EDITORIAL | County, residents have equal duty to lean in

Published 3:43 pm Friday, August 14, 2015

A vocal handful of people let their thoughts be known to Island County planners this week: set Freeland’s urban growth area as small as possible.

Setting boundaries will help determine where and how much growth is possible.

In Freeland, neither the population nor employment is expected to significantly increase over the next 20 years, according to county-supplied figures. That means a small area will likely suffice, as several residents stated during Wednesday’s meeting with county planners.

While their opinions were stated to the county planners, another sentiment popped up a couple of times about the need to gather as much input as possible. That was the desire to have more Freeland residents’ comments added to the overall input about the size of the unincorporated area’s urban growth.

The county has some responsibility to reach out to residents and seek their thoughts about where Freeland can grow in urban ways and where it can’t. But it’s also incumbent upon people to get educated of their own volition.

A website was set up specifically about the Island County Comprehensive Plan update, a 20-year guiding document for what the county should look like and how it will get there. islandcounty2036.org is available to leave comments on the plan’s sections, including Freeland’s urban growth area, and the county planning department is only a phone call or letter away from having your voice counted.

One suggestion at the Freeland meeting Wednesday was for the county to inform people who may be affected by the four options for urban growth area boundaries. Those areas are largely confined to the existing commercial core.

Island County Planning Director Dave Wechner acknowledged that those comments were well taken, adding that his department has a system to determine if more solicitation is needed. One of the first triggers is low response/input numbers, which doesn’t seem to be a problem.

Asking the county to reach out more to its residents regarding long-range planning is a fair request, and so is asking residents to be more civically engaged.