Keep Rural Areas Rural

Open letter to the Planning Commission from Dean Enell

Dean is a former Planning Commissioner and current climate activist with Whidbey Climate ACTION.

I understand that the Island County Planning Commission might be proposing an increase to the number of detached accessory dwelling units (ADU's) allowed in the rural areas of the County (currently set at 35). As one who was quite involved in that original 1998 Comprehensive Plan undertaken by our County, I thought it necessary to speak to why that limit was imposed and why it has been maintained all these years.

A major reason why that original Comp Plan was undertaken back then was to maintain the rural character of Island County, since we were witnessing a rather disturbing growth of residential development in the rural areas. Sound familiar to our present dilemma?

This concern coincided with four (numbers 1, 2, 3, and 9) of the main goals on Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) which are copied below for your reference.

For the last 20 plus years, in three of the four planning areas of the county growth has exceeded 85%, which is the forecast and plan for the next 20. These three areas are South Whidbey, Central Whidbey and Camano Island. This update cycle, the County Planning Department has adopted a new way of planning for growth in the rural areas, which, in my mind, obfuscates what's really going on. They no longer look at these specific areas, they consider the entire County as one entity. The result leaves Oak Harbor with a healthy, planned population growth at the expense of other three areas. Seems to me that the growth in the city of Oak Harbor should be unrelated to the growth on South Whidbey, some 40 miles away.

We have two challenges before us. One is affordable housing and the second is maintaining our rural character and avoiding sprawl. We know that growth is not currently occurring in South Whidbey's NMUGA of Freeland. I would strongly recommend that we plan for and promote urban growth there, rather than growing the rural areas by adopting a solution such as increasing that limit of 35 detached ADU's. Increasing ADU's defies the very purpose of why we did a Growth Management Act in the first place. Your upcoming study of completing one or more smaller sized sewers in Freeland, is spot on. Restricting overnight rentals in this NMUGA is another good idea.

Let's not move backwards on rural sprawl!

Thanks for your consideration.

Reference: Goals of the WA State GMA, rural character goals highlighted.

Urban growth. Encourage development in urban areas.
Reduce Sprawl. Reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land.
Transportation. Encourage efficient multimodal transportation systems.
Housing. Plan for and accommodate housing affordable to all economic segments.
Economic development. Encourage economic development throughout the state.
Property rights. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation having been made.
Permits. Applications should be processed in a timely and fair manner.
Natural resource industries. Maintain and enhance natural resource-based industries.
Open space and recreation. Retain open space, enhance recreational opportunities.
Environment. Protect the environment and enhance the state's high quality of life, including air and water quality, and the availability of water.
Citizen participation and coordination. Encourage the involvement of citizens.
Public facilities and services. Ensure that those public facilities and services necessary to support development shall be adequate.
Historic preservation. Identify and encourage preservation.
Climate change and resiliency. Ensure that comprehensive plans, development regulations, and regional policies, plans, and strategies adapt to and mitigate the effects of a changing climate.
Shoreline management (RCW 36.70A.480).