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Residents object to prairie rules

Two-hour Hearing: Commissioners have approved regulations they say will help protect habitat, wildlife

CHRISTIAN HILL; The Olympian | • Published September 16, 2009

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Property owners voiced strong opposition during a hearing Tuesday night to interim regulations that county commissioners have approved to protect more prairie and oak habitat.

The ordinance would bring scrutiny and regulation by county government to more property owners who want to develop in areas that officials say are rapidly disappearing, threatening animals that live there.

About 30 people testified against the ordinance during the nearly two-hour hearing. A little more than a dozen people voiced support for it.

Proponents said the regulations are needed to protect the dwindling acreage of these sensitive areas for future generations.

“Our prairies are dying a death of a thousand cuts,” Michael Leigh said.

Critics said the regulations infringe on private property rights and further restrict development on property already saddled with restrictions.

“If this ordinance was a plant, I’d have to call it an invasive species,” Patrick Coolen said.

Jill Nelson said her farm has been in her family for more than a century and that they’ve already fought off recent attempts by government agencies to take or regulate the property. The farm is “being regulated to death” and now comes more restrictions that could result in its loss, she said.

“Make it easier for us to be farmers, not more difficult,” she said.

Added Gene Weaver: “Please consider adding one more critical species on the list, and that’s the taxpayer.”

Sharon Coontz, a member of Friends of Rocky Prairie, which is lobbying to protect industrial land from development, said the absence of these regulations could invite even more onerous regulation. Without these areas, threatened species will continue to die off and prompt the federal government to step in through the Endangered Species Act.

“I think you’re working to protect property rights,” she said.

About 3 percent of native south Puget Sound prairies still exist, according to The Nature Conservancy, and some of the most valuable areas are in Thurston County. Wildlife that the state considers threatened or endangered live in these areas, including the Mazama pocket gopher, the Western gray squirrel and the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly.

County commissioners passed the interim ordinance July 28. By law, they must hold a public hearing on an interim ordinance within 60 days of approving it.

Senior Planner Cynthia Wilson said the interim ordinance reflects the best science available.

Currently, property owners on or within 600 feet of a critical area must get county approval of a report that identifies these areas and how effects from development will be minimized.

The ordinance requires the report for prairie and oak habitat at least an acre in size. The prior ordinance required a plan for 5 or more acres. Areas smaller than an acre also may be protected if they are shown to be connected to a larger wildlife corridor.

No plan is required for redevelopment or remodeling on an existing footprint and minor road repair.

“This is not a development moratorium,” Wilson said. “This will not prevent people from building homes on their property or remodeling their homes.”

The ordinance says an area no longer must be dominated by prairie plants to be considered a prairie for preservation under the ordinance. Invasive species, notably Scotch broom, have overrun many prairie areas.

A new soil type has been added to the list used to identify prairie areas. More than 600 additional parcels will fall under the regulations as a result.

Commissioner Cathy Wolfe said commissioners will consider the comments before the matter is brought back before them for a decision in October. The county is updating its critical-areas ordinance, a requirement under the Growth Management Act, and it’s expected the prairie and oak habitat regulations will be wrapped into that update. The update to the critical-areas ordinance is scheduled to be adopted in March.

Christian Hill: 360-754-5427

chill@theolympian.com