09/23/2008: " Guest Editorial "

Amendment to remove timing restriction for UDC: A Bad Idea

By Dr. Chris Clarke

During Council deliberations at the 9/9/08 hearing, Council Member Ranker made the comment that no one else does UDC amendments the way we do.

This prompted me to contact every other county in the state with the following three questions:

1. Are the Comp Plan, SMP, and UDC amendments done together?
2. Do you establish a docket and specific timeline for when amendments are allowed or processed?
3. Do you amend any of them more than once a year?

So far, I have received responses from about ¾ of the other counties. Council Member Ranker’s statement is correct as far as it went, but is only part of the picture.

No one else does it exactly like we do. However, no one does it exactly like anyone else either. And the proposed amendment will add yet another variation.

Important to this discussion is that some other Counties do docket and combine Comp Plan and UDC amendments into one process.

Our current code is a reasonable and viable method of addressing changes to the SMP, Comp Plan and UDC. It was developed from the bottom up by citizen committees just as is called for in the GMA process. It follows many years of meetings and consideration by those citizens and expresses their desires regarding the timing of amendments. It was reaffirmed by the Planning Commission when they voted not to endorse the proposed amendment.

The stated reason for the proposed amendment is that our system is the cause of the current backlog that exists in planning. Our system is not the culprit. Rather it is the destruction of and difficulties in rebuilding this department over the last 8 years. We have had multiple directors, complete turnover in senior planning staff, and difficulty recruiting because of the chaos.

The proposed amendment is a top down program driven by the current Director and staff. It is what they have done elsewhere and they do not want to adjust to our system. This was verified when Ms Hale stated that she had worked in many places and had never done it our way.

So the real questions are: Do we change our UDC to accommodate the preference of the current staff? And will we have to make further modifications to appease future staff?

Now that the department is fully staffed, they can reduce the existing backlog by committing to work within the framework developed by and for the residents of San Juan County. I encourage you to support the citizens’ wishes and preserve our system which is not broken.

(Chris Clarke is a founding member and past president of the environmental protection group the Griffin Bay Preservation Committee)

(The County Council will hold a public hearing at 2:00 pm on Tuesday (9-23-09) on the above question of when can changes be made to the land use regulations)