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Jeanie Orr
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Jeanie Orr
Tuesday, June 16, 20097:19 AM
Michelle McConnell
AI Scalf; Stacie Hoskins; Jeanie Orr
FW: SMP Comments
Attachments:
S M P Comments. doc
SMP
lments.doc (24
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Huelsdonk [mailto:hohhumm@olypen.com]
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:41 PM
To: #Long-Range Planning
Subject: SMP Comments
The most violent element of society is ignorance.
Bob and Mary Huelsdonk
360-374-5337
171763 Hwy 101 Forks, WA 98331
hohhumm@olypen.com
Bed & Breakfast in the Rain Forest
www.olypen.com/hohhumm
1
Shoreline Master Program Comments
Robert Huelsdonk,
Registered Professional Engineer (W A State)
17 June 2009
A Poor County
Alas, through a poor original plan of county borders, we live in a county with a lack of
industry and hence tax revenue as well as having a million acres of forest that is not
taxed. This means we must get the most bang for the buck no matter what the task is.
How should we accomplish prescribed goals using alternate methods?
Knowledge Base
We have, in Jefferson County, an in-ordinate number of both talented and well educated
individuals not only by schooling but by hands=on experience. Yet there seems to be a
tendency to not listen to these individuals.. The hubris of our politicians seems to prevail
and we go back to foolish solutions.
Goals:Water / Food
Our entire globe is dependent on clean water. There are several farms in both ends of the
County Most of those farms have a history back to the turn of the century and then some.
Until the mid part of the 20th century, there was very little restrictions on the land, the
water, there was very little attention paid to the homesteads except to gather the timber
taxes. There are those who would say that the agrarian life would ruin the land and the
water. But that did not happen. Yes, there were those few who would ignore good
practices but today most of the families of those pioneers are still farming that land and
feeding a large portion of neighbors.
Buffers
The proposal of buffers as suggested to date is inefficient, wasteful, overkill. III
conceived, anti-agriculture, one shoe fits all and needs to be designed to meet the specific
problems of the various conditions within the county.
Pioneers
The west was won by pioneers the hard way. The, pioneers often had problems with
predator wild animals, harvesting game to eat, and preserving food. The corollary is
that especially ifthere is insufficient funding a bold effort is dropped and the "go-along"
approach is fallen back on. That means the State prevails and the result is a plan which
does form neither a suitable plan but one which will need revising in the future. There
are many instances where the prescribed State plan allows modification for the particular
conditions for all or parts of a policy if the county can show that the modifications are as
good or better than the State prescribes. This is especially true with Counties such as
ours where one portion is very dry and the other extremely wet. One portion is timbered
and the other is more suitable to farming, Rather than go along we need to review how
other counties or States have solved the buffer problem.
Transferable Development Rights.
In 2008, the Washington State Grange resolved to help institute Transferable
Development rights. The legislation was then passed by the State but was restricted to
only King and Snohomish counties. Unfortunately, since Clallam and Jefferson Counties
could well use this method of land and agricultural zoning to preserve farmland and keep
it in farming while also having land for more efficient housing.. I will not go into the
details of how this works but 28 United States use it for land preservation. There are
many papers which layout the methodology available on the Internet. There have been
more than one person at planning meetings recommending the use ofTDRs in Jefferson
and Clallam Counties..