ISLAND COUNTY: A Message from Commissioner Bacon [Mar. 15, 2024] (MELANIE BACON)

Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., Mar. 15, 2024.

Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 11^th week of 2024. We’re looking at a sunny weekend! Coming up next week: Spring!

• Regular Session.  The agenda and recording for the Tuesday March 5 Regular Session is here.
  • Congratulations to Mary Wilson Engle, celebrating 30 years of dedicated service to Island County! Mary started as a departmental assistant in the Assessor’s Office; became an appraiser and rose through the ranks of that job; was elected Island County Assessor in 2010; and has served as the Island County Planning and Community Development Director since 2020, a position she was offered due to her demonstrated leadership and management skills. Island County is sincerely grateful for the contributions Mary has made to our community over the last 30 years.
  • We held two water franchise renewal public hearings; both were approved.
  • The agenda for our Tuesday, March 19^th regular session is here. We will hold the three public hearings shown below. Note: do not expect us to vote on the SMP next week (could happen, but I’d be surprised) —Tuesday is just the date we continued the February public meeting to; we have a work session on SMP scheduled for Wednesday the 20^th so the vote on the SMP should be some weeks hence (I’ll let you know when I know). Also: if you want to give comment on the SMP, you should do so during regular public comment time at the beginning of our regular meetings, since the SMP public hearing comment period has closed.

• Upcoming BOCC Public Hearings (held during Tuesday board meetings, beginning at 10 am):
  • March 19: Compost Procurement Ordinance
  • March 19: New Franchise 58 W Camano
  • March 19: SMP, Public Hearing deliberation continued from 2/6.
  • March 26: Countywide Planning Policy
  • March 26: Franchise Renewal Whidbey Country Club
  • April 2: Opening an unopened County Right-of-Way known as Rowe Road (Camano)
  • April 2: 2023 Budget Amendment
  • April 16 (pending BOCC approval of date): Crescent Acres Water System
  • May 14 (pending BOCC approval of date): Franchise Renewal Saratoga Beach (Whidbey)
  • May 21 (pending BOCC approval of date): Marshall Drainage District Assessment
• Upcoming IRTPO Public Hearing
  • March 27, 10 am: Regional Transportation Plan
• Work Session. The agenda for the Wednesday, March 13^th work session is here. The recording is here. The presentation from Planning is here.
  • First on the agenda: a discussion of the recommended affordable housing developer for a County-owned property in Oak Harbor. Agreement to be contingent on financing, and on restrictive use for affordable housing. Our requirement is that these units will provide affordable housing in perpetuity, and not be subject to private market forces twenty or thirty years from now, as has happened with so many of the affordable housing projects of the 1970’s and 80’s.
  • Public Health brought an extremely interesting presentation on their Surface Water Quality Report, beginning at mark 0:08:03 in the recording, page 9 in the agenda. We talked about the streams that had poor, moderate, and good results, and the factors that contributed to those results. At mark 0:44:50 we talk about the relationship between our shoreline and our surface water.
  • We began a conversation that will no doubt come back to the Board: the pros, cons, and grant opportunities pertaining to implementing “unmanned aerial systems” for emergency management and for law enforcement. You can hear this beginning at mark 0:52:35 in the recording.
  • We have to solicit proposals for solid waste transportation and disposal services pending the December 31 expiration of a 2006 contract that can no longer be simply renewed. This discussion begins at 1:06:27 in the recording—and the reason I am including this administrative item in today’s newsletter is: the public should expect to pay more money in fees for solid waste services once the new  contract goes into effect (as our surrounding counties have experienced).
  • And beginning at mark 1:17:05 we return to our conversation on the Land Use Element of the Comp Plan, followed at mark 2:13:56 by our first discussion on the Housing Element of the Comp Plan.
  • The agenda for the Wednesday, March 20^th work session is here.  We’re looking at a Planning jamboree: the Shoreline Master Program (SMP) in the morning, and the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan in the afternoon.

• Planning Commission and the Comprehensive Plan Update: This is a link to the Planning Commission page. You can find details on their meetings and minutes, including Zoom info, here. The Planning Commission meets at 6 pm on the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday of each month; the agendas are published at least a week in advance.
  • During the March 13^th work session the Board finished our initial discussion of the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan and began the discussion of the Housing Element; we will continue with the Housing Element on March 20. 
  • The Board of Health will review the Natural Resources and Climate Elements Goal & Priorities at next week’s Board of Health meeting.
  • The Comprehensive Plan Update public engagement website is now live: https://www.islandcounty2045.com/. I encourage you to join and participate.
  • The next meeting of the Planning Commission will be held Wednesday, March 20. This is the agenda; they will discuss the Housing Element goals and policies.
• The Board of Health will meet next Tuesday afternoon; this is the agenda and Zoom info. We will discuss an appeal of a permit denial by Public Health, hear a presentation by our Department of Natural Resources on our planned pollution identification and control (PIC) program, and review the Natural Resources and Climate Elements Goal & Priorities for the Comp Plan update, including recommendations from Public Health and Human Services
• This was Fire Community week for me.
  • I spoke at the dedication ceremony and grand opening of the Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue Station 53, located on Race Road south of Coupeville. Many lives will be saved over the coming years by first responders and fire fighters working out of that station, which is itself a cause for celebration. Last night I attended the regular meeting of the South Whidbey Fire & EMS, to hear Chief Nick Walsh’s presentation on their 2024 Levy Lid Lift, which their Board of Commissioners voted last night to take to the voters in August. To learn more about this, go to www.swfe.org. If your organization would like their own presentation on this, contact Chief Walsh at chief@swfe.org.
  • And next Thursday I will attend another all-day meeting of the State’s Wildland Fire Advisory Committee, to continue our work updating the State’s 10-year Wildland Fire Protection Strategic Plan.

• Yesterday the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) met. The committee voted to authorize $50,000 in LTAC funds for community fireworks displays for the 4^th of July. A press release will be sent out today; the LTAC will accept applications from qualified organizations for two weeks. Personally, I am hoping that the Freeland Chamber of Commerce will apply.

• I’m looking forward to a nice day today: I’m attending the annual retreat of the Island County Marine Resources Committee (MRC), an advisory body to the county government established in 1999 and comprised of many community volunteers who represent diverse interests and industries, with the common goal to protect and restore marine resources in the Puget Sound area through scientific monitoring, restoration projects, and community education.

• The Economic Development Council (EDC) is sponsoring a free workshop on writing a business plan, in-person on Camano Island. For information and registration, go here.

• Habitat for Humanity is sponsoring a free class on safety in your home and your surroundings, March 19^th, 290 SE Pioneer Way, 6 – 7:30 pm, Contact Michelle at 360-679-9444 by 2 pm on Monday, 3/18/24 to RSVP.

• Nice news of the week: Since Island County was authorized to have a Veterans Servicer Officer (VSO) a couple of years ago, Island County veterans have recouped $1.1 Million in benefits due to our interventions and assistance.

• How progress happens in County Government: Fourth in a series. I’m using a simplistic, non-existent, non-controversial issue as the example through all of this: “I and my neighbors want the County to declare Orange as our official County color, and we want the County to pass a resolution about this and enshrine this in code. I am aware that there is another community in the County pressing for a different color to be declared “official”. But I know they’re wrong, and I and my neighbors are right. Also, I’m convinced that the Permitting Department is opposed to having an official color, because they think they won’t be able to enforce the code.”
  • Week 1: Where do I start?
  • Week 2: What will the Commissioners do with the information I’ve given them?
  • Week 3: What’s the value of public hearings—haven’t the Commissioners already made up their minds?
  • Week 4: How does a code get changed? (part 1)

• The County Codes are a collection of ordinances unique to Island County, and can be found here. Our codes are subordinate to State codes: the Revised Code of Washington and the Washington Administrative Code. By “subordinate”, I mean our code can be stricter than the State code (or Federal laws, which I’m not even going to try to find all the links for), but it cannot be more lenient (so if the State says the maximum speed limit is 70, Island County cannot legally set a speed limit of 80. But we can set a maximum speed limit less than the State’s, such as 50).  
• If the State changes one of their codes, such as the Building code, and our existing code is not as strict, we might have to change our code to reflect the stricter law. But whether we get around to changing our code or not, the State’s law supersedes ours. We cannot lift or flout restrictions established by State or Federal law.
• The Board of County Commissioners passes resolutions that change code. But before any code change resolution is passed, many things have happened. The code change may have been presented to the Board by a citizen, or a group, or from an elected official; it might have been identified as a recommended best practice by an industry or interest group; it might be the result of fallout from some new event, or come up from people using the existing code who noticed problems, inconsistencies, or gaps; or it might be part of a Planning document such as the Shoreline Master Program (SMP) or be included as a goal in the Comprehensive Plan. It will have been discussed and reviewed multiple times, in departments and offices of the County, and in advisory committees, and in Commissioner Work Sessions. The Prosecuting Attorney’s office has reviewed it. And it has been brought to a public hearing for public comment. At some point after the public hearing, the Board of County Commissioners will vote on the resolution to change the code.
• Next week: How does a code get changed? (part 2: an example)

• You can find all of my nesletters [sic] since January 2023 here.

• I have expanded my Monday meetings with citizens to include an hour each week in Coupeville. These are opportunities for you to meet in an open group to discuss anything County-related with me and anyone else who drops by. Below is my normal Mondays with Melanie schedule:
  • 1:30 – 2:30 pm, Cedar & Salt Coffee House, 200 S. Main Street, Coupeville
  • 3:00 – 4:00 pm, WiFire Community Space, 1651 E. Main Street, Freeland
  • 4^th Monday of the month: 5:00 – 6:00 pm, Clinton Community Hall, 6411 S. Central Avenue, Clinton

Melanie

“Don’t you know what that is? It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

~Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Detective