HomeMy WebLinkAboutMcMather HTFCommentFrom:Gina McMather
To:Housing Taskforce
Subject:Comment re. Homeless housing location
Date:Tuesday, June 8, 2021 4:47:24 PM
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June 8, 2021
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 an easy 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 residential streets of J. Popper, Loftus, Arabian Lane, Hidden Trails and Jolie Way.
I listened to the commissioners' discussion June 7. There seemed to be little awareness of the people this would impact. 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 for
hours 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
gmcmather@gmail.com
P.S. The link to visit the Affordable Housing & Homeless etc. website from the page announcing the June 8 meeting does not
work.