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| October 27, 2016 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Page A-8 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016
Kitten Season has arrived. We have a steady supply of
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Furry Friends Looking for a Home
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they're of
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See you there!"
Proudly sponsored by:
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and Shelton School District
For more information call 560-426-4412
Journal file photo by Gordon Weeks
The fog lifts over Lake Cushman on an early morning last month. Property
owners on the lake's west side voiced concerns with the latest draft of
Mason County's proposed updated Shoreline Master Program on Tuesday
night during a county commission meeting,
changes to
to meeting
By MICHAEL HEINBACH
michael@masoncoun com
Possible changes to Lake Cush-
man shoreline property designations
spurred property owners to pack Com-
mission Chambers earlier this week at
the county commission meeting.
The proposed change, part of the
county's latest draft of its Shoreline
Master Program, could affect permit-
ting and regulations for building or
subdividing properties on the lake's
west side, among other changes for
county shoreline.
Tuesday night was the first of two
hearings before the county commis-
sioners on the program; the second is
scheduled for Dec. 6. Once approved by
the county, the program will go to the
Department of Ecology for review, a 30-
day open comment period and, finally,
a 60-day appeal period.
"The reason for this update is Wash-
ington State's Shoreline Management
Act, RCW 9058, requires that all local
jurisdictions, all cities and counties,
update the Shoreline Master Programs
to meet the new guidelines that the
Department of Ecology has put out,"
county land use planner Rebecca Her-
sha said. "And because the Shoreline
Master Program is so intertwined with
our resource ordinance, which also
regulates a lot of the shorelines and
landslide hazard areas, we have also
revised the resource ordinance, espe-
cially the fish and wildlife habitat con-
servation area chapter, which pertains
to lakes and streams and salt water."
Attendees were able to ask questions
or comment during the public hearing's
testimony period to consider proposed
amendments.
The session lasted just over two
hours, the majority of which was spent
listening to and discussing the presen-
tation of the updated plan, given by
Hersha and assisted by Washington
State Department of Ecology represen-
tatives Tim Gates and Rick Mraz.
The 129-page plan, which has been
continuously updated since its original
drafL was released in January 2013,
was the product of 47 public meetings
and three public hearings previously
hosted by the county's Planning Advi-
sory Commission.
A concern to some attendees was a
specific change in the jurisdiction map
that covers shoreline environmental
designations. Many came seeking an-
swers to questions regarding changes
in designation to property on Lake
Cushman and how those would poten-
tially affect permitting and regulations
for building on or subdividing on those
properties.
The latest draft of the plan desig-
- nates the more-populated east side of
Lake Cushman as residential, while
the west side of the lake falls under the
conservancy umbrella. That would re-
quire the lake's west-side property own-
ers to secure conditional-use permits
to build any kind of structure on their
property. Those permits would require
a public hearing and additional crite-
ria. A conditional-use permit wouldn't
be necessary to build the same dock on
the lake's other side.
"To be honest, the west shore of
Lake Cushman, it has some charac-
teristics of both conservancy or rural,
which rural also would not require
the conditional-use permit," Hersha
said. "But it was found that they were
more closely related to the criteria in
the conservancy and that's, I believe,
why the west side was designated as
conservancy. Also, it's a shoreline of
statewide significance per the Shore-
line Management Act, which probably
had an impact as well."
After just over 10 minutes of public
testimony dedicated to the issue, dur-
ing which citizens raised their displea-
sure with the possibility of decreased
land-values on Lake Cushman's west
side due to increased building regula-
tions, commissioners Randy Neather-
lin and Terri Jeffreys deliberated brief-
ly on the topic.
District 2 commissioner Tim Shel-
don did not attend.
The item was then tabled until the
second hearing in early December.
Jeffreys closed the portion of the
meeting by urging for additional input
from concerned citizens.
"I just want the audience to know
that we've gotten your testimony and
if there is more, we will keep the re-
cord open for more testimony," Jef-
freys said. "We have other things that
weren't discussed tonight. If there are
questions, please, please, please be in
contact with us because we have to go
and potentially make some changes, at
the very least have some consideration
of asking Ecology to partner with us in
making this workable. Please keep in
contact with us through email, phone
calls and letters."
Earlier in the evening the county
commissioners voted 2-0 in favor of a
resolution authorizing the county to
deed nearly 30 acres of Squaxin Island
tidelands to the Squaxin Island Tribe
following a brief public hearing.
The land is being returned to the
tribe after it was improperly taken over
by the county in 1904.
"This has been a long:standing mis-
take in the county .records of county
land ownership," Jeffreys said. "I'd like
to credit Commissioner Sheldon for be-
ing an advocate for this issue and the
Squaxin Island Tribe. We are now fi-
nally able to correct the mistake."