HomeMy WebLinkAbout101822 FW_ New Site Development Review ordinance
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From: David Pablo Cohn
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 1:48:35 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: Heidi Eisenhour; Kate Dean; Greg Brotherton
Cc: Denis Stearns
Subject: New Site Development Review ordinance
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Dear Kate, Heidi and Greg,
Well, the new SDR ordinance came out of left field last week and completely threw us for a loop.
We'd been waiting two months for Shold to come out and refresh the perc holes they dug last summer. We'd been scheduled for last Weds, but two days before, I got a call from them saying
that they would have to cancel because the county ordinance published that morning prohibited them from "creating any earth disturbance" without an SDR.
As Kate knows, we've been trying to build additional farmer housing at Natembea for years, wading our way through City permits, retreating, trying to find another way. Five years and
many lawyers later, we felt like we were finally making progress.
After multiple calls and voicemail messages to the County DCD, I finally got through yesterday morning to ask if we really needed to go through this process to just clean out pre-existing
perc holes. Yes, she said, but don't worry, the approval should be quick - they're "hoping" it'll be about four weeks. Oh, and it's $467, payable online, to get in that queue. Having
waited two months only to have the rug pulled out from under us not only throws out our timeline, four more weeks dumps us right in the wet season.
I do understand the importance of making sure people don't start tearing up wetlands or building in inappropriate areas, but isn't that what the whole building permit process already
covers? We never got to break ground on our original plan (building on the footprint of the original Swanson family farmhouse) because after over two years of going back and forth with
the City, the terms the they required for a building permit were untenable.*
And most importantly, shouldn't an ordinance like this give people a heads up? For example, going into effect a month or so after being published? Coming out of the blue, I know it's
kind of screwed us over, as, I expect, it has pretty much everyone who's been waiting months for Shold or Ericsen to come help them out.
Okay, thanks for listening. I've spoken with Sholds, and they're going to try to come out in late November, hoping that the DCD has managed to get to us by then. I'm just trying very
hard to Do The Right Thing and play by all the rules, and I feel like I'm getting punished for it.
Many thanks,
-David Pablo Cohn
Natembea Farm Cooperative
* That's a long, frustrating story that I'll spare you.