ISLAND COUNTY: REMINDER: Upcoming Speed Limit Evaluation Project Open House (JANET ST. CLAIR)

Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair (D-Camano Island) sent the following email to constituents on Tue., Sep. 19, 2023.

Dear Friends,

Whew!  It has been a busy month and lots of interest and concerns about what’s going on in Island County.  I want to take a moment to share some information and let you know I will continue to remain open to your thoughts and ideas.

First, there was a lot of concern about wildfire risk following the tragedy in Maui County and the devastation in Lahaina.  I know many may have attended the meeting held by our Fire Chief Levon Yengoyan where they talked about wildfire risk, prevention and what we can do to prepare.  There was a request for the Board of Island County Commissioners to also hold a workshop on this issue with our Director of Emergency Management, Eric Brooks.  This was held last Wednesday during our regularly scheduled work session.  Our fire districts were also represented with fire fighters from Camano Island Fire & Rescue and Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue.  There was a study of the Lahaina fire, similarities and differences between that island and our islands, information on County preparedness and good information on what we all can do to protect and prevent wildfires in our neighborhoods.  You can access the presentation here and the audio recording can be accessed here with the presentation by DEM beginning at approximately 44:49 into the recording.

Second, as many know, Island County has been engaging in an extensive speed limit evaluation and consideration of potential changes to speed limits on both islands.  There have been good questions as to the purpose and process on this study.  The evaluation project began update Island County’s policy and procedure in setting speed limits.  The update will provide the inclusion of historical data collection alongside new industry recognized data such as multi modal use and pedestrian activity.  There was not good current data or a good process on how to address those requests so rather than consider them as “one off” requests, we commissioned this study. 

I have spoken about this work at my Town Hall earlier this summer and have been having multiple outreach open house meetings for folks to come and interact with the information and talk with staff and Commissioners.  The plan by the Board and Public Works was to complete the industry study by our consultant using standard data gathering and to make recommendations based on that data.  Because the Board wanted to be sure this effort had extensive public input, we then planned the multiple in-person open houses, a virtual open house and public outreach through social media and government mailings. Many of you have participated, and I want to share how much I appreciate the thoughtful responses I have received.  These will all be taken into consideration by the Board before any decisions are made.  If you wish for more information, please click here: News Flash • Island County, WA • CivicEngage (islandcountywa.gov)  You can offer input online: Island County Speed Limit Evaluation (arcgis.com) or simply email the Board of County Commissioners: CommentBOCC@islandcountywa.gov

There was a recent meeting for the speed study on Camano and some confusion as to why I wasn’t in attendance.  As I frequently meet and hear from Camano constituents (whether by email, in the office, or in the grocery store) I covered a meeting for Commissioner Bacon on South Whidbey so she could attend the meeting on Camano and hear directly from constituents with Commissioner Johnson.  We are all working to be sure we listen to constituents from all areas of our islands.  I also heard that we had unprecedented attendance at the Camano meeting and some folks were frustrated about their ability to participate.  I am happy to cover this issue again at my Town Hall on October 12 at 5 pm at the Camano Administration Building.  We will have special guests from Camano Fire & Rescue and Island County Public Works.  I will let Chief Yengoyan speak first as he has a meeting later that evening, but I will stay as long as needed for those who want in-person contact on issues they wish to address.  I’ll also try (again) to have a virtual hybrid option but that has proven a bit challenging.  Stay tuned for more information.

Thank you for your participation in your local government.

-Janet