CHIMACUM — Members of Olympic Stewardship Foundation, a government watchdog group that questions state and county land-use regulations’ effects on property owners, will discuss the state’s in-stream flow rule, the county and state shoreline master program and critical areas regulations on Jan. 26.
The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. meeting at Chimacum Grange hall, 9125 Rhody Drive, across from Chimacum High School.
Dennis Schultz, foundation president and a Port Townsend-area kiwi and sheep farmer, said the group will focus on the consequences of the state Department of Ecology’s in-stream flow rule, adding that Chimacum Valley-area property owners will be restricted in the use of their residential well water for home, farm and animals.
Other issues, such as how water can be drawn from rivers, lakes, creeks, or off roofs will be discussed.
“We believe that the best people for taking care of the land are the people who own it and live on it,” said Schultz, who for 15 years has grown miniature kiwis he sells locally and in Seattle.
“They are the ignored people in this county.”
Schultz said Olympic Stewardship Foundation believes that property owners have a constitutionally protected right to use and enjoy their property in a responsible way.
“That includes the right to a reasonable amount of water for your home and family, animals and for food production,” he said.
The forum is intended to inform those who live on Hood Canal, rivers, lakes, creeks and other waterways how 100- to 150-foot setbacks in the county’s shoreline master program will affect their property uses, including their ability to build or expand, he said.
Plan OK’d by county
The shoreline master program was approved by the Jefferson County commissioners Dec. 7 and submitted to Ecology for the final review and adoption.
The Olympic Stewardship Foundation organization has about 300 members.
Schultz said it is the only organization in Jefferson County that has legally opposed regulatory excesses on the part of county and state government.
“Since our founding, we have been watchdogs over the Planning Commission, Department of Community Development, Department of Health, and Board of County Commissioners, and Department of Ecology,” Schultz said.
“We have done the research needed to understand what is at stake, and are successfully challenging regulatory excesses in court on legal grounds.”
The group is now challenging the county’s critical areas ordinance’s references to channel migration zones — where rivers move over time — which Schultz said is making its way to the state Court of Appeals.
The meeting will address the group’s activities and plans for the future.
Schultz said he has filed a petition with Ecology regarding the numbers state officials came up with regarding the economic impact of the proposed in-stream flow rule.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
