Letter to the Editor | Decatur’s open-space decision deserves countywide attention

||| FROM AMY LOVELESS-WHITNEY ||| 

San Juan County’s October 1 approval relocating recorded open space for OPALCO’s proposed Decatur solar expansion raises questions that matter throughout our islands.

The County acknowledges that portions of the replacement open space overlap land already protected by a Native Growth Area covenant. It maintains that those protections remain enforceable and that the revised configuration meets conservation requirements. County explanation

But maintaining a percentage labeled “open space” does not, by itself, demonstrate that the same conservation benefits remain. How much previously protected land becomes available for development?

How much replacement acreage was already protected? What additional protection, if any, does the revision provide?

The County should publish a clear before-and-after map and acreage accounting, together with the ecological evidence supporting its conclusions.

Wildlife movement deserves particular scrutiny. The application describes six-foot fencing topped with one foot of barbed wire around the solar-array areas. How will animals move through the revised landscape once those barriers are installed? Washington Fish and Wildlife’s solar guidance recommends avoiding barbed wire, preventing dead ends, and designing fencing to accommodate wildlife passage where appropriate. Application materials; WDFW guidance, page 44

Connected boundaries on a map are not enough. The public deserves evidence that the remaining habitat will function on the ground.

Has the County approved comparable arrangements before? Is the same revision pathway available to individual homeowners, companies, and utilities, under consistently applied standards? If this decision is new, what will prevent it from becoming a justification for weakening recorded protections elsewhere?

This approval does not itself authorize filling wetlands or reducing their physical boundaries. The concern is whether overlapping conservation designations releases previously protected land without providing equivalent protection elsewhere-and whether forest cover, natural drainage, and wildlife connectivity remain adequately protected.

Our wetlands and surrounding forests form interconnected living systems. Stewardship requires protecting those functions for future generations, not simply satisfying acreage calculations.

Residents who have encountered environmental permit restrictions may wish to ask how the County distinguishes their circumstances from this approval.

The identified appeal deadline is October 22, 2026. Anyone considering an appeal should promptly confirm filing requirements and fees; ordinary comments or telephone calls do not substitute for an appeal. County appeal rules, SJCC 18.80.140

Please contact Community Development Director Sev Jones at sevj@sanjuancountywa.gov, reference LANDUSE-26-0123, and request the supporting evidence and comparable decisions.

This deserves countywide attention while there is still time to participate.