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04/26/2006: "CC May Ask Court To Rule On Guesthouses"

(County Council chambers: Public Hearing on Guesthouses)

With every seat taken, and an overflow of citizens from the hallway peering into the Council Chambers, the County Councilmen listened for several hours to a roomful of concerns, criticisms, cautions, complaints, and some constructive council, on how the Council might extricate themselves from the ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) morass.

Of the estimated seventy members of the public who showed up, 27 addressed the Council-some more than once- to testify against the ordinance; three members of the leadership of the Friends, and one general member -who also serves on the Planning Commission- spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance that would, in effect, ban guest houses outside of high density areas; but would allow duplexes throughout the county, as long as one of the units was 1000 Sq Ft or less.

The comments against the ordinance were not without a theme. Koshi Holt of San Juan Island expressed a recurring response to the Council's dismissal of the overwhelming county-wide support for guesthouses. She referenced the advisory ballot measure that had received over 74% approval by the voters. She told the Council that "Anytime government ignores the result of a vote, it is very scary"

A second theme was expressed by Patty Miller, of the general distrust and criticism of the Council for working with a special interest group. A group that the Council held membership in, and Kevin Ranker was once a paid employee of. Miller testified on the need for open government, and that "there is another process the Friends of the San Juans have used, that is outside of the public process" .

Former County Commissioner John Evans seemed to strike the right chord with the Council, when he summed up a recurring desire expressed in the testimony, that the Council needed to go back to the Court of Appeals and ask them to issue a decision. That will allow the County to know what the County can do with respect to guesthouses. He told the Council that "Things have changed since the County appealed to the court" , and that if the Council was to re-draft the ordinance to allow guesthouses attached to outbuildings, "the Council can put this behind them" .

By the time the public had completed the public input portion of the hearing, there was not time for the Council to give the matter full deliberations and reach a decision. While Chair Lichter was silent, both Ranker and Myhr expressed their general current positions, or opinions, on what the Council should do.

Myhr had prepared a hand-out of "A proposed Solution" that would allow ‘one guest house (detached, accessory dwelling unit) on any parcel with a single family residence, subject to restrictions on size, location, ownership, occupancy, and proximity to the main house' as supported by our voters in the 2004 advisory ballot".

Ranker apologized to the public "that this has taken so many years" , and stated that the original idea of the Planning Commission to allow ADUs to be attached to a garage or a barn was "an excellent idea" . He then said that he was also in favor reversing the Council's request to the Court of Appeals to stay the release of their judgment, and ask the Court to decide the case before them.

With that the Council ran out of time, and Chairman Lichter said he would make his comments at the next meeting, which would be a continuation of the current one, for deliberations only.