Bainbridge Citizens and a lot of homeowners participated in endless meetings to suggest changes to the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO). After lots of work and thought, the City Council gave the City's planning staff some very strong, well thought out direction on policy decisions for the CAO update. The staff ignored the Council and the homeowners, and made the CAO worse, not better.

Let me tell you how bad it really is.

If they get their way, the buffers around wetlands and streams will double. That means that you might have to give away your right to use up to 200 feet of property that you have the right to use today. Thousands of houses - and thousands of yards — will now be non-conforming. Non-conforming houses have less value, are harder to sell, and very difficult to remodel or rebuild. And the chances are over 75 percent that your house will be one of them.

Some will argue that there are variances you can get to decrease the buffer size. That's partly true, and partly a lie. If they give you some room on one side, they take it away on the other side so the total loss is the same. And the loss is total and forever - you just won't be able to use that part of your land anymore.

That's because buffers allow no human use - except perhaps bird watching - and that's from a trail that is 25 feet or more from the wetland or stream. The city just doesn't want you to get too close to any wetland or stream - you might enjoy it too much.

They are also going to force you to set aside some parts of your property for the exclusive use of animals. Do you really think that Bainbridge Island habitat is bad for deer? Is it bad for raccoons and coyotes? We've got animals all over the place. We share our property with them now. The city wants to force you to give your property to the animals. Are they nuts? How many more deer do we need?

Wait a minute. There's even more they don't want you to know about. Did you know that the city also wants to control all of your trees. You won't be able to cut or trim them unless the city says you can. More bureaucratic red tape and more cost to you. Who owns your trees, you or the City? Is that what you want?

I've saved the best for last. The City has a plan on how to get all these changes passed. Here it is. They won't tell you how the CAO will affect your property until after the new CAO is passed. Their excuse is they can't send you a letter telling you the impact on your property until they have an approved CAO. The city is disingenuous if not flat-out lying. I've just told you the impact it might have, they could do the same. But they don't want you to know. They don't want you to fight this draconian law and the impact it will have on you and your property until it's too late for you to do anything about it.

It goes on and on. And that's why we need your help.

We're Bainbridge Citizens, the only organized group fighting to protect your property and your right to use it.

We lobby for your rights before the city. We retain lawyers to research the law and educate you. We commission ecological studies to find the best science to determine what's right. We work to get reasonable people elected to office. We maintain the Bainbridge Citizens website, www.bainbridge.cc. We fight for your rights.

And the assault on your rights is getting worse. That's why we need your time and money to fight even harder. These onerous Critical Areas Ordinance rules must be made more reasonable - NOW! We need money and your time to lobby the city council to do what's right.

We need about $15,000 between now the end of the year to continue the fight for your rights and your home. Good legal advice and professional review of the science costs money. We need your help.

These new regulations are being proposed right now. If we don't stop them now, we might not ever stop them. And with the elections coming, there's no better time to make your voice heard. Please send a check for whatever you can afford today!

Gary Tripp
Bainbridge Citizens
Bainbridge Island