||| FROM NECIA QUAST for LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS |||
At a public hearing, the county council reviewed the updates to the 2026 and the Six- Year Capital Improvement Plans. The 2026 plan includes environmental stewardship projects like solid waste, culvert replacements, stormwater improvements and creek, beach and wetland restoration projects. It includes road and marine facilities projects by public works, fleet replacement, Land Bank acquisitions, parks and fairground improvements, county building repair and improvement projects including the historic courthouse preservation project which received a state grant. The hearing was continued to December 15.
The county held a public hearing that continued both days on the one-year budget for 2026. The Auditor’s office presented a balanced budget for 2026 and asked the council to approve or reject new spending requests (“decision packages”) and proposed personnel cuts for 2026. They approved two environmental stewardship and two land bank items fully funded by dedicated revenue flows, the budget request for the coroner staff, as required under changed state law, and for a judge pro temp to cover maternity leave for the district court judge. They cut two small allocations and reduced allocations for personnel classification and code updates in 2026. They removed five positions from the list of potential cuts including one each for the Assessor’s Office, the Treasurer‘s Office and Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and two Sheriff’s Office positions. They left a final decision on a Facilities Department position for the next hearing date.
At a continued public hearing on the draft Comprehensive Plan three citizens expressed concerns that designating renewable energy projects as essential public facilities would reduce citizen input to siting such facilities. The long-term planner reviewed items that would be added to meet Department of Commerce requests on income bands, affordable housing barriers and gaps, subsidized housing units and land capacity analysis for emergency shelter. She described amended language to address tribal consultation. The plan would expand the Roche Harbor Masterplan area to the south to preserve existing wetlands in the current footprint while maintaining the existing 180 housing units and adding a 150-foot buffer zone along roads.
The Council approved the Environmental Stewardship department applying for $150,000 for a mooring buoy project under the Puget Sound Partnership Healthy Shorelines program. They also approved submitting the draft Solid Waste Management Plan to the state Department of Ecology for review.
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Thank-you NECIA QUAST for the LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS!
These Council decisions affect each of us.
Yes, thank you Necia for the update.
Though we all have a shared desire for recreational boaters to moor their boats in a responsible manner, approving the Environmental Stewardship Dept. application for $150,000 to install 44 new mooring buoys “without eliminating anchoring” at the same time only assures an increase in the numbers of boating tourists that will be coming into our waters… and will do so by the hundreds, if not thousands, per year.
I remember the multi-level plan to increase boating traffic in the San Juans as was laid out in the recent past (failed) SJC Destination Management Plan. Even though the plan failed, part of the plan (in the Ross Report) clearly spelled out the desire to promote the islands in a way that would accommodate more boating tourists.
From P-70 of the Draft Destination Management Plan–
Assess environmental, cultural use and social conditions
at popular bays and access points; set standards
for each. Install public mooring buoys for rent (and
eliminate anchoring in such areas) in order to support
orderly, sustainable destination access while protecting
environmental and cultural resources.
Establish reservation system for public mooring buoys
in popular locations at densities that preserve the
environment and visitor experience. Develop and
publicize overnight visiting boat counts as an indicator of
this important accommodation sector.
https://ehq-production-us-california.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/c68fea01111fe891f37c9c5ac0bbe5d53c514463/original/1721340109/cf363608a9b6c7d76111f7d976352faf_San_Juan_Islands_Destination_Management_Plan_%28SDMP%29_-_Preliminary_Draft_2023.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIPIPQP5NM%2F20251204%2Fus-west-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251204T050915Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=288d9703c7f7e97168db9145520e00fefd1d159dbf6aff54360144c99c20b7d3
I have a hard time believing that someone from Seattle sits around and says “This year we are are going to take a trip to the San Juans because there is a nominally better chance we can tie up to a buoy instead of anchoring”. Most boaters I see have more than adequate ground tackle and are completely happy anchoring here in the summer, when winds are light.
This is one of the first useful things I have seen the Department of Environmental Stewardship do and I commend them for taking on something that actually moves the needle a tiny bit, instead of their usual performative endeavors.