Letter to Editor re Community Plan. We are sending a short letter to the editor regarding the Illahee Community Plan. Since they don't always publish our letters we wanted you to see what we wrote.
Editor,
In a 12/16 letter we expressed concern that community self determination was at risk and noted the County Commissioners vote on the Illahee Community Plan would be revealing.
And it was --
- It revealed their support for community plans when they unanimously approved the Illahee Plan.
- It revealed their work on more comprehensive county issues when they removed commercial sections from the Plan.
- It revealed three dedicated and involved commissioners working to get Illahee's Plan right.
We are impressed with their modifications and awareness of the issues, and we thank them.
Plan Celebration. When the changes made by the Commissioners are incorporated and the final approved Plan is complete and printed, we are planning on having a celebration. The time and location are yet to be determined. We are trying to locate a facility in Illahee for the party and we are open for any suggestions. (Note that the annual party held by the Illahee Forest Preserve will be part of the Plan celebration.)
Illahee Community Club 2009. It is time to re-up your Illahee Community Club dues for 2009. The dues are an inexpensive $10 per family unit as we want to have a many resident members as possible. You may ask what you get for your membership? An active and involved group of citizens working to preserve and protect Illahee. You can see what was done in 2008 in the paragraphs below and know that once they get beyond the legal issues they are planning to move on to more productive items that are being considered by the ICC board of directors.
2008 Community Accomplishments. There was first of all the support for the Illahee Community Plan. Next was the likely settlement of the Stormwater Outfall of the Illahee Community Dock. The Outfall issue has been costly in time, energy, and money but the settlement will provide for cleaner stormwater for Puget Sound, and some recharge of the aquifers. The community worked with the Port of Illahee on the Outfall Appeal and also supported the Port of Illahee's stormwater grant with the Department of Ecology. Finally, there was the appeal of aspects of the Timbers Edge project. Community members met with the developer to see if he would consider reducing the number of homes and using septics rather than sewers to minimize the impact on Illahee Creek. When he rejected the proposal the community proceeded with the environmental appeal and hired expert witnesses to document problem areas. They solicited funds from residents and together with the Outfall appeal have spent nearly $20,000 this year, almost all associated with legal costs.
Appeal for Funds. They are down to $180 and have the December closing argument bill that will come due in January 2009 and need to appeal to residents to help with the legal fund. They are doing so at the end of 2008 in case there are those who would like to contribute now in order to take a tax deduction on their 2008 taxes. Make checks payable to the Illahee Community Club Legal Fund and sent to the ICC, PO Box 2563, Bremerton, WA 98310. Your support is appreciated and needed.
Timbers Edge Closing Arguments. We have obtained pdf file copies of the Timbers Edge closing arguments and will be putting them up on the community website illaheecommunity.com soon. (We tried to attach them to this update but the files were too big.) Two are from the ICC attorney with the first file representing Kitsap County Code issues and the second representing State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) issues. A reading of these documents helps one understand why the legal costs are high. The other file is the applicant's attorney.
Hearing Examiners Decision Date? We expect the decision from the Hearing Examiner sometime in January 2009. This examiner nearly 100% of the time sides with developers and the county so we don't want to get anyones expectations up too high. The Club expects they will probably need to appeal the decision to the County Commissioners, who nearly always side with the Hearing Examiner. The next step would be to decide if there should appeal to Superior Court. We have been told the Club has been preparing for a possible Superior Court appeal from the beginning and all that would be needed would be the community's support and the funding.
Wildlife Updates. We know residents prefer wildlife updates and we have some more hummingbird input to pass on soon.
Jim Aho
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