PORT TOWNSEND — Several Jefferson County residents criticized a proposal to regulate channel migration zones — areas where rivers historically meander over time — as part of the critical areas ordinance.

“Why don’t you just take and eliminate channel migration zones?” farmer Dennis Schultz asked the three county commissioners during a Monday public hearing.

At issue was a proposal affecting rural residential areas on the Little and Big Quilcene rivers and the Dosewallips and Duckabush rivers that flow from the eastern Olympic Mountains into Hood Canal.

Going before state panel

The proposed addition of channel migration zones in the critical areas ordinance is based on a November 2008 Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board order requiring the county to bring its Unified Development Code into compliance with the state Growth Management act as it applies channel migration zones.

Schultz, who said he doubted that the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board would approve the amendment, was one of those speaking out against the proposal.

One resident, George Yount, was the support of the channel migration zone designation.

“Channel migration is a very serious matter,” Yount said.

“I would not like to see Jefferson County held liable for those who would build in channel migration zones.”

The county commissioners voted Monday to deliberate and possibly act on the channel migration zones amendment next Monday in their chambers on the ground floor of the county courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.

The ordinance is generally opposed by those who believe they should instead be governed under the Shoreline Management Act.

The Planning Commission and Department of Community Development recommend that “high risk” channel migration zones be written into the critical areas ordinance.

Channel migration can occur gradually, as a river erodes one bank and deposits sediment along the other.

The natural meander patterns of stream channels are the result of the dissipation of energy of flowing water and the transportation of sediment.

Channel migration also can occur abruptly as the river channel shifts to a new location.

‘Definition on steroidsSSRq

Jim Hagen, representing Olympic Stewardship Foundation, a property rights group based in Jefferson County, called the channel migration zone proposal “kind of a definition on steroids.

“I think it’s barely comprehensible.”

Olympic Stewardship Foundation, a Jefferson County property rights group, states in its comments to the planning commission that the proposed amendment is out of compliance with the final decision and order by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board.

The foundation cites the legal decision in Futurewise v. Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board stating, “The Legislature intends that critical areas within the jurisdiction of (the Shoreline Management Act) shall be governed by the SMA and that critical areas outside the jurisdiction of the SMA shall be governed by the (Growth Management Act).”

Prohibition of development in the high-risk channel migration zones within 200 feet of the shoreline jurisdiction is improper, OSF contends.

Joe D’Amico of Gardiner said it appeared that the county was “not getting good legal advice.”

Quilcene resident Herb Beck, who has lived near the Little Quilcene River for 60 years, said he had never seen damage to property on the two Quilcene rivers.

“I’ve lived below the two rivers, and I saw no homes that floated out in flooding on the alluvial plain,” Beck said.

Beck’s son, Fred, said the ordinance was just another excuse for nonprofit groups who support it to make money.

“They want our property. They want everybody’s property,” Fred Beck said.

Resident Norm MacLeod said he found that the proposal would hinder farmers from changing a crop or moving a field, thus discouraging locally grown food.

Bill Miller, a member of the county planning commission who worked on the critical areas ordinance, said he wanted to clarify that there are exemptions to the channel migration zone amendment, such as agriculture.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.