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07/30/2007: "You’re In Violation! Oh…Never Mind"

(Friends of San Juans photo)

The removal of trees on waterfront property is tightly controlled and regulated by the San Juan County land use codes, so the bare patch of land shown in the photo above might appear to be an example of a shoreline violation.

That was certainly the conclusion the FOSJ (Friends of the San Juans) arrived at, and Amy Trainer, staff attorney for the Friends, researched the project and fired off a two letter to Ron Henrickson, Directory of the SJC Community Development & Planning Department, asking the County to “issue a stop work order immediately, and re-establish the setback of the house to 100 feet as required in our SMP (i.e. Shoreline Master Program -ed)”; and then went on to quote code references and advise as to what the County must do, and labeling the Counties actions as unacceptable.

Only problem was, the landowner had cleared the land as required by a county requirement for a “drainage plan” to meet county stormwater demands. The land clearing was necessary to install the approved plan. The plan called for a standard drainage ditch in front of the house. The house was allowed to be closer than the 100 foot setback called for by Trainer, because the setbacks allowed by the restrictions on the original plat were approved by the County prior to the passage of the shoreline regulations, and therefore were “grand-fathered” conditions. As for the stormwater plan, it was filed with, and approved by SJC Public Works, and a copy was part of the overall approval of a building permit for the property.



Once the County went back and reviewed the file they realized the property owners had simply been following the conditions of the permit, and as a result the stop work order was lifted.

When the owners of the property received the stop work order for following the permit requirements, they were just a little upset that the Friends had failed to properly research the project, or contact them, prior to demanding the County issue a stop work order, or making allegations that turned out to be incorrect.

Francine Shaw, who at one time was a director of CD&PD, had been hired by the property owners to acquire the necessary permits to construct a home on the property. Shaw sent a letter to The Friends pointing out that “your letter is wholly incorrect and is based on inaccurate facts”, and went on to demand a letter of apology be sent out to all concerned.

This is not the first time a project for one of Shaw’s clients has come under fire from The Friends. In one past case, attorney Trainer complained that the proponents of a project had not come to the Friends to discuss their project before they received approval by the County, and had they, perhaps it would not have been necessary for the Friends to have appealed the project to the Hearing Examiner (which the Friends ultimately lost).

In the current case, Shaw pointed out her past attempts ”to talk about and resolve theses types of issues before the FOSJ go off making false accusations..” and that “not once have you ever taken us up on this offer”. In a parting shot, Shaw wrote “This pattern of behavior is malicious, libelous, and is doing nothing to enhance FOSJ’s former reputation as an environmental watchdog agency”.

Director Ron Henrickson said that his department and Public Works would be looking at possible changes to the code to insure this did not happen in the future. When asked what type of changes were needed, he said that he was not willing to discuss it at this time.