The Tarboo Ridge Coalition, in a letter signed by Peter Newland, its legal and government affairs chairman, has asked the Jefferson County Commissioners to end its mediation agreement with the Fort Discovery Corporation and open all documents related to its previous negotiations.

It is clear at this point, with the determination of the Growth Management Board that the county ordinance that was the outcome of this secret negotiations was a failure, that something must change. While the BOCC may have gone along with their legal guidance in doing this, the guidance was flawed and it’s time for a different tactic.

The BOCC has forced the citizens of this county who are fighting the proposal, Tarboo Ridge, to sue to get themselves heard. This contributed to an appearance of favoring the proposal by Fort Discovery, who, as the letter states, “…is continuing its practice of building without permits while the County fails to restrain the illegal construction or issue stop work orders works an impossible hardship on the public’s trust and confidence in the fairness of its government.”

Stop putting the opponents of this project at a disadvantage. It won’t help resolve this. The goals of Fort Discovery appear to be at odds with the goals of the county, environmental protection and the vision of a majority of our citizens for the future of the county. There are other places for Fort Discovery to be built other than around a lake that feeds a recovering salmon stream. The project severely impacts many nearby neighbors. What are the limits on what the county will allow? If this goes through, what next? Hard decisions must be made, regardless of the consequences.

Al Bergstein
Port Townsend