Another chapter is added to the Woods View saga
September 23rd, 2008 by cdunaganSomething remarkable happened at Monday night’s meeting of the Kitsap County commissioners. The commissioners let their hair down and told Manchester residents how they really felt about the Woods View development.
They don’t like it.
It’s remarkable because their comments came after they had essentially approved the project. It seems they felt forced into approving the development. They said it was legally vested, met all the county’s development rules and was approved by the county hearing examiner, who examined the legal facts.
The pros and cons of this project have been discussed at some length. From the beginning, opponents have been worried about damage to nearby Beaver Creek. Now we know that the commissioners really don’t like Woods View, even though they approved it. Steve Bauer was the most outspoken:
“If I lived there, I would be opposed to this, too. I feel the whole project was insensitive to the community…”
“I think it is a bad development…”
“We’re giving the illusion to people that we can exercise judgment about what is reasonable. It’s not good to approve something that we feel will be bad for the community…”
Read the full story in
today’s online version of the Kitsap Sun.
I won’t list all the stories I’ve written over the past two years about the issue of Woods View and tiny legacy lots platted a century ago, but you may want to review the first investigative piece from August of 2006.
Tags: Manchester Heights, Woods View
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Chris,
Your reporting has been accurate and thorough-What I don’t understand though is why the hard copy version of your article in today’s paper was slashed so badly? I understand the need to edit, but I question WHAT was edited. The public at large who do not have computers NEED to know ALL of what took place last night-specifically what you have posted on your blog regarding the Commissioners’ candid opinions of the Woods View Project. I truly appreciate your reporting but I can’t help but think you are only reaching “half” of the Kitsap Community due to the editors of the Kitsap Sun. Is that just the way it is? Thanks Chris, Jackie
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Don’t worry, Jackie. Deadlines for the morning newspaper are more constraining than for the Web. Right now, the newspaper deadlines are even earlier, because our press crew is still working out the bugs on a new press addition.
So what I did last night was write a short story for today’s paper so that people would know what the commissioners decided. That story was filed before the commissioners got around to expressing their personal feelings about Woods View at the end of the meeting.
I stayed and wrote down all those comments, which I added to the first story and posted the whole thing on our Web site before midnight last night.
This morning, I revised the various information, so that tomorrow’s newspaper readers will get the rest of the story. As a result, the first newspaper story wasn’t cut, as it might seem. It just was completed and on the way to your home before the Web version went online.
Newspaper readers will get the rest of the story tomorrow.
I hope this explanation isn’t more than you wanted to know. And thanks for your kind words.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Hi again Chris!
Oh I am so relieved and noooo this explanation is not more than I needed to know-I “get it” now lol…Thanks for responding and I look forward to your article in tomorrow’s paper-the “rest” of the story is so very crucial-let the truth be told -it truly was remarkable wasn’t it?
Jackie
September 24th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I’d like to weigh in on the online/paper versions of the Kitsap Sun. I subscribe but stopped reading the paper version months ago….unless someone tells me of something specific in the paper addition of interest to me that I didn’t get online.
That said…I would like to get the entire paper online and willing to pay the full subscription for the savings in trees, ink and landfills.
Why isn’t the full paper content available to the online subscribers?
When will it be available?
Thanks Chris … our waterways are vitally important and you do a great job of informing and stimulating conversation… Thank you.
Sharon O’Hara
September 24th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Sharon:
The simple answer to your question is that many of the things published in the paper are on our website, and most of the content is on the web site first. But there is some content (wire service stories, syndicated columns) that we don’t have the right to put online because the original owner of the content has that right.
Also, there are a few things that don’t necessarily translate from print to online well … some kinds of graphics, for example.
There are, of course, many things available to online readers that are not available to print readers, including videos, interactive graphics, instantaneous comments and photo galleries.
We strive every day to make our web site dynamic and up-to-date, but we still have some readers who never read us online; and some readers who only read us online.
As we go along, the increased cost of publishing in print (paper has always been the second largest overall cost to the Kitsap Sun, behind payroll; and the cost of paper has doubled in the past year) is going to force us to keep reconsidering what we put in the daily newspaper and what we save or produce specially for the web. The future is moving more and more to the web.
But there are still customers who prefer the printed newspaper, both as advertisers and as readers. We will continue to serve them in some way until we see evidence that those customers no longer want a printed newspaper.
Jeff Brody
Kitsap Sun
September 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Great article today Chris! Thanks once again for your coverage-I hope you will continue to cover this story as it proceeds to Superior Court…Thanks also to Jeff Brody for your explanation as well concerning hard copy vs. Internet…I prefer the Online version as well but have learned that sometimes I miss out on certain items by not buying the hard copy…Anyway, thanks! Jackie Miller
September 24th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Thanks Jeff Brody…
I hope the paper edition never goes completely away but evolves as the online edition has.
Thanks for informing….
Sharon O’Hara