3 Plus Miles of Shorelines in Illahee. The Illahee Community has just over 3 miles of shoreline that runs from the north end of the Cheney Estates (or 30th Street) to University Point (see attached).
Changes Coming? Kitsap County is currently in the middle of an effort to update their Shoreline Master Program (SMP), which is required by the State and is being funded by the Department of Ecology. The update will effect communities and the shorelines of the county and will most likely affect the Illahee community.
"No Net Loss" Requirement. One of the requirements of the state is that the county's SMP have the goal that there be "no net loss" of ecological functions. This is one of the goals the Task Force (established to help advise the county) is working on, and will soon be looking at shoreline classifications.Current Illahee SMP Classifications. The current classifications of the shorelines in Illahee ranges from Conservancy to Rural to Semi-Rural (see second attachment).
Task Force Meetings. Monthly SMP Task Force meeting have been going on for some time and they will reportedly start discussing whether the current shoreline classifications should be changed.
Shoreline Inventory First. Before the Task Force can start on classifications a Shoreline Inventory and Characterization (I&C) Report had to be submitted to the Planning Commission for its approval. The I&C is a new product for the SMP and some have questioned both its intent and supposed lack of breadth (see link to Kitsap Sun article in a following paragraph).
I&C Report Size. The I&C report covers all the marine beaches of Kitsap County by drift cell and further breakdowns the drift cells into "Nearshore Assessment Units" or NAUs In other words a drift cell may have many AUs. For example Illahee is part of drift cell 56, which runs from Manette to University Point (5.69 miles), and contains 17 NAUs. With 228 miles of shorelines in Kitsap County the report is a massive nearly 500 pages. The I&C report can be found online at the county's SMP website: http://www.kitsapshoreline.org
Planning Commission Public Hearing. The Planning Commission had a public hearing on the Inventory and Characterization (I&C) report on December 7, 2010 and is taking written comments until January 4, 2011. The Kitsap Sun covered the meeting and the article can be read by clicking on the following link: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/dec/08/planning-commissioners-scrutinize-first-document/
Our Thoughts. We have been part of the Task Force and also attended the public hearing. Since the process is ongoing we are waiting to learn more and are reluctant to say much until we have completed the process and we have all the facts. We do have some thoughts on the Inventory and Characterization report. As with any new product it is a work in progress. It is easy to document where the bulkheads, boat ramps, piers and floats are. It is more difficult to document the biological diversity and ecological functions of shorelines, not to mention those beaches that are degraded or impaired. In other words, there haven't been many studies that look at our individual beaches for the biological and ecological processes that are going on. And further, the shoreline area is defined as 200' upland and 1000' waterward (intertidal), for a total of 1200' to be considered. The I&C Report, nevertheless is a starting point, for looking at individual stretches of the shoreline.
What Next for Illahee? We know we have at least two major degraded or impaired shoreline areas according to residents, due to stormwater runoff problems. The Rue Villa beaches and the Illahee Creek area beaches have had excessive sedimentation from stormwater surges that have fouled local beaches and shellfish beds. Only the community residents who have seen the 'before and after' differences can really note the damage. Those long time residents need to be interviewed and the impaired areas need to be mapped so they can be included somewhere in the I&C Report.
SMP Presentation at Illahee Community Meeting. Some who attended the Illahee Community meeting, where the county gave a presentation of the SMP Udate process, probably have a better understanding of what is going on. This is a long process and the issues are extremely complex. The county does have a good website where all this informaiton resides (which was noted earlier). We anticipate there will be other area or community meetings where more information regarding shoreline classifications will be presented.
Submit Comments on I&C Report. In the meantime, it would be good for the Planning Commission to hear your comments regarding the I&C Report. This is important because the document establishes the baseline for the "no net loss of ecological functions" requirement of the state.
Jim Aho
