PORT TOWNSEND — A state-required shoreline master program update — which increases residential building setbacks from marine waterways and river and stream buffers — will affect all landowners in the county regardless of their distance from the water.
Jefferson County Assessor Jack Westerman III said on Wednesday that the shoreline regulations, if approved as drafted, will have an effect on taxes for everyone in the county.
“It’s a sure thing that for some waterfront homeowners, it would have a dramatic impact on the value of their property,” Westerman said.
“But even if the value of their land goes down, the county will still get the same amount of taxes.”
Westerman made his comments on the same day that the Jefferson County Planning Commission deliberated over its eventual recommendation to the Jefferson County commissioners.
Peter Downey, chairman of the commission, said the group has no rigid deadline for a decision.
“It’s supposed to be to the commissioners by June, but the planning commission really needs to go through it and take a look at it first,” he said.
“We don’t want to give the county commissioners a document they are going to get slammed on, as that wouldn’t do anybody any good.”
Proposed in the update are buffers of 100 feet on lakes and 150-foot setbacks on saltwater bodies and streams, with a 10-foot building setback from the buffer or setback.
The existing Shoreline Master Program requires waterfront buffers and setbacks of between 30 and 100 feet.
The proposal affects about 6,200 shoreline parcels and about 3,200 property owners, said county Associate Planner Michelle McConnell, and could take two years to make final.
The county has more than 250 miles of marine shore, 22 miles of lake shoreline and more than 238 miles of river frontage property, mostly on the county’s West End.
Local officials are currently huddling on the proposal to see what changes they can make, but the state Department of Ecology has the final say on the update.
Westerman’s analysis
Exact figures on the changes are impossible to define at this point, Westerman said, because the new regulations aren’t likely to be approved until 2011.
Westerman said he intends to let the three Jefferson County commissioners know about his analysis at their Monday meeting during the public comment period.
Westerman said that the county will collect the set levies for any given year — meaning that taxes throughout the county would rise to achieve that number.
“It results in a tax shift,” he said.
“The county itself won’t lose any money from this, but some property owners will lose value and others are going to pay more in taxes.
“You have to shift so everyone pays up to the full amount.
“The size of the pie stays the same but the size of the slices change for everyone.”
Planning Commission
On Wednesday night, with about a dozen people in the audience, Downey explained how commissioners will approach the update and consider changes.
“We need to create a Shoreline Master Program that works for Jefferson County,” he said.
“It needs to be easy to understand; it needs to be easy to enforce.
“It needs to address problems with existing regulations and respect the rights of private property owners.”
Public comment on the current draft is closed, but that didn’t stop a handful of people from commenting at the Wednesday night meeting, off the official record.
Most comments were concerning the position of Westerman that the plan would raise taxes.
Larry Carter, a Port Ludlow resident who owns shoreline property, said he was less worried about his property than about the county as whole.
“It’s obvious that the taxes are going to go up, and the property values are going to go down,” he said.
“Where are the winners?
“I think we all have a very mutual interest in protecting our shorelines, but who protects them?”
Carter said he didn’t want to see state bureaucrats on the shorelines of Jefferson County.
“Those who own shoreline properties, by and large, really care about their shoreline properties,” he said.
“I think the people who own their properties are better keepers of their property than they would be by becoming wards of the state.
“Let’s just leave it alone. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
More comment?
Barbara Blowers, a Port Townsend waterfront real estate agent, asked the commission point blank if the public would get a second chance to make official comments.
“You said you were going to review the Shoreline Master Program and said you were going to make changes,” she said.
“Are you going to give us another crack at it?”
Downey said it was his intent to give the public another chance to comment on any revisions.
“There are changes I would like to see,” he said.
“It’s my intent that, when we make changes, they will go back to the public for comment before we go to the commissioners with a final draft.”
Jefferson County planners said that the final draft from Jefferson County lawmakers would be sent to Ecology for review, and final adoption would likely take place sometime in 2010.
The state Legislature’s deadline for a decision is 2011.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
