Common Sense Alliance

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A Freshwater Shoreline Runs Through It

In 2006, Seattleites John Daring and his wife bought a lovely house on a 2.5-acre landlocked parcel on the west side of Orcas Island. Along their western boundary, on a neighbor’s parcel, is a small rocky ravine.

When the County prepared its 2009 draft update for wetlands related to the critical areas ordinance (CAO), it incorporated shorelines into the wetland map, despite there being no “critical area” requirement for shorelines. Shoreline protection is regulated under the Shoreline Management Act (SMA), and it is not clear how SMA requirements found their way into the County’s GMA CAO update, but they did.

When most people think of a “shoreline,” they think of the many of miles of coastal shoreline in the San Juans, and in fact, all the marine shorelines here have been designated as shorelines of statewide significance under the SMA. Few realize, however, that the SMA regulates freshwater shorelines too. Streams are covered along with rivers and lakes.

And that brings us to the rocky ravine next to the Daring property. They didn’t know it, but when they purchased their upland view home in 2006, the Darings were buying shorefront. The Darings say that the nearby ravine never has any water in it, and judging by the photos taken in the middle of a wet winter, that appears to be true. But like so many things in San Juan County, truth and fairness have little to do with how we treat our neighbors. The only thing that matters is what the County government believes.

It wasn’t until the Common Sense Alliance(CSA) published the now famous “pink maps” that the Darings realized that their property was affected by the draft CAO update. They asked the County for an explanation, and instead of providing an answer, the County referred the Darings to CSA. We showed them that, under the County’s proposal, their property is affected by a 100-foot buffer on each side of the “stream” in the nearby dry ravine.

The Darings have asked the County to fix the official CAO map so that the dry ravine next to their home is recognized for what it is, but they have received no County response. That is little surprise to CSA given that some county employees erroneously claim that the CSA “pink maps”, notwithstanding their origin in the county data-base, are simply being used to spread hysteria. The County refuses to admit the inaccuracies and other shortcomings of its maps and instead prefers to attack the CSA and refuses to deal forthrightly with property owners’ concerns.

In situations like the above, the County has rejected critical review. This leaves private citizens who must bear the burden of our local government's mistakes, with a justifiably bad impression. Is this how we want to see our neighbors treated?

Is your property in a wetland and/or a shoreline buffer? What does that mean to you? How do you want to be treated?

Link to the map for your island shown in the right side bar of this Homepage. The pink shading shows those parcels that may be affected by SJ County's Draft Critical Areas Ordinance. Please note:The maps are intended as an educational guide to assist in understanding the impacts of the proposed CAO. For more information on affected parcels, individuals should seek official information from the County Community Development & Planning Department and/or your Council Member.