Docks to become hot shoreline issue for county and state
September 24th, 2008 by cdunaganAnother waterfront property owner has received approval to build a dock on Dyes Inlet. Some residents have asked the Kitsap County commissioners to block the approval, and their lawyer has raised the issue of “cumulative impacts” in support of their opposition. See my story in today’s Kitsap Sun.
The need to consider “cumulative impacts” is a requirement that essentially asks this question: If one dock has little environmental impact, then how many docks can you build before you have significant environmental impact?
When Kitsap County’s Shorelines Management Master Program was first written in the 1970s, bulkheads, docks and other waterfront projects were routinely approved by the county commissioners. Biologists would speak up about their concerns regarding destruction of fish habitat, but nobody in authority paid much attention.
Eventually, the shorelines plan was changed to prohibit bulkheads unless they were needed to protect a structure, such as a house. As for docks, the plan was amended to encourage neighbors to share a dock to reduce the potential of having one for every waterfront property.
Docks could become an issue of discussion next year in Kitsap County and across the state as local governments begin to consider revisions to their shorelines plans. How many docks is too many — and should Dyes Inlet and Liberty Bay be treated the same as Hood Canal? Bainbridge Island has begun to limit docks in some locations, but Kitsap County has yet to put the brakes on.
The issue of docks will be just one of many items up for discussion next year. We’ll no doubt hear from environmental activists trying to preserve undeveloped shorelines while property-rights activists rail against government control.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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