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While I was away in sunny Maui last week, quite a bit of action
happened on the Illahee Community Plan.
The last I’d written about the plan was the planning
commission’s recommendation of the document to the board of county
commissioners (that happened on Sept. 23) following the planner’s
Sept. 9 public hearing. At that public hearing no one spoke out
against the plan.
But last week the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners and the
Kitsap County Association of Realtors presented public testimony at
the county commissioners’ and planning commissioners’ meetings
against the plan. The Realtors also sent a letter, dated Oct. 3,
2008, to county commissioners and KAPO followed up with its own
letter, dated Oct. 13, 2008.
I’m not going to get into the contents of the letters, because
that can be read in my story, written for the Oct. 22 paper.
I listened to the audio of the planning commission hearing online, to see what I missed. Vivian
Henderson, executive director of KAPO, and Richard A. Brown,
government affairs chairperson for the board of Realtors, voiced
their concern.
I called Henderson Tuesday, to ask why KAPO hadn’t made its
opposition known at the planning commission hearing on the plan. I
also asked why Illahee Plan? Had KAPO opposed other community
plans?
She told me KAPO wrote its letter to support the Realtor letter,
and KAPO hadn’t formed its position on the plan in time for the
Sept. 9 planning commission hearing.
This is the first community plan KAPO has opposed, Henderson
said, stating in the past the board did not analyze plans like the
Kingston Community Plan (which is the same concept as the Illahee
plan), because “we’re just volunteers, we can only keep up with so
much.”
Because it was brought to the board’s attention that county
commissioners are allowing what it considers a “proliferation of
subarea plans throughout the county,” Henderson believes the
organization will now “start keeping our eyes on” community plans
as they arise.
Richard A. Brown, speaking as a private citizen and not on
behalf of the board of Realtors, said in his capacity as a member
of the Buildable Lands Committee, he was told that the Illahee
Community Plan would never be approved. He couldn’t remember where
he’d heard that, but said he hadn’t paid much attention to the
status of the plan until he learned county commissioners would be
voting on it this year.
In his estimation, Brown said he believes that this plan is
politically motivated and has been pushed through by CK
Commissioner Josh Brown.
“This plan is being done to lower the density in the Illahee
area as a pay back to the neighbors for supporting Josh Brown in
the election,” he said.
Commissioner Brown responded by saying: “I think that’s more
telling about how Dick looks at supporting politicians than my
outlook on things… I find it completely insulting that Dick Brown
would make such an egregious statement about me personally. He has
attacked my ethics.”
Commissioner Brown went on to remind me that he inherited the
plan from his predecessor CK Commissioner Patty Lent, who had
worked with the Illahee community on its plan, which they initiated
in early 2006. He added if Illahee residents had it their way,
they’d have removed themselves from the Urban Growth Area.
“The Illahee community has wanted to be pulled out of the UGA
and I don’t agree with that and I’ve been upfront with the
community about that,” he said. “I’ve worked with them to balance
growth with development and quality of life.”
Getting back to the letters… The Realtors cited concerns about
what the organization sees as “limited opportunity for public
participation.” Both entities believe the general public should be
involved in the writing process of the plan, instead of having to
wait until the board of county commissioners hear the matter for
approval.
Richard A. Brown questioned the notification process of the
meetings, stating “we’re currently researching to find out if the
meetings were open to the public and if people were properly
notified of the plan.”
Jim Aho, Illahee resident and CAG member, said all the meetings
were open to the public — Illahee resident or not — and the Illahee
Community Club has posted updates on the plan, as well as the plan
itself, on its Web site.
Because the community had worked on a community plan for two
years before the county got involved (hoping the plan would be
adopted at the end of 2007) many people involved in the original
writing of the plan didn’t get involved the second time around
because they were burnt out, Aho said. There were also some who
were leery of the county’s involvement, fearing their hard work
would be thrown by the wayside for county regulations.
According to Aho, when the community prepared for its initial
writing of the plan, community members posted signs along heavily
traveled Illahee roads, hand delivered over 1,000 newsletters to
Illahee residents about the plan, sent emails and did everything
possible to get community involvement.
The same happened when the county got involved. The county kept
the plan posted to its Web site, including meeting dates, updates on
the status and current drafts, Aho said. Planners working with the
community on the plan also sent out three post cards at three
separate times to all residents living within Illahee’s boundaries,
telling them of the CAG and how to get involved, according to
Katrina Knutson, DCD planner.
I also covered meetings and wrote articles (and blog posts) to
update the public on the process of the plan on the following
dates:
March 5, 2008
May 27, 2008
Aug. 26, 2008
Sept. 10, 2008
The next step is for the county commissioners to hear the plan
in a work study session. That’s scheduled for early November, with
a Nov. 24 date for public testimony. The board will make its
decision on the plan (potentially) at its early December
meeting.
Here is a PDF file of the two letters submitted to the county by
KAPO and the Realtors.
kapo-testimony_101408
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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