SEQUIM — You can’t please everybody, especially on Burnt Hill.
But you can hope that more homework heads off more lawsuits.
That’s the belief behind Friday’s withdrawal of the Burnt Hill Recreational Trail Plan.
The state Department of Natural Resources plan, which would have reduced the number of off-road vehicle trails and added a parking lot for ORV enthusiasts, was adopted in January.
To read it, visit www.dnr.wa.gov/htdocs/amp/sepa/burnthill/burnthill.htm.
Completed after more than six years of discussions with neighbors, wildlife advocates and ORV enthusiasts, the plan was designed to make peace on the hill south of Sequim.
Then the Burnt Hill Home Owners Association filed a lawsuit Jan. 30, complaining that the dirtbike trails on the hill plus the parking area would turn the 5,100 acres of state land near their homes into a dirtbiker and four-wheeler destination.
In the suit, the Burnt Hill homeowners contended that motorized uses caused “great noise and other impacts,” and sought to stop Natural Resources from “grading, excavating, clearing or otherwise furthering its plan.”
It worked.
Charlie Cortelyou, Natural Resources’ Olympic Region manager, said the plan is “on hold” while the department conducts further “analysis, clarification and documentation” of noise and impact on elk.
“We just felt like we needed to make sure we have a good, solid plan,” Cortelyou said.
“There’s a potential that we may get sued again . . . and we didn’t want to get hung up in the courts on a procedural issue.”
The plan aimed to please everybody: neighbors, environmentalists, ORV enthusiasts.
