Board was prohibited by law from holding hearing
Board was prohibited by law from holding hearing
Tim Johnson likes to play loose and cute with the facts. His Gristle in the current Weekly is a good example. The first four paragraphs describe the Whatcom County Boundary Review Board’s recent decis
Tim Johnson likes to play loose and cute with the facts. His Gristle in the current Weekly is a good example. The first four paragraphs describe the Whatcom County Boundary Review Board's recent decision to cancel the hearing on the proposed Chuckanut Mountain Park District (CMPD) with such terms as "balked" and "caution" and the descriptive phrase "Tossing the thorny CMPD from their caseload, ...". The thrust is to paint the Board as wimps who were afraid to hold a public hearing on the Park District proposal.
What happened is an attorney from the County Prosecutors office informed the Board and the audience that because other County departments had not done their job of analyzing the SEPA statement of the Park proposal, the Board was prohibited by law from holding the hearing. Period. The Board had no choice but to cancel the hearing.
The Board had been earlier improperly informed that it should hold the hearing. In truth, the County departments - under Pete Kremen - had dropped the ball and bungled this entire process. Probably the Planning department - but I say probably only because the County departments are confused and tossing this hot potato around. Tis a lack of leadership and taking responsibility by Pete Kremen that is to blame. Even now nothing is happening as the County hopes to toss the potato to some state agency.
Tim was not seen at the meeting. I was there. It is a disservice to the community to fault an appointed and unpaid board or commission which is doing its best. Tim took a cheap shot at the Board in his normal process of putting a cute and clever spin on government processes.
The CMPD proposal is languishing. The law is not clear what agency is required to analyze the SEPA part of the proposal. And state law is vague about how a 'lead agency' is decided upon. The law does allow the County to declare the Planning Department as the lead agency - but we will probably not see our do-nothing county executive do that. Let's put the accountability - the balking - where it belongs - in the lap of Pete Kremen.
What happened is an attorney from the County Prosecutors office informed the Board and the audience that because other County departments had not done their job of analyzing the SEPA statement of the Park proposal, the Board was prohibited by law from holding the hearing. Period. The Board had no choice but to cancel the hearing.
The Board had been earlier improperly informed that it should hold the hearing. In truth, the County departments - under Pete Kremen - had dropped the ball and bungled this entire process. Probably the Planning department - but I say probably only because the County departments are confused and tossing this hot potato around. Tis a lack of leadership and taking responsibility by Pete Kremen that is to blame. Even now nothing is happening as the County hopes to toss the potato to some state agency.
Tim was not seen at the meeting. I was there. It is a disservice to the community to fault an appointed and unpaid board or commission which is doing its best. Tim took a cheap shot at the Board in his normal process of putting a cute and clever spin on government processes.
The CMPD proposal is languishing. The law is not clear what agency is required to analyze the SEPA part of the proposal. And state law is vague about how a 'lead agency' is decided upon. The law does allow the County to declare the Planning Department as the lead agency - but we will probably not see our do-nothing county executive do that. Let's put the accountability - the balking - where it belongs - in the lap of Pete Kremen.
