Johnson Creek

The other side of the story

I purchased 20 acres on Johnson Creek a few years ago because it was beautiful, fairly priced and within the UGA. Unfortunately for me, I now own over one fourth of a mile of Johnson Creek which is more than any other property owner on that creek. From the moment I purchased it I have been unfairly labeled as a ‘developer,’ even though I have never sold a piece of property in my life.

I am very concerned over the treatment I have received from not only the city of Poulsbo, the NK Herald, a small group of very vocal environmentalists and now the Poulsbo Parks and Recreation Commission. First I ‘lost’ 150 feet from either side of the creek to Poulsbo’s Critical Areas Ordinance to protect the creek. OK, even though it was twice the distance recommended by Poulsbo’s paid ‘expert.’ Next, I was denied annexation in favor of a ‘task force’ to solve some kind of public image problem. I now need to start that process over, even though I was denied the full public process. And now, the Parks Commission gets involved and makes recommendations on what I can do with my property.

From my recollection, this is private property. I bought it with my honest hard-earned money. This is not public land. Most of the people making recommendations and decisions have never set foot on my property and don’t have any idea of what they are talking about. The stream corridor will be an unchanged and fully functioning wildlife area because of the new CAO and the geography of the area. Do people want to take my entire property from me in the name of wildlife, even though it’s in the UGA? Being the major ‘owner’ of Johnson Creek, no one has bothered to ask me what I think. It is assumed I am incapable of being a good steward of my own land and incapable of making environmentally sound decisions. I am not making recommendations to other property owners on what they do with their land, but if they want to make theirs a ‘wildlife sanctuary,’ go ahead. I don’t want to! Do these people think I should donate this property to wildlife? Do we want to spend taxpayer’s hard-earned money in buying this property from me? My guess is ‘NO’, but no one has asked me if I want to sell.

Poulsbo taxpayers: take note. There are people out there that think you should have no say in what you do with your property. It goes beyond regulation. It’s based on uninformed and political emotion and orchestrated by the very vocal minority.

Brad Watts

Poulsbo

Hansville

Letters on letters

In response to Judy Tallman’s letter of 11/12/08: I am amazed that someone who has spent all of “2 plus years in Hansville” is aware of everyone’s community volunteer efforts. It must be nice to have the time Judy has to help “build” our community. I have lived in the same residence in Hansville for over twenty years. Like many others, to support my family, I work in the Seattle area. My daily commute and work occupies about 12.5 hours of my time. As a result, I have little time or energy to devote to volunteer work. I do contribute, out of each paycheck, to efforts to help our community – such as the food bank. My wife and children have been involved in many community volunteer efforts over the years.

I fully support the lawsuit since the aim is not to punish individuals for their hard work and volunteerism, but to open up the discussion of projects that will affect the entire community to everyone in the community.

I appreciate the hard work of all of the volunteers in our community. Although I may not agree with some of the decisions of GHAAC members, I appreciate their efforts. What I do not appreciate are efforts such as the speed tables, traffic aversion devices … bumps. The issue has been discussed ad nauseam, but the fact is no effort was made to explain the bumps clearly and poll the entire community. Believe it or not, not everyone reads the Hansville Log or knew it was the main source of all information affecting the community. If the county could afford the speed tables, a definitive flyer certainly could have been sent to all residents of the community asking for their opinion or a straight yes or no vote. I may be wrong, but I feel it is pretty obvious if a vote would have been taken, I would not be bumping my way to work and back eight times a day, aggravating a chronically painful back.

Hopefully the lawsuit will put a stop to some of the overzealous members of the community that feel they know what is best for the community without seeking full community input. People have moved to this community because they enjoy it as-is, a beautiful quiet place. Of course improvements can always be made and we will grow, but in our efforts to “build” the community let us go slow and seek the input of all residents before changes are made. I feel Judy is completely wrong in speculating the lawsuit will stop or slow volunteerism. If anything, I think people will become more aware and involved. Judy’s comments are not only uniformed, but arrogant. We have good people in this community and we don’t always agree. But, for the most part, everyone is friendly, caring, and will work together to make this a better community “volunteer” or not.

Gary Nelson

Hansville

Thank you

Candidate appreciates support

I want to thank all the people that supported my campaign. Without your support, this campaign would not have accomplished what it had. I want to thank those voters that truly believed that it is “Time for Action” to make changes within our county and state. Your votes mean a great deal to me and because of them I will consider rerunning again in two years.

I also want to thank my family for their support and sacrifice during the campaign. Without them, I would not have accomplished what I had. Thank You and God bless you all.

Mark Lowe

Bremerton