Elect candidates that will adopt Island County shoreline rules

Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 20, 2024

Recently, the Island County commissioners wrote a new shoreline management document.

Some of the decisions around this issue are addressing seasonal sea level rise, which can be good or bad for how our shorelines and the environment they encompass are treated.

Last November, we had king tides, which are the highest tides of the year, and they flooded beachfront property and even roads on our island. I remember, last November, when roads and yards all along Mutiny Bay where flooded for about a week.

How do we adjust to homes and yards flooding along the shorelines? The options are moving the house, abandoning it to the sea, or lifting them onto stilt foundations.

Washington state has also had to deal with these issues, and has been making decisions, and notifying some land owners of their options, none of which includes cement bulkheads. We had such a decision in Island County in the 1990s, when at the southern part of Mutiny Bay, after the county had approved a cement bulkhead, the local citizens appealed the decision, and the state stopped the building of this bulkhead.

Now we get down to that question of the,“should” vs. “shall” in county regulation. My guess is, “should” means, it would be better for all of us if you did; “shall” seems to mean, you’re required to follow this regulation. The state of Washington seems to be making decision that you “shall” follow their rules, but a couple of the county commissioners, Republican Jill Johnson and Democrat Melanie Bacon, just like back in the 1990s, are saying you “should” not do cement bulkheads, but maybe we’ll let you?

Please support the Democratic candidates running against them, Christina Elliott and Maria Shimada, who will clearly govern, protect our shorelines, and not try and deceive us.

Gerald Hill

Freeland