HomeMy WebLinkAboutHiatt 9-18 PC hearing comments for September 18September 18, 2019
Jefferson County Planning Commission
621 Sheridan Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Re. Wilke up-zone proposal (MLA19-00013)
Dear Commissioners,
At your last meeting, we submitted written comments keyed page by page to the on-line file of the
Wilke's application. In the interest of time, I won't repeat any of those comments now. We trust
you'll read them carefully before you make your decision.
What I want to give you at this time is more information about environmental conditions present on
the Wilke property and throughout the valley that have not been fully addressed in either the
application or the staff report.
The Wilke's consultant and DCD staff have characterized the large wetland on the Wilke property as
being part of a wetland complex. That is true. However, what hasn't been adequately recognized is
that this wetland complex exists because the whole valley, from north of Loftus Road down to
Discovery Bay, floods on a regular basis. The topography, the soil types, and the presence of
wetlands are all clear indicators that floods have occurred with relative frequency since the end of
the last ice age. It's important to realize that the Flood Insurance Rate Maps for this County omit
large areas that are nevertheless subject to frequent flooding as defined by the Growth Management
Act.
The historical record, consisting of aerial photos and rainfall data, shows that - at least since the
1960s - flooding has occurred throughout the valley about every 10 years. My husband and I have
lived just to the north of the Wilke property since 1991 - almost 30 years. Over this time period,
we've experienced three flood cycles during which water levels have reached at least as high as what
you see in the photographs we've presented here.
The first flood began one night in December of 1995. It had snowed a day or so before; then came a
sudden warming, followed by heavy rain. Within hours, water began flowing off of Discovery Ridge
to the west of us, and down through the ditches in the upper part of the valley on the other side of
Crutcher Road. By morning, our house was completely surrounded with water; the septic system
was inundated; the driveway was impassable. The field in front of our house - that we had cut hay
off of a few months before - was under two feet of water, and there was a torrent running through
the narrow outlet leading onto what's now the Wilke property. Over the next day or so, we watched
as the wide, sweeping pasture there became a lake 6 feet deep. The lake soon overflowed and water
continued to flow down the valley for several months thereafter.
Most of the wetlands in our part of the valley are in shallow, clay-lined basins so they don't drain
into the aquifer. The only way they dry out is through evaporation, and t hat requires several years
in a row of below-average precipitation. Meanwhile, they aren't providing the flood-attenuation
function that you would expect from other types of wetlands.
After the 1995 flood, it wasn't until the summer of 2000 that our former hay-field was dry enough
to be mowed again. The next flood cycle started a decade later - in December of 2010 - after which
the water did not fully recede until the summer of 2012. We were a bit surprised when, in 2015,
the cycle began again, after only three years. The photos we've presented were taken in February of
2017 which turns out to have been about mid-way through this most recent cycle.
Flooding is obviously a natural occurrence but, from the stand-point of protecting water-quality,
public and private infrastructure, and personal property, it presents a problem that's only going to
get worse in the future. An inevitable consequence of land clearing and development is an increase
in storm water run-off. Add to that the likelihood of more frequent intense rain events due to
climate. The result is that, given the large number of still undeveloped lots in our watershed,
there's already no way to reverse the trend we believe we're beginning to see: more frequent
flooding; in higher volume; to higher levels; and for longer duration.
The truth is that current development regulations, critical area designations, and storm water
management standards can't even begin to deal with the problem because the causes are
cumulative. Most of the actions contributing to it are, at best, small, gradual, incremental, and
unregulated or, at worst, illegal and unenforced. But they all add up.
The staff report concludes that there won't be any significant impact from allowing the Wilke
property to be up-zoned, yet it fails to offer a single bit of evidence for why the existing zoning for
this property is in any way unsuitable, unfair, or invalid. The zoning map is the best tool this
County has for land-use planning and managing the impacts of population growth. Please don't
jeopardize its effectiveness, or that of our newly up-dated and re-validated Comprehensive Plan, by
ignoring the reasons that 10 and 20 acre zoning densities were created in the first place .
If the Wilke up-zone is approved, the precedent will be set, irreversibly, to continue chipping away
at the parts of the landscape that are so vitally important, not only in our valley, but throughout the
County, for accommodating the forces of nature, and preserving resilience in the face of an
uncertain future.
Sincerely,
Amy Hiatt and David Pratt
234 Sand Road
Port Townsend, WA
Attachments:
Site plan showing extent of frequent flooding and the locations of the photos listed below.
(All of the photos were taken on the same day in mid-February 2017, a few months before the
Chandlers sold their property to the Wilkes.)
Photo series:
A: #1-3, Hiatt-Pratt property. Note the stakes marking the boundary of the wetland as delineated in
April 2014.
B: #1-4, Janssen property.
C: #1-5, Wilke wetland, viewed from Janssen/Hiatt-Pratt driveway.
D: #1 & 2, Wilke wetland, viewed from near the main house.
Individual photos:
E: Flood gauge on utility pole adjacent to Janssen/Hiatt-Pratt driveway. The highest water level
observed since 2010 is 20 inches.
F: Area of Wilke wetland/buffer that has since been filled, looking south.
G: Ditto, looking north.
H: Drainage outlet from Wilke wetland, looking north-west.
I: Drainage outlet from Wilke wetland, looking south. The septic drain field for the main house is
immediately adjacent to the drainage course.