This past Saturday was the most recent meeting of your county Democrats. Our vice chair Geri reported on doings at the 40th Legislative District. The new chair, Spencer Lively, has been a bundle of energy, launching a number of new committees to foster more activism. There is a membership/recruitment committee, a political action/campaign committee, and a fundraising/finance committee. A few of us from our county have been participating in the political action/campaign committee. If you have an interest in participating in any of these committees, please let me know so I can put you in touch. And if you would like to check out the amazing website of the 40th LD, you can find it at 40thdems.org.

We have been holding our meetings by Zoom for the last year. This has been much more convenient for those of us who used to have to take the ferry over to Friday Harbor. Sometime in the future we will have the opportunity to again meet in person, should we want to do that. On the one hand, the Zoom meetings are more convenient and no impact on the environment, but on the other hand, we often have greater attendance at meetings in person. Several suggestions were made, and we may end up continuing with Zoom for the bulk of our meetings but hold a few meetings in person, perhaps one per year on each of the three major islands. If you have any suggestions about this, especially if it would motivate you to attend a meeting, please send them my way. And fyi, starting next month, we will hold our meetings at 10:00 instead of 11:30, giving those who attend more of their Saturday back.

After Joe Symons’ presentation in January about the need to be more aware of the carrying capacity of our county and its resources, a few of us have followed up on this. Alexandra has done an incredible amount of reading and research and reaching out to various officials. Her emphasis right now is on our stormwater systems, that we need more of the rain to end up down in our aquifers as opposed to draining down to the sound. She has submitted a docket request to the county on this, and she will be sharing more about this soon. Alexandra also suggested a number of resources to check out, especially Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy, which is available at our local libraries. You can also read her letter that appeared in the Orcasonian at https://theorcasonian.com/guest-opinion-we-have-good-cause-to-extend-vacation-rental-moratorium/

Joe has also filed a docket request with the county, asking them to do a study of what our county would look like at “full” buildout. At what point will the number of people outweigh the ability of nature to regenerate its various natural systems? What is the true carrying capacity of our islands? I will be sending a letter to you shortly explaining more about this and how you can support Joe’s effort.

My own contribution to this effort was to talk to a member of the Planning Commission, a staff member at County Environmental Health, and state Senator Liz Lovelett’s office. Apparently two years ago two of our locals and a man from Guemes Island had reached out separately to Sen. Lovelett about a water carrying capacity study, i.e., how many people can our water support without hauling in water or using desalination? This seems like an important bit of information to know when intelligently planning for the future. The study had been approved, but when Covid hit, the state budget had to be pared back, and this project fell victim. I was able to get the process going again, with the various parties resuming contact with each other, and we

are hopeful that the Legislature will approve this project. About 2/3 would be paid for by the state, the remaining amount by USGS, who would also be the ones to do the survey.

There will be an election of local candidates and issues on April 27. Right now, I am aware of several issues: a new tech levy for Orcas Island School District, a renewal of San Juan Island’s Parks and Rec levy, and an effort to bring the town of Friday Harbor into the fire district for San Juan Island. More information should be coming soon.

We discussed the recent decision of the County Council to alter the vacation rental moratorium. The moratorium will continue in place for six months in the villages, hamlets, and activity centers, but otherwise it is lifted.

Thanks for reading this summary, and you are always welcome at any of our meetings. There are always interesting issues discussed and important decisions to be made, and your participation with us gives you a voice in what we do.