‘Long haul’ nearly over: Response to GMA board
slated for vote Monday
By Matt Pranger
posted 09/28/00
Fourteen months after the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board issued a decision and order of invalidity on sections of San Juan County Comprehensive Plan, county commissioners appear ready to make a final vote on their response.
Commissioners Rhea Miller of Lopez Island, Darcie Nielsen of San Juan Island and John Evans of Orcas Island finished deliberations on the county’s response yesterday, Sept. 26, without any more questions or concerns. Barring any more changes, commissioners will vote on the response at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 2, 2000.
In interviews after yesterday’s meeting, Evans and Nielsen voiced relief at concluding the response. Miller was not as glad.
"It’s been a long haul," Evans said. Later, he added: "It feels good to have this part done."
"I feel pretty good about it…. I think we’re going to sign on Monday," Nielsen said. "I hope so."
"I’ll believe it when I see it," Miller said.
Nielsen said the plan represents "consensus" between the commissioners. "Not everybody got what they wanted," she said.
"I’m disappointed by what isn’t in there and I’m encouraged about what is," Evans said.
His push for a transferable development rights program didn’t gain support. He also hoped the plan would include more incentives for the private sector to provide affordable housing. The growth board ordered the county to complete the work necessary to encourage affordable housing.
"There are a lot of things going on that are to the good though," Evans said.
Nielsen is concerned Urban Growth Area designations might "backfire" for Eastsound and Lopez Village. "As a planner, I’m concerned we may be in for something down the road that we hadn’t planned for," she said.
The commissioners are mostly confident it will pass the Growth Hearings Board’s scrutiny.
"I think it’s defensible. I think it’s compliant," Nielsen said. "We’ll give it our best shot."
"I think the plan’s pretty much compliant except for the spot-zoning," Miller said, referring to changes in designations of a few properties. Landowners testified in favor of the changes.
Miller noted after the remand she recommended downzoning to make the county’s plan compliant. "Agonizingly, months later, we’re at that point. I can’t get too excited about it," she said.
The BOCC chair did take solace from working "really hard to produce a plan that’s compliant."
However, Miller remains skeptical the growth board’s primary issue -- establishment of densities outside urban growth areas, villages, hamlets and activity centers that are consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the GMA -- was not addressed adequately. "The biggest issue of vulnerability is the number of 5-acre parcels still possible," she said.
Evans noted the growth board’s concerns have been recognized. "There’s been a huge amount of downzoning," he said, pointing out the number of developable parcels in resource lands has been cut in half.
"It really came down to the resource land issue," Nielsen said of lands designated for agriculture and forest.
The growth board told the county densities in resource lands areas must be 10 acres or larger. Nielsen and Evans championed a conservation plan for the entire county that would allow agricultural resource land to subdivide into 5-acre parcels, provided they develop a conservation plan for their lands. Families with farms in San Juan Valley with 5-acre parcels, urged commissioners to protect their "bank accounts" and to permit them to pass parts of their land to their children. After county Prosecutor Randy Gaylord advised such a plan might not get endorsed by the growth board, a "Heritage Plan," was developed for San Juan Valley. According to the pilot program similar to a subarea plan, valley property owners would be permitted to divide their land into parcels of less than 10 acres if they met conditions. Criteria will include placement of buildings to maximize views and open space.
Evans was excited about the possibility of gaining greater local controls over resource lands.
"Long term, it’s a win-win situation for everybody," Nielsen said.
Future generations might not see it that way, Miller commented. "I think history will judge us harshly.We could’ve reduced density further in our rural lands and we haven’t."
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