HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-25-06 Board’s Official Business
Highlights from Monday’s Commissioner Meeting
July 25, 2006
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: The following
comments were made: a property owner in
Discovery Bay presented the Board with
growing area review statistics for 2005 from
the State Department of Health, Office of Food Safety and Shellfish Programs and the
2003 Shoreline Survey of the Discovery Bay
Shellfish Growing Area and stated that he thinks the lowered water quality is temporary
and the source isn’t failing septic systems
because there is no data to support that theory; the DOE’s guidelines for critical areas
are a topic of concern for all the counties
throughout the State and, in May and June
2005, the Planning Commission held three workshops to inform and educate the public
about the changes in the regulations and then
were told to move on to other issues because the County was negotiating with the Washing-
ton Environmental Council (WEC), the
Planning Commission’s outreach efforts would have helped involve the public in the
process and much of the current public outcry
may have been avoided, and when advisory
boards want to engage the public on an issue, the Board should encourage them;
environmental groups are giving training
sessions to encourage their members to submit a CD of their best available science
(BAS) at public hearings on the critical areas
regulations in all the counties in order to have the most stringent ordinances passed and
make sure that the CD can be used in Growth
Management Hearings Board appeals; what
scientific evidence does the County have that the current wetland buffers aren’t working?;
how will the new rules affect land values,
affordable housing, and tax revenue?; the BAS from the DOE hasn’t been through peer
review or public comment; the Supreme Court
recently ruled against excessive regulations regarding people’s property; the farmers in
the County are already doing a good job
protecting streams and creeks; the County
needs land for affordable housing; State agencies are treating man as subsidiary to
the needs of wildlife and the State is writing
development regulations for the County because the Department of Ecology’s BAS is
the only one on the record; Jefferson County
has an energized public who will help get
information into the record for the Board to
make decisions on BAS; concern was expressed about the WEC settlement
agreement that says the County “shall” adopt
the DOE BAS and the need for the Board to give direction to the Planning Commission BAS
sub-committee, the public needs to be included
through the entire critical area ordinance process, and the Board seems to be operating
in the gray when it comes to Executive Sessions
and the Open Public Meetings Act.
CONSENT AGENDA: The following items were approved:
3 RESOLUTIONS: 1) Notice of intention to sell
surplus County equipment and HEARING
NOTICE for Monday, August 21, 2006 at 10:05
a.m. in the Commissioner’s Chambers; 2)
Naming a private road, Shorts Lane; Dorothy
Tyra Frank Trustee, Applicant; and, 3) Maintaining a positive balance in the Employee
Benefit Reserve Fund
HEARING NOTICE: Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) close out; low and moderate income housing rehabilitation;
Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP);
hearing scheduled for Monday, August 14 at
10:05 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Chambers
CALL FOR BIDS: Sixth Avenue Road Improvement Project; bids accepted until 10:00
a.m. on Monday, August 7, 2006 and opened
and read publicly at 10:05 a.m. in the Commissioners Chambers
3 AGREEMENTS: 1) Professional services for
Parent Coalition Services for individuals with
developmental disabilities and their families with
Carolyn Costain; 2) Training services with Peninsula College; and, 3) Housing
Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA);
with the Housing Authority of the City of Longview