Stewardship council watchdogs land

By Martha Ireland
Peninsula Daily News

Sequim, WA - May 1, 2009 -

"We're not activists by nature, and it's frankly draining, but we have to show up — that's our only resource," said Jim Hagen, president of the Olympic Stewardship Foundation.

"It's not my first choice," he added.

But this chef — who lives in [Cape George] — rises early to read e-mails before going to work and goes to "meetings and more meetings" after work.

On Tuesday evening he was in Sequim for a dinner forum where he was the featured speaker.

Olympic Stewardship is non-partisan, but the event was sponsored by the Republican Women of Clallam County, of which I'm the secretary.

"We believe that property owners have a Constitutionally protected right to use and enjoy their property in a responsible way," according to the group's Web site www.olysteward.org.  Jefferson, Clallam and virtually all other counties are embroiled in critical areas ordinances, stormwater runoff codes, water resource rules, shorelines management and more, heaped atop comprehensive plans and zoning codes mandated by the state Growth Management Act.

Jefferson County's previous board of commissioners "had adopted a perfectly good critical areas ordinance," Hagen said, but the Washington Environmental Council successfully appealed it to the state Growth Management Hearings Board.

After a new board of commissioners took office, he said, Seattle-area environmentalists and the county staff rewrote the code.

Hagen, who was then chairman of the Jefferson County Planning Commission, became concerned that rural landowners weren't being heard.

To increase citizen involvement, he developed a planning commission subcommittee of four planning commissioners and 14 citizen advisors (four have relevant doctoral degrees).

"We came up with an alternate set of regulations, supported by best available science," he said, for which 14 members of the subcommittee voted and signed a majority report.

The other four members issued a minority report backing up the staff plan.

The entire planning commission labeled them Report No. 1 and Report No. 2 and treated them as equals.

"We thought we had a well-reasoned argument that warranted attention," Hagen said.

At the public hearing, 200 rural citizens agreed with the subcommittee's recommendation.

Nevertheless, views from Port Townsend, Seattle and Futurewise.org prevailed, and the county commissioners adopted the code written by staff and the Environmental Council.

When it became "apparent they weren't going to even mention any of our work," he said, Hagen and like-minded citizens formed Olympic Stewardship to educate, facilitate, represent, negotiate and litigate when necessary.

Represented by Pacific Legal Foundation, they have achieved "some really significant court decisions," Hagen said.

"The courts are starting to listen to the facts," he said.

"We have rights.  Statutes matter.  They can't make up facts."

An example of made-up facts, he said, is an unsupported statement that "a million people" are coming to Jefferson County.

"Now that's quoted as fact — it's hogwash you can't argue with," he said.

The root of the conflict is contradictory community views.

One view has faith in one's neighbors' care of their land.

The other side believes property owners "need to be watched, or you're going to do something terrible," he said.

"Piece by piece, bit by bit [overlapping regulations] take more of our self-determination,"

They also drain finances.

Jefferson County commissioners voted Monday to reduce the hours the courthouse is open to serve the public and also cut employees' hours, Hagen noted.

The cuts are part of a $1 million mid-year budget adjustment.

There have been no cuts, however, in federal, state or local spending to develop additional regulations.

"They say you're selfish because you don't want to give your property over to [whatever they think is] the common good, when they're trying to take it," Hagen said.

By contrast, Olympic Stewardship is "dedicated to finding balance," he said.

"It's not about 300-foot buffers along streams,

"It's really a battle for our own self-determination."

Recalling the Magna Carta of 1215 that recognized that English peasants had certain rights, Hagen said:

"Property ownership is as traditional a value as you can get — it's been a basic tenet of liberty for centuries.

"These are some grim times, but I remain optimistic."

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Martha Ireland was a Clallam County commissioner from 1996 through 1999.  She and her husband, Dale, live on a Carlsborg-area farm.  Her column appears here every Friday.