On February 7th the Washington state Supreme Court threw out the challenges to the Jefferson County Shoreline Master Program (SMP), by the Olympic Stewardship Foundation. This long running challenge finally ends the attempts to stop the county and Ecology from setting county standards for setbacks and other uses of the nearshore. It should also serve as a warning to others trying to challenge SMPs that it is extremely difficult to stop them from becoming law, after the fact of enactment. Involvement up front is much more useful. Coming to the table to help debate the issues as they are brought up, rather than sit on the sidelines and threaten legal action if your demands are not met, just seems like a losing strategy in this particular situation.
To all the hard working people who volunteered their time to give input and review, and to the County Commissioners who took the stance that the public favored stricter protection over less strict, thank you.
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Jefferson County SMP, Olympic Stewardship Foundation, Puget Sound |
Great work, Al. Sometimes we win…and it feels very good. George