Go Thurston! supports the process of revising Thurston County’s Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO), which is currently years out of date. We are an all-volunteer grassroots group that seeks to protect our precious natural heritage, water resources, and agricultural lands through science-based ordinances, accurate information, and respectful dialogue.

What is the CAO? Why should I care? What is the problem? What can I do to support the County Commissioners? What’s The Process from here? Upcoming Meetings where you can support the CAO:

Prairie Hearing Rescheduled Public Hearing to renew the Interim Prairie Ordinance for another 6 months has been rescheduled to March 10, 2012.  Please consider attending and testifying and/or submitting your comments supporting this ordinance. Location:     Thurston County Courthouse complex     Building 2, Room 129 Written comments accepted until 10 am, March 10, 2012, Submit comments by email to deffoba@co.thurston.wa.us. Learn more about the Prairie Ordinance Total numbers from July 7th public hearing on the Interim Prairie Ordinance (includes written comments and verbal testimony):    - In favor of the Prairie Ordinance:    266    - Opposed the Prairie Ordinance:     209

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What is the CAO?
Fact sheet about the process to update the CAO  (PDF).
 
The Critical Areas Ordinance is required by the Growth Management Act (GMA), and designates natural resources that need protection in our County.  Thurston County also has a duty to preserve critical areas in order to protect the health and safety of residents and the environment that sustains us all.

The last time Thurston County’s CAO was updated was 1994. GMA requires review every 7 years. Because the Legislature has added significant new requirements to the critical areas provisions of the GMA, the county must now make significant revisions to the CAO. Our County is one of the last remaining counties in Western Washington to review and revise our CAO in light of best available science.

In 2010, Thurston County held town hall meetings in Yelm, Tenino, and Rainier to discuss changes being considered for the CAO and to listen to the public’s concerns. All comments and concerns were passed on to the Planning Commission, where the revisions are in the works.

“Critical Areas” include:

• Fish and Wildlife Habitat

• Riparian Areas

• Wetlands

• Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas

• Frequently Flooded Areas

• Geologically Hazardous Areas

Each of these needs some protection, both to ensure that natural values are preserved, and to prevent high costs of emergency management.

The last time the CAO was updated was 1996. GMA requires revision every 7 years. Our County is one of the last remaining counties in Western Washington to review and revise our CAO in light of best available science. In 2010, Thurston County held town hall meetings in Yelm, Tenino, and Rainier to discuss with rural residents their issues regarding the CAO. All of their concerns were heard and passed on to the Planning Commission, where the revision is in the works.

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Why should I care?
Our County has grown tremendously since the last update. All that growth has put pressure on our natural resources.

For example, of the original prairie lands in Thurston County, only 3% remains. Many of our wetlands have been filled in and built upon. Oak woodland habitat is disappearing. If Thurston County fails to protect rare and endangered species, state and federal agencies may step in and enact stricter requirements. Meanwhile, loss of wetlands and over-development causes flooding, which drives up the cost of County emergency services.

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What is the problem?
The County Commissioners meetings have been used by those who have organized against the CAO revision, as a time for invective and intimidation. The CAO revision is now in the hands of the Thurston County Planning Commission, who have moved their meetings into the Courthouse due to concerns about personal safety.

A County Commissioner meeting in March had no fewer than 14 individuals who signed up to speak and who railed against “takings of property rights,” against “ICLEI” (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), and against the county even monitoring rural landowners’ property use.

These groups are organized and well-funded under an anti-tax, anti-environment, and anti-government umbrella group. To learn more about those who are organizing these protests, the website myfreedomfoundation.com posts this sort of information: “Thurston county bureaucrats are out of control. They are using rodents, weeds and bugs as an excuse to take 177,000 acres of land and harm over 50,000 property owners.” (copied from Freedom Foundation website). Their campaign is known as STOP Thurston County and they are holding town meetings throughout Thurston County.

The leaders of this effort include: Kevin O’Sullivan, former Republican candidate for County Commissioner; Glen Morgan, former Republican candidate for County Assessor; Scott Roberts, former chair, Thurston County Republicans. It’s clear that their motives go beyond this one important piece of environmental legislation, to ultimately undercutting our elected officials as they do the job we’ve asked them to do for us.

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What can I do to support the County Commissioners?
We want the Commissioners and our community to know we support their work to protect our critical areas, and to improve and protect our rural County habitat.

What’s The Process From Here?
Currently, the Thurston County Planning Commission is working through the draft ordinance. We need to show up at their meetings and let them know, during Public Comment time, that we support their work. (See Calendar of meetings).

The Planning Commission was to hold a work session on the Critical Areas Ordinance On January 18th, 2012, 6:30 pm, but this was postponed because of weather.  When rescheduled, it will include a recap of the public hearing held on December 10, 2011.  The Planning Commission will begin to work through public comments received during the comment period.

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Upcoming Meetings Where You Can Support the CAO:
                               See also Calendar