Thoughts on the Plan - 3/6/08

Illahee Community Plan Thoughts 3-6-08

There have been a number of comments and concerns received regarding what will happen with the Illahee Community Plan now that the process has been taken over by the county.

Most residents we talked with are apprehensive and some are concerned that the progress we made will be undone. We have been asked to express our thoughts and views.

Our thoughts, though apprehensive, are also optimistic.

We think once the county planners see our geographical area as predominately Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs), they will understand why we want a community plan that respects our geological landscape.

The ESAs are the reason we have Illahee State Park and the Illahee Preserve. The ESAs are the reason we have a nearly self-contained watershed and salmon stream. The ESAs are the reason there are no north-south roads through the area between Wheaton Way and Illahee Road. The ESAs are the reason when we have a major storm, we have a road washout at Gilberton Creek, a near washout at Rue Villa, and future culvert problem at Illahee Creek.

The problem is our ESAs are in an area designated URBAN. Urban, by definition, means higher densities and existing or planned infrastructure. ESAs, on the other hand, limit the ability to provide for those higher densities and make it difficult and expensive to provide infrastructure. And so those who respect the ESAs find themselves at odds with planners and developers pushing for higher densities, all because of the "urban" designation.

The URBAN designation was given Illahee in 1998 before the purchase of the Illahee Preserve and the new culvert for Illahee Creek, factors that some in the community feel are now pertinent as we review the URBAN title. The Growth Management Act (GMA) is the law for the State and utilizes 13 goals to ensure compliance. The first Citizens Advisory Group (CAG) used all 13 goals to measure compliance, and felt the GMA supported Illahee's Plan, but not as demonstrably as we would like since there are no known special categories for communities with large areas of open space and ESAs.

What we need is some special designation or classification for ESA lands, like an urban forest, a greenway, an urban greenbelt, an urban separator, or the like that will help settle the conflict that exists between those trying to 'urbanize' the area and those trying to protect and preserve it.

We also need the county recognize that this area, as an ESA, needs to be treated differently, and that it can do so following GMA guidelines, so we can work together to come up with an acceptable community plan for both the residents and the county.

We thought we were nearly there, primarily because of the decisions of the County Commissioners in 2006 when they established much of the community's zoning requests. We say 'nearly' because there is a major stumbling block now with the county mandate that all urban areas be sewered. Sewers and ESAs are not a good fit in Illahee where we are concerned with aquifer protection, groundwater infiltration, and stream low base flows. We have provided the county with information regarding these issues and hope the information is being considered.

Many in our community think that the development side of the county has been lax with respect for the ESAs. Theoretically, if they were doing the job of balancing environmental issues with land use decisions, Illahee may not have felt the need to develop a community plan. The truth is, we in the Illahee community are trying to correct the county's past development mistakes (such as the gross sedimentation of the Sound), and are extremely concerned about other current issues. It seems ironic that a local community would be more concerned about environmental issues than the county, whose job it is to protect those issues.

Thankfully, we have a community that has the will power to come together to fight those injustices by funding and supporting scientific studies and/or soliciting legal help to back up their concerns.

Some have questioned where the county's experts stand on these issues. The issues are not new ones and they are not rocket science. Are our county paid experts being heard? Or, are their views being trumped by others in the county? Many think it the latter. As we go through the draft community plan we will be hearing from many of these experts, and hopefully the community and the county can come together with the science to develop a plan we can all live with.

The possibility that the scientific approach may not prevail is why many in Illahee are apprehensive. And others, who believe that science and truth will prevail in the county, are optimistic.

We have people on both sides watching and hoping for the best, and Illahee Creek and the ESAs hang in the balance, waiting to see which way the scale will tip.

Jim Aho