Dear editor,
I am 74, forming most of my views during the Vietnamese war, 3 political assassinations, resignation of President Nixon, horrible environmental degradation, and the Arab Oil crisis. For me, the future needed to use less energy and form rules to decrease ecological destruction, as did most other voters in this State.
This was the cauldron that created the Growth Management Act. I fought for and embraced it. The citizens of Anacortes (me) have been able to enjoy our farmlands, forests, fishing and city living, largely because of the of the GMA, and because citizens were given the power of their VOICE! The GMA mandated PUBLIC PARTICIPATION in the formation of local rules and laws, which we Anacorteans embraced. This period was a constant battle with old thinking, and it took some 20 years to finally integrate this powerful tool (GMA)to protect our natural resources, and helping cities to provide affordable services.
Anacortes benefits a whole bunch because of GMA rules on Concurrency, which requires cities to “plan” for growth by making sure services are there in each city to handle increase in population, thus our new 2025 Comprehensive Plan must include a factual review of costs of services in the future, and plan for it, meaning “WHO WILL PAY FOR GROWTH” and HOW!
The citizens of Anacortes will pay for this growth in partnership with developers, to provide services, housing, streets etc.. What will be the cost of our services in 10 years? Who will pay for those services? Hence the GMA was created to give people a voice.
How does the GMA do that in the cities? By pushing cities to manage and service the growth. By ensuring cities have the services necessary to do that, sewage treatment, clean drinkable water, housing, traffic, Storm water protection of salmon baring streams, etc. This is called CONCURRENCY. Before the GMA mandated public notification and participation, cities and counties had very little VOICE in these major decisions. The environment suffered greatly, farmland was being lost forever and cities found they were unable to effectively manage growth.
Every 10 years or so, Anacortes is required to review their Comprehensive Plan. This is the foundational document that protects our city and ecology. The Comprehensive Plan review requires “continual public review.” No longer can local governments create laws and protections without sufficient outreach. The GMA is rather meaningless without it as ultimately the citizens must embrace these principles and feel they are “heard.”
The GMA requires that we absorb 7000 people by 2040. This undoubtedly will put some of our critical areas in jeopardy and requires citizen approval. To avoid this most of us would rather increase density in housing, zoning etc. as cities have always done. How do we maintain our character and environment that we love and have spent many years creating?
We need more affordable housing. We need affordable services too. And we need to PARTICIPATE in order to protect and maintain what we have. The GMA provides the means, but the City is gradually eliminating the ways in which we can participate, such as outlawing “Conditional Use permitting.” If the City wants to put ADUs in every nook and cranny and allow Multifamily in all zones, will that block your view and reduce property values? These changes may be necessary, but without a conditional use permitting system, you will not get a say that has any value. PERIOD! It’s not rocket science! Big changes coming!
I believe we can live together. But it requires that we talk and listen to our neighbors. The complete elimination of conditions on these big changes coming is new and I fear it will cause a lot of confusion, anger and frustration among neighbors. What the City gains by faster permitting and increased population (tax dollars), may result in more problems and infighting.
Let the City know you want a say. Just once I would like a serious discussion at Council meetings of the comments and appeals. Just ONCE!
