Thurston County announces change in gopher habitat reviews

Thurston County officials announced Monday a major policy change for land use permitting on property where there’s evidence of the threatened Mazama pocket gopher.

Applicants for land use permits who have the critter on their property and who meet all other county permit requirements may get their building permits in a time frame that is outlined in the 2012 Thurston County Critical Areas Ordinance, according to a new release.

Property owners are still encouraged to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and “meeting those federal requirements will be incorporated as a condition of approval, which accompanies most permits,” a news release stated.

“People still need to work with Fish and Wildlife if they’re going to impact gophers,” said Andrew Deffobis, an associate planner with the county. “We’re encouraging people to work with them and essentially prepare something that satisfies all of these requirements.”

In addition, permit applicants will now be able to hire a qualified professional to write a critical area report and propose mitigation.

The county’s earlier interim permitting process required applicants with evidence of gophers to work directly with the federal government to mitigate for loss of gopher habitat or wait completion of the county’s Habitat Conservation Plan before moving forward with the permitting process and developing their land.

The board’s recent decision has “cut some of the government out of it,” County Commissioner Bud Blake said.

Officials say the change was in response to the state Growth Management Hearing Board’s May finding that a portion of the county’s permitting process — the final step, which addressed what happened if gophers were found on a property — was out of compliance with the state’s Growth Management Act.

Three groups, including the Olympia Master Builders, filed a complaint about the county’s four-step review process with the hearings board. The groups also filed a lawsuit in Lewis County Superior Court asking for an injunction against Thurston County’s interim permitting process governing land use in areas believed to be gopher habitat.

On July 7, the Board of County Commissioners voted 3-0 to replace “step four” of the gopher review process, which had been recommended by the federal agency, with the Thurston County Critical Areas Ordinance.

On July 12, the county issued a news release about a growing backlog of gopher habitat reviews due to federal cutbacks. U.S. Fish and Wildlife recently informed the county that the agency’s biologists will be able to survey property for gophers with county biologists three days a week, instead of four, as they did last year.

However, there was no mention that the County Commissioners had already voted to loosen some of the federal requirements.

Brent Butler, director of resource stewardship for the county, said it took several weeks to make the announcement because all three commissioners were involved with editing the final draft.

“Controversial issues like the gopher take a bit of time,” Butler said.

On Monday, Troy Nichols, executive officer with the Olympia Master Builders, said he hadn’t heard about the board’s vote or the county’s policy change. He said the commission’s decision to return to the 2012 process “represents a step in the right direction.”

“They’re first of all admitting that they’re out of compliance with the CAO, which I think is good,” he said. “The first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one.”

However, Nichols said he still has concerns about some of the details of the new policy, including the county’s statement that conditions could be placed on the building permits.

“Thurston County seems to be bending over backwards to let U.S. Fish and Wildlife dictate their land use processes,” he said.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Thurston County announces change in gopher habitat reviews."