Minor Illahee Oil Spill. Anyone walking by the Illahee North detention pond early this week noticed green and white oil absorbent pads placed at the stormwater outfall coming into the pond, and green pads placed at the overflow outlet where water was leaving the pond. Emails to the Health Department found the pads were placed by Kitsap County Public Works personnel in response to calls from Illahee North residents who reported an oil sheen visible on the pond waters. The county was unable to determine the source of the spill which evidently was visible just as the pond was freezing over but not reported until the ice left. See the attached photos showing the white and green absorbent pads.
Tightlining. The stormwater system in Illahee North tightlines the 20 acre development's stormwater into the detention pond where the water is detained and the overflow is then discharged at the Illahee community dock. The problems with this type of stormwater system is there is no aquifer recharge or bioinfiltration close to the source of the stormwater. Experts have determined that the earlier requirements for these ponds were inadequate and that there are now better methods and systems for taking care of stormwater. Also, when there is a contamination problem like a sewage spill or oil spill, overflows from the pond are tightlined directly to Puget Sound.
Illahee Outfall Mailing. On Wednesday many Illahee residents received a "Shoreline Permit Revision" notice from Kitsap County. This is the settlement outfall that better distributes overflow stormwater to Puget Sound rather than concentrating it all at the Illahee community dock. We have presented the details of the settlement in previous Updates which are also available at the website illaheecommunity.com.
Bio-Infiltration Swales. The new Sunrise Terrace development is using bio-infiltration swales which will process 90 to 95% of our normal rains back into the aquifers and only the overflow will be directed to Puget Sound. This is the direction the Department of Ecology and the Puget Sound Partnership is recommending for handling stormwater and is a great improvement over the tightlining system discussed earlier.
Cost of Legal Challenges. The "Settlement Outfall" was a compromise agreement between the Illahee Community Club, the Port of Illahee, and the MT Illahee Corporation. The end results are improved methods for handling stormwater. But, it also comes at a substantial cost in dollars for the Illahee Community and the Port of Illahee, not to mention to the developer. Just the Community Club's legal costs of the Outfall appeal and the Timbers Edge appeal were $20,000 in 2008.
Timbers Edge - Waiting on Hearing Examiner. The Timbers Edge project appeal is waiting on the Hearing Examiner's decision. The community just received the attorney's bill for the closing argument portion of the hearing and they find themselves $3,000 short.
Volunteer Donations Needed. The Illahee Community Club urgently needs donations to its legal fund in order to continue to work for agreements such as the Settlement Outfall. The Hearing Examiner hearing the Timbers Edge appeal has a nearly 100% record of siding with the County so they expect further appeals may be needed. This is a situation where the community voted with its contributions in 2008 and will need to do so again in 2009 if things are to proceed.
Revised Illahee Boundary Map. We are waiting for a revised Illahee Community Plan Boundary map from the county and will send it out when we receive it.
Jim Aho
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