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HomeMy WebLinkAbout171.Nomura, T.-WindermerePT 5-11_SMP Jefferson County Michelle McConnell From:Teri Nomura [nomura@windermere.com] Sent:Tuesday, May 11, 2010 12:05 PM To:Stewart, Jeff R. (ECY) Subject:SMP Jefferson County Categories:LASMP Public Comment May 11, 2010 To: Department of Ecology Jeff Stewart Jeff.stewart@ecy.wa.gov From: Teri Nomura Windermere Real Estate Port Townsend 1220 Water Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 nomura@windermere.com RE: Shoreline Master Program for Jefferson County Dear Sir, I am a current resident of Jefferson County, and have lived here since 1984. I have been a real estate agent for the last 15 years. I have represented a number of buyers and sellers of waterfront homes and land. People are attracted to Jefferson County in large part because of the natural beauty of this area- the water, the mountains, and the trees. I understand that there is a delicate balance between the need to preserve and clean up the natural resource and the desire of land owners to develop their property. It is well known that Puget Sound water quality has degraded over the last 100 years. Development practices have changed from ‘do whatever you want’ to needing to regulate development. Of course, this regulation feels oppressive to the land owners. However, in the large scheme, most people would not want to live here if our water and air quality were unsafe—or if their neighbor could cause their waterfront bluff edge to erode. You have the responsibility, along with the Jefferson County Planning Commission, the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners and the Jefferson County Department of Development to come up with a standardized regulation that will the most fair to the most people, while safeguarding our waterfront. Mostly, I am in support of the current proposal of the Shoreline Management Program that was submitted to you. I understand that there are numerous ways that a homeowner could mitigate their development impact to the shoreline written into this proposal. I believe that most of the waterfront land owners I heard give oral testimony to the Public Hearing at Fort Worden on April 20, 2010 had not read the SMP, or truly understood how this proposal would affect them. There are some that would be negatively affected by this SMP though—and these are the people/properties that concern me. Perhaps the language can be improved to be very clear and simply stated so that one would not need to be a scientist to understand the regulation. A synopsis and/or chart could be created that would outline the different situations. A list of possible mitigating suggestions could be listed to aid people to be the best possible steward of our waterfront. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely yours, Teri Nomura Windermere Real Estate Port Townsend 1220 Water Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 nomura@windermere.com office: (360) 385-9344 ext. 22 toll-free: (800) 776-9344 ext. 22 cell: (360) 531-1602 1