning in September. We will be seeing and feeling the impact of that for long months before, and many years after, planting begins. We have little time to get the word out. If you use social networking, please link to this blog. Thanks so much.
We know and accept that storm water treatment is badly needed in order to protect Fishing Bay, and that it's mandated by the Growth Management Act for Urban Growth Areas. Where we take issue is in the engineering and heavy-handedness of approach. Our concerns are grave. These changes will affect us long term.
The (very) long version follows. Some of what's in it will be repeated in shorter bits in the future. I tried to address the whole big picture. I hope you take the time to read it. It contains concerns and details some of the alternatives presented to Public Works by a handful of dedicated citizens who, at least, effected some small changes in the design plan. Thanks to them, a few more trees will (hopefully) stand. Thinking of what will happen to the rest... no words can come close to saying how this hurts my heart.
The short version and upshot of this is that Public Works puts this project out for bid on May 31 - less than 5 days from now, with excavation beginning in September. We will be seeing and feeling the impact of that for long months before, and many years after, planting begins. We have little time to get the word out. If you use social networking, please link to this blog. Thanks so much.
We know and accept that storm water treatment is badly needed in order to protect Fishing Bay, and that it's mandated by the Growth Management Act for Urban Growth Areas. Where we take issue is in the engineering and heavy-handedness of approach. Our concerns are grave. These changes will affect us long term.
The (very) long version follows. Some of what's in it will be repeated in shorter bits in the future. I tried to address the whole big picture. I hope you take the time to read it. It contains concerns and details some of the alternatives presented to Public Works by a handful of dedicated citizens who, at least, effected some small changes in the design plan. Thanks to them, a few more trees will (hopefully) stand. Thinking of what will happen to the rest... no words can come close to saying how this hurts my heart.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Stormwater Treatment Facility Will Betray Public Trust and Good Faith
I posted this in the online papers last weekend. The important thing right now is the first two paragraphs of the editorial. The shopping center will visited in more detail at a later time.
You’re at the Farmers Market or enjoying Music in the Park on a Sunday evening. When you look toward the Band Shell, what will you see? Blinding sun in your eyes and a backdrop denuded of trees except for a few – IF they survive the bulldozers and lack of supporting microclimate. This is what Public Works will do in autumn in order to give us badly needed treatment of some of Eastsound’s stormwater. Their rationale? “We had two workshops this winter; the public had plenty of time to comment.” Plenty of time? This thing has been in the works since the 1980s! Public Works got a grant for this project several years ago- the kind where PW spends money from the County coffers and receives payback when the project is completed.
The public was NOT included in this process until too late. In our UGA wind tunnel, the forested backdrop to the Stage on the Green, and tree habitat to many creatures, will be gone. The new plants will mostly be 2 – 4’ tall – in an area heavily infested by deer, and worse, rabbits. An aesthetics committee was asked to join in at the end, and they effected some better changes because they had ground experience with the existing wetland in question. In order to make this “constructed” wetland, most of the supporting habitat to the existing one will go.
Just think what we could’ve had if citizens had been included all along. Another part of this deal is a new shopping center just North of the Gym and West of the Post Office – directly abutting Eastsound Swale – a category 2 regulated wetland. The owner granted Public Works some easement. PW will pipe his stormwater to the facility, and he can build whatever he wants in an area in which he should not be allowed to build. More of our Critical Areas in town get trashed in the tradeoff.
People – get involved! We need to hold the County accountable for bad planning. They keep saying they want our involvement in planning; if we don’t get involved early and keep the pressure on, this is what we’ll keep getting. When the public sees this stormwater facility and what was sacrificed to have it, they will feel betrayed and outraged – again – with ample reason.
Sadie Bailey
Eastsound, WA
Saturday, May 7, 2011
An Urban Growth Area Resident’s Perspective on Critical Areas
Here in Eastsound’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) – at sea-level, only a mile wide, and vulnerable to a wipeout in an overdue 9.0 magnitude earthquake – it seems our critical areas are viewed as disposable. Here we get maximum negative impacts from poorly planned development, and the brunt of stormwater dumping into non-flushing Fishing Bay. We’re forced to have sewers and chlorinated water, expected to withstand more retail buildings eating away at Eastsound Swale and other important wetlands while many existing buildings have vacancies.
Forcing UGA residents to abandon septic drainfields and pay to install sewer systems hurts more than their already strained purse strings. It has killed countless cedars and other trees, many of which took hundreds of years to grow, because their water supply was cut off and diverted. This devastates tree-dependent wildlife. In a wind-tunnel area already deforested due to over-development, we can’t afford to lose any more trees - natural wind breaks, shelter, habitat for countless avian species, stormwater root filtration systems. No artificial thing can replace a mature living tree.
Here In OUR urban growth back yard, we watch our beloved natural habitats get bulldozed and our village become the toilet and dumping ground of the island, so that the rest of the populace can have its open space. And at EPRC meetings, we suffer county officials saying that wetland buffers can be relaxed in a UGA, as we watch Eastsound Swale get chopped and destroyed some more. It’s maddening.
What recourse do we town-dwellers have? Most of us are low to moderate income people who must work. We can’t afford litigation and the constant vigilance it takes to protect our critical areas. Unless the rest of the citizens of Orcas begin to see a connection with us here, and realize this town is theirs too since they also use it, Eastsound critical habitats and their pristine beauty will be destroyed. The county has dragged its feet on the CAO for so long that the grant monies which could have helped us compile local Best Available Science (BAS) data are drying up, due to attacks on federal and state environmental protection laws and severe budget cuts.
How can we convince people to want to do the right thing regarding critical areas? We can start by educating the public and landowners about the functions of wetlands and their necessary role in cleaning our critical aquifers and supporting biodiversity. The whole of Eastsound UGA is a critical aquifer wetland that has been so degraded it’s now unrecognizable from even 20 years ago. That doesn’t give anyone the “right” to continue to degrade it. Each development that chops up another piece of Eastsound Swale irrevocably destroys lives; tree, bird, fish, amphibian, flower, bat, bee. What I speak of is only a microcosm of the much greater interconnected big picture.
Can we find ways through education and incentives to protect Critical Areas? We must try, together. This is too important an issue to leave to a few county officials who think Eastsound is a write-off. I would argue that Eastsound is MOST important to protect. Many First Nations know, and knew, the interconnectedness of all things. When will we learn? Please submit your comments about the CAO and even if you’re not a “townie”, don’t forget us here in Eastsound, who are taking the hit for the rest of you.
"I do not see a delegation for the Four Footed. I see no seat for the Eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior. But we are after all a mere part of Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation." - Chief Oren Lyons, Oneida in an address to the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, 1977
Forcing UGA residents to abandon septic drainfields and pay to install sewer systems hurts more than their already strained purse strings. It has killed countless cedars and other trees, many of which took hundreds of years to grow, because their water supply was cut off and diverted. This devastates tree-dependent wildlife. In a wind-tunnel area already deforested due to over-development, we can’t afford to lose any more trees - natural wind breaks, shelter, habitat for countless avian species, stormwater root filtration systems. No artificial thing can replace a mature living tree.
Here In OUR urban growth back yard, we watch our beloved natural habitats get bulldozed and our village become the toilet and dumping ground of the island, so that the rest of the populace can have its open space. And at EPRC meetings, we suffer county officials saying that wetland buffers can be relaxed in a UGA, as we watch Eastsound Swale get chopped and destroyed some more. It’s maddening.
What recourse do we town-dwellers have? Most of us are low to moderate income people who must work. We can’t afford litigation and the constant vigilance it takes to protect our critical areas. Unless the rest of the citizens of Orcas begin to see a connection with us here, and realize this town is theirs too since they also use it, Eastsound critical habitats and their pristine beauty will be destroyed. The county has dragged its feet on the CAO for so long that the grant monies which could have helped us compile local Best Available Science (BAS) data are drying up, due to attacks on federal and state environmental protection laws and severe budget cuts.
All BAS and Best Management Practices Wetland documents I have read (and I have read many, since our apt. complex sits on part of the degraded Swale) say that mitigation and artificially engineered wetlands are the last resort and never achieve “no net loss.” Dr. Adamus said that until we can document local BAS, we should err on the side of doing nothing if there’s any chance of harm. Here’s an excerpt from his summary: “Many other data gaps exist that pertain to upland habitat, but these are perhaps the ones that most limit attempts to base land use decisions on sound science. Despite the above data gaps and information needs, the County’s efforts to protect habitats and biodiversity should not be put on hold until more information is available. State laws, the public trust, and popular concern for protecting natural resources from long-lasting harm dictate that both voluntary and regulatory efforts proceed with urgency using the best available science, whatever its current limitations.”
How can we convince people to want to do the right thing regarding critical areas? We can start by educating the public and landowners about the functions of wetlands and their necessary role in cleaning our critical aquifers and supporting biodiversity. The whole of Eastsound UGA is a critical aquifer wetland that has been so degraded it’s now unrecognizable from even 20 years ago. That doesn’t give anyone the “right” to continue to degrade it. Each development that chops up another piece of Eastsound Swale irrevocably destroys lives; tree, bird, fish, amphibian, flower, bat, bee. What I speak of is only a microcosm of the much greater interconnected big picture.
Can we find ways through education and incentives to protect Critical Areas? We must try, together. This is too important an issue to leave to a few county officials who think Eastsound is a write-off. I would argue that Eastsound is MOST important to protect. Many First Nations know, and knew, the interconnectedness of all things. When will we learn? Please submit your comments about the CAO and even if you’re not a “townie”, don’t forget us here in Eastsound, who are taking the hit for the rest of you.
"I do not see a delegation for the Four Footed. I see no seat for the Eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior. But we are after all a mere part of Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation." - Chief Oren Lyons, Oneida in an address to the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, 1977
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