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Jeanie Orr
From: Jeanie Orr
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:00 PM
To: Michelle McConnell
Cc: AI Scalf; Stacie Hoskins; Jeanie Orr
Subject: FW: SMP Comment
Attachments: SMP comment 06-09.pdf
From: Linda Lou Marshall [mailto:lindalou@cablespeed.com]
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:15 AM
To: #Long-Range Planning
Cc: jeffbocc
Subject: SMP Comment
Greetings,
You will find my comment attached as a PDF file.
Thank you in advance for your consideration,
Linda Lou Marshall
POS 861
Chimacum, WA 98325
360-732-5070
Ii ndalou@cablespeed.com
6/15/2009
June 15, 2009
TO: The Planning Commission
CC: Jefferson County Commissioners
"Plan"
Defined as: any detailed scheme, program or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of a goal
It must be incredibly difficult as a member of the Planning Commission to work with a populace that is split
between people intent on looking toward the future and people living exclusively in the now. I don't envy your
task and congratulate you on your courage to offer to do this job. But, by the definition of "Planning", you as an
entity are obliged to look toward the future... no matter how loudly the voices of the "now" people are raised in
protest. And I wonder if the end result - no matter what path is chosen - is to once again find Jefferson County
paying countless dollars in attorney fees and staff time for endless appeals and hearings because we are
unable as a group to reach compromise...
I attended the recent "Sunshine Forum" and listened to the voices of many waterfront property owners. The
words that I consistently heard were "me" and "my": "My property rights", "my Constitutional rights", "my land".
Their concerns were firmly grounded in the present and firmly grounded in their fears that their personal well-
being or freedoms were being trampled upon. From my point of view, when one owns land adjacent to the
"commons" - that which impacts us all - that land carries with it a responsibility not only to do no harm to the
commons, but to do whatever possible to enhance it for everyone who comes after us.
In addition to extending beyond ourselves in time, this issue extends well beyond the geographical boundaries
of Jefferson County due to the salmon spawning streams that are here, along with the extensive forage fish
habitat along our coastline. Our area is a major contributor to the health of the entire food chain over a wide
area. (The aforementioned commons.)
It may indeed be an "inconvenient truth" that docks have a negative impact on the shape of the shoreline and
the quality of the habitat that it provides for the fish at the bottom of the food chain. Therefore, community
docks are a lower-impact solution than everyone building their own dock. It may also be an "inconvenient truth"
that net pens damage wild stock (look north to British Columbia for a test case) and that they do not provide
food that is necessarily healthy to eat. It may also be an "inconvenient truth" that a 50' stream buffer provides
only a bare minimum of the habitat needed to maintain a steam's health for fish and that 150' only provides a
minimum of habitat for other wildlife. When your great grandchildren ask their parents why we did what we did,
will the answer be that we didn't want to be inconvenienced?
The scientific data exists to support the original recommendations made by the Planning Commission, one only
needs to acknowledge that there are considerations that are outside of "now", outside of "me", and outside of
this place that are more important. Consider, once again, the meaning of the word "planning". The reasons for
establishing forward-looking guidelines for our behavior and for the behavior of those who come after us are
compelling. People in the future have the right to eat healthy food from the sea and the ability to draw spiritual
strength from an intact environment that was left to them by forward-thinking ancestors.
PS: In the interest of full disclosure, I am a waterfront owner who has voluntarily placed 150' and 180' buffers
on five of my ten acres of land along East Chimacum Creek.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Lou Marshall
POB 861
Chimacum, WA 98325
360-732-5070
I indalou@cablespeed.com