Walking On Water? "One time, shortly after WWII, the tide was just above the decking on the Illahee Community dock and when we walked out to the end, it appeared we were able to walk on water." We attached a photo of the high tide on Monday, which was a 13.6 foot tide, to give you an idea that a tide that would cover the decking would need to be at least 3 feet higher than it was on Monday.
Rue Villa Resident Comment. "Yes, High tides?, not very high. I began thinking the forecasters got everything wrong. In our 44 years here at Rue Villa we've had much higher. Weather conditions were fairly mild though."
Highest Recorded Tide at Brownsville. This data link specifies the maximum observed tide at Brownsville of 14.19 feet in 1980! http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/PublicMenu/Documents/Reg/applications/tides/np/np66.cfm
Corps Salvage Vessel. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has a salvage vessel that retrieves debris in the Sound waterways, and was out on Monday in front of Illahee. Their logo can be seen under the name PUGET. We happened to see it and snapped the attached photos. It had just picked up a 55 gallon barrel with a 2x6 frame that was evidently part of somebody's float. A little while later it picked up a log just past Illahee State Park. The debris is placed on the center deck where the barrel and logs can be seen.
Monday's Port Article. Sunday's Kitsap Sun feature was on the 12 Kitsap County Port Districts and discussed a proposal that they be consolidated. On Monday they presented the Port of Bellingham, where consolidation has already taken place. We thought these articles would have generated numerous responses to their website comment section, but they didn't and we are wondering if it was because many of the normal commenters were following the Walmart shooting. The link to the Monday article is: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jan/23/countywide-bellingham-gets-more-bang-for-its/
Port Comments. While we received verbal comments to the Sun's Port articles, we received only two emails, which follow:
If you loose the small community ports the community bond will be stripped.
If Bremerton Port is such a great port why does it need tax revenue or even the possible combined revenues of the Kitsap county small ports. It should be generating free cash with banks lining up to inject money into their ventures. That little bit of venting released, I truly wish Bremerton nothing but the best but do not compare Bremerton with the small community ports. I appreciate what Bremerton has done but Bremerton is about jobs and revenue as the small ports are all about the community.
Brownsville is fortunate to have been able to develope its port and being so well established is more or less assured a future as a community while other ports have little more to offer than a priceless scenic view.
It goes that proposed consolidation is nothing but future elimination of small ports and capture of revenues. The best the future could hold for small ports is a ramp as docks would be deemed to be too expensive to maintain with chains and chain link fencing. Small ports would have to go beg with strong community backing for each morsel of funding. As there would no longer be port commissioners the chance of obtaining anything for the community would be remote.
Loss of a port would pull the revenue and much of the voice out of the small communities and then the eventual loss of a community identity. The identity of Kitsap County has been built up around the developments of the small ports.
We need to see the small ports as a positive feature of Kitsap County.
Well, after reading the articles, I continued my confidence in our port commissioners and increased my pride in their performance.
I just have no words to describe how foolish I would consider any prospect of merging with any of the listed districts.
It does seem to me that the Port of Bremerton (which, I think has the highest rate of assessment) could annex some of the East Bremerton land previously held by the Navy and, for that matter I would think that Bainbridge would be an attractive addition to their scope. If I lived there, I would be really interested in establishing a separate district to preclude annexation by Bremerton.
Annexation Proposal? We read in the Kitsap Sun on Wednesday (1/26/11) the county is evidently proposing that cities annex nearby communities in order relieve the county of infrastructure costs. This has the potential to directly affect Illahee. The attached link provides more details.
Kitsap County wants most urban areas annexed into cities within five years.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jan/25/kitsap-county-wants-most-urban-areas-annexed/KRCC Proposal. We just read some of the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council's proposal and it appears to be the case. The link to this document is: http://www.kitsapregionalcouncil.org/library/D%20-%20Countywide%20Policies/Dec%202010%20Proposed%20CPP%20Changes%20for%20Public%20Comment.pdf
Public Hearing Thursday Evening. There will be a public hearing on Thursday (1/27/11) evening at 5 pm at the Norm Dicks Center. We copied and pasted the following information from their website.
Proposed Revisions
to the Kitsap Countywide Planning Policy are available
for Public Comment until
January 28th, 2011.
to the Kitsap Countywide Planning Policy are available
for Public Comment until
January 28th, 2011.
Public Hearing:
January 27th, 2011
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Norm Dicks Government Center,Main Meeting Chambers, 345 6th Street, Bremerton, WA.
January 27th, 2011
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Norm Dicks Government Center,Main Meeting Chambers, 345 6th Street, Bremerton, WA.
Send Public Comment to:
Vicky@KitsapRegionalCouncil.org
or mail to KRCC office (see far left panel for address).
Vicky@KitsapRegionalCouncil.org
or mail to KRCC office (see far left panel for address).
Our Initial Comments. In our quick read through their proposed revised policy document we have the following initial comments:
1. There is no discussion of Subarea plans such as Illahee's, and what the impacts would be with the adoption of this policy.
2. It sounds like communities such as Illahee would be given an opportunity to either incorporate or be annexed.
3. When Illahee's Subarea plan was going through the adoption process, we were told to remove all the commercial corridor along SR 303.
4. Illahee is then left with mostly park land, open space, critical areas and a greenbelt, which isn't enticing for any city to want to annex, but according to this policy, they wouldn't have a choice.
5. We are somewhat removed from Silverdale, should/when it becomes a city, so it seems we are likely in Bremerton's projected future annexation boundary.
6. When asked by Illahee residents several years ago whether they wanted to be part of Bremerton or Silverdale or create their own Subarea plan, the results were 2%, 6%, & 92%.
7. There is a statement that "adjustments" can be made to the Urban Growth Areas (Section B.3.k).
8. Does this mean the Illahee could propose to be removed from the UGA?
9. Do we ask these questions at the public hearing, and/or do we discuss these at the next Illahee Community meeting?
Let Us Know Your Thoughts. Let us know how you feel about these possible annexation issues that are suddenly before us again.
Attend Thursday's Meeting? More importantly, it may be better to attend Thursday's public meeting at the Norm Dicks Center, or send your comments in by Friday.
Jim Aho
Thanks for the info re annexation.
ReplyDeleteThe comments at the end of the Sun article were enlightening.
Keep us posted as I like the idea of getting Illahee out of the UGA, though do you really think it is possible?
Anonymous asked if it was possible to get Illahee out of the urban growth area (UGA). I think it is worth a try, but it will also take some doing, since this is the opposite direction the Growth Management Act wants to go. When the county took away our only commercial corridor, they left us without a viable option to incorporate, and all we have left are mostly the parks, open space, and critical areas, which are not considered urban candidates. So then we need to figure out what category in the GMA we fall under.
ReplyDeleteAfter attending the KRCC meeting myself, and being told our taxes will triple once we become part of a city, I was stunned. Let Illahee become the urban separator, greenbelt, or open space corridor between cities. Let us band together and not let our unique character be gobbled up in the big land grab.
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