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Lopezians weigh in on UGA

posted 04/23/02
County commissioners traveled to Lopez Island yesterday as part of their continued public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan amendments. The focus of the discussion was whether to impose a moratorium on part of the proposed Urban Growth Area (UGA). Today, Tuesday, April 23 they will continue the public hearing at 1:30 p.m. in the Fire Hall in Eastsound.

For background on the moratorium idea see the earlier story.

Senior Planner Pat Mann said Lopez Village currently has 10 percent of the population of Lopez Island. The Urban Growth Area is designed for growth in Shaw and Lopez Islands to be concentrated in Lopez Village. The plan calls for 25 percent of the population to be in Lopez Village in 20 years.

Following is a sampling of the comments by Lopez Islanders:

• LARRY HENDEL: I support the UGA for Lopez as proposed. I think the Growth Management Act is extremely beneficial to the county because of its vision of providing Urban Growth Areas distinct and separate from rural lands. Opponents may not realize hop scotch development would occur (if there was not a UGA). To compromise now on a smaller than proposed UGA would be poor planning, we must plan for the next 20 years.
  
  
• STEVE LUDWIG: I'll take opposite point of view. I'd ask them to get out of requirement that we need a UGA in Lopez Village. To urbanize a place without water, sewer, transportation or a local economy is preposterous. Everyone on Lopez will end up paying for this white elephant. ...Pharmaceuticals from geriatric population are polluting Puget Sound. The sewer system should be upgraded to provide secondary treatment.
  
  
• JAMIE STEPHENS: I am the Chairperson of the Lopez Coordinated Water Committee. We sent a letter to the BOCC. ...We don't sense an increased development pressure in this area. A moratorium would disrupt the process.
  
  
• MIKE PORTER: That is kind of a funny looking village. It has a really strange shape to it.
  
  
• RON MENG: As for putting a moratorium on, I am totally opposed. It won't do any good at all. Biggest thing water committee could be doing is not just testing wells, but educating the public. ... I've asked property owners about their plans. We are not talking a lot of growth pressure.
  
  
• JOANNE SMITH: I am an owner of property in Lopez Village. I am concerned about implications to property owners. I don't want a UGA in this area, if it means to deprive me of my prior existing water rights. ...Because of these issues, I have spent virtually all of my free time, for the last three years, reading law, county codes, geology books, constituition.... I don't know if there is enough water to support urban growth. One person's advantage should not be someone else's misfortune. ... No one is talking costs. If you create a UGA we have the right to know what this is going to cost us....When you invite the state into the county it is like inviting a neighbor into your bedroom, you better make sure it is clean.
  
  
• BOB SUNDQUIST: I think we are getting the cart before the horse. We're talking about putting development in the crosshatch area. We need to determine the boundaries of the village. In order to determine the boundaries we need to do the capital facilities study. The moratorium is just a stop gap measure until we know where boundaries are.
  
  
• Dan KOVACKS: In my opinion the problem is by setting the boundary without the facilities, We put the cart before the horse. The thing would have been to figure out the water and then set the boundary. We did it backwards.
  
  
• COUNTY COMMISSIONER JOHN EVANS: People say it would be good to have facilities planned before you do it. I disagree. I am here to work for people who live here. There are nine years worth of hearings (behind the boundary decision). We tried to set boundaries to meet the realistic needs of Shaw and Lopez. We started the process from the citizens point of view.
  
  
• BARBARA THOMAS: I have to agree with John that there were very good reasons for drawing the initial boundary. ...We hit a technical snafu. We had started planning and just barely scratched surface. Then we had to stop because the hearings board negated (the comp plan.) Because of the long gestation period, there have been a lot of rumors, ideas never resolved. ...It is my feeling that we should do whatever we can do to allow the people of this island to get back to planning their village. The promise I got from the planning department is they would be back on this island right after the hearings board hearing and we would start planning this village.
  
  

The BOCC continued the hearing until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, 2002. The hearing will be held in Eastsound at the Fire District Meeting Room. Deliberations by the BOCC may begin after the hearing or may wait until May 3, 2002.