It seems clear that many of us have strong reservations about the CAO – the initial process by the county was flawed, too much reliance was placed on what the Friends presented as Best Available Science and a huge bunch of restrictions were proposed that would drastically limit the way each of us interacts with our private property.

Now that the public has begun to learn more, it is obvious this is far too important for the county to act in haste. The council needs to instruct staff to move forward at this time with a proposed plan to meet the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM standards required by the state. They probably already have a draft of that plan. It’s time to move on, we can’t afford all of this anyway, and we definitely can’t afford lawsuits. But hey, all is not lost.

This is just one of many never-ending future required updates of our CAO. Everyone can re-group, compose themselves, and be ready to approach the next review in a professional, organized manner. In the meantime we have all learned a great deal about these issues and are in a far better position to take an intelligent interest in any future proposals that would so impact our daily lives and our financial investment in our properties.

Restrictions seem to be easier to put in place than to remove. Let’s move forward deliberately and carefully on this. We live in a beautiful place, we all love the islands and I think most property owners love their property. Public education and awareness campaigns can be very effective in modifying behavior. Wouldn’t that be better than spending money on legal fees? Sandra Green Orcas Island