9/12/17 Whatcom County Council meeting: Please come speak at open session RE the need to send the CAO back for more review / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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council agenda 091217

3 hrs  September 11, 2017  Wendy Harris

I have been informed that “Liberty Road” has invited private property rights advocates to swarm the County Council Public Hearings and Open Session tomorrow night. Among the purported offenses are public hearings for an Ordinance amending Whatcom County Code 8.13, Solid Waste Disposal District, regarding the Solid Waste Excise Privilege Tax (AB2017-244) and an Ordinance amending Whatcom County Code Title 20 Zoning and the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan relating to cumulative impervious surface coverage standards (AB2017-195). Continue reading →

Tell the County Council to Send the CAO Back For Revision / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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WAC critical areas

August 16, 2017  Wendy Harris  Action

The [Whatcom] county staff and council are not including the proper legal standard for CAO [Critical Areas Ordinance] protection. We must protect critical areas and the ecosystems in which they are located against a net loss of ecological function and value. Instead, the county limits review to critical areas to the development site, and maybe a short distance beyond (I am not sure if this has been changed.)

Tell the county to follow the law. Continue reading →

General Overview of Problems With Critical Area Ordinance / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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council-linked-page-to-cao

10 hrs  February 22, 2017  Wendy Harris

Will the council approve a Critical Area Ordinance (CAO) that does not comply with the GMA? It is looking more and more likely. I am sick to my stomach thinking that after just one “general issues” work session, council will be ready to vote on the updated Critical Area Ordinance. It really did not help that few people participated, but how could they when there was no real training provided on such a technical issue? Perhaps if the CAO was not improperly separated from the Comp. Plan update, it would have been easier to obtain public input. Continue reading →

Why Was County Staff Not Disclosing Relevant CAO Information?/ Letter to Whatcom County Council, Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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hi-res-study-wdfw

5 hrs  January 10, 2017  Wendy Harris
Dear County Council,
As you are aware, it is a fatal flaw in the CAO that the county lacks baselines standards to help measure and monitor the county’s success in meeting no net loss standards. Thus, I had begun reviewing this information on my own in an attempt to help the county better achieve GMA compliance. Continue reading →

The Samish Crest Logging Application; SEPA Review (Comments Due 10.19.16) / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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samish-logging-dns

Click the graphic to access City of Bellingham Current Planning Notices, where this notice and accompanying documents are about halfway down on the webpage at the date of this post.

 

6:00am  October 17, 2016  Wendy Harris

The Samish Crest Logging Application; SEPA Review
(Comments Due 10.19.16)

Need another reason to be concerned about an attempt to log 30% of this undeveloped habitat corridor in advance of eventual multi-million dollar homes?

How about this? Old Growth Forest. Continue reading →

The CAO Presentation To County Council / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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Yesterday at 3:17am  September 21, 2016  Wendy Harris

At the staff presentation to the county council on the Critical Area Ordinance, staff provided their goals and proposed changes (why are they making changes now?) without explaining how the CAO worked or how the new proposals fit into the CAO requirements. They skipped any mention of the Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas, and only mentioned farm plans with regard to an suggestion for an annual report. I felt this left the council and public uninformed. Continue reading →

What’s Riddled With More Holes Than Cheese? / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

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16.16.720 cao

Excerpt from Whatcom County, WWC 16.16 Critical Areas Regulations, Draft Adopted by Whatcom County Planning Commission 06-09-2016.  Click on graphic to access document.

June 13 at 5:38am  June 13, 2016  Wendy Harris

What’s Riddled With More Holes Than Cheese?

All the exemptions, exceptions, conditional and allowed activities inside critical area habitat conservation areas (The CAO [Critical Areas Ordinance]).

You may not realize all the activities that are allowed when we are protecting biodiversity because they are found in two locations, the specific Article provisions for that type of critical area, and in Article 2, which applies generally to all critical areas. Continue reading →