HomeMy WebLinkAboutMcMather HTFComment 2From:Gina McMather
To:Housing Taskforce
Subject:Comment re. Homeless Housing Encampment location
Date:Tuesday, June 8, 2021 4:50:36 PM
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To the Jefferson County Commissioners and the Homeless Housing Task Force:
I just learned the County Commisioners are considering placing the homeless encampment on county property on
Cape George Road and I listened to the commissioners’ discussion taped Monday. I am a septuagenarian who lives
alone on acreage at the very end of J Popper Way. My property abuts the county parcel and the Equestrian Park site.
Other retired folks are neighbors along J Popper Way and a family with young children is putting in a home across
from me and which also abuts the county property. The proposed homeless encampment is a 5-10 minute walk on
the trails through the woods. Many people with dogs. children, horses as well as runners and bicyclists come to use
the network of trails through the woods that connect the residental streets of J. Popper, Loftus, Arabian Lane,
Hidden Trails and Jolie Way.
I listened to the commissioners' discussion June 7.
I am appalled to think the commissioners consider this property could be a solution to the homeless predicament
where mental health and substance abuse are ongoing problems. Those of us who live back here are isolated and
vulnerable. Fire danger is a major concern every summer as the woods and brushy areas become very dry. Several
years ago I reported a homeless camper off one of the foot trails in the Equestrian Park. His tent was well hidden in
the bushes and I ran across his tent and bags of trash when I was picking berries and followed the smell of cigarette
smoke. There is no water accessible to the Equestrian Property but acres of dry tinder and woods that are contiguous
with residences and the transfer site. I expect you remember there was a fire on the neighboring Seton acreage two
years or so back which closed off Cape George Road when they brought in firefighting equipment.
How would these people be supervised for law enforcement? I am aware of the problems that have been occurring at
the fairgrounds as I have a good friend who lives a block away from there. To move those problems to a rural
residential area puts many vulnerable people at risk. I am fearful for my safety and that of my neighbors.
Sincerely, Gina McMather 374 J Popper Way, Port Townsend
P.S.P.S. The link to visit the Affordable Housing & Homeless etc. website from the page announcing the June 8 meeting
does not work.