'skeptical' would be an understatement guaging the mood of the standing room only crowd. the public comment period never got too heated (while i was there) but it was obvious that folks are angry and frustrated with how the county is handling this CAO update. one exception was Stephanie Buffum from the Friends of the San Juans who very adroitly stuck to a convincing argument about how the CAO could accommodate the needs of those involved with agriculture. thanks for that but us farmers are few and the CAO's scope is huge.
for me the two most significant comments (there were lots of good ones) came from two retired california planners with a combined 56 years of professional experience in different parts of the state. both made it very clear that the county will face numerous court battles over the CAO and that settlements with property owners may force the county to purchase such properties. they also pointed out the flawed nature of the county requiring property owners to pay for their own wetland studies and that the county does not have any staff that can interpret the data once collected.
so what to do with the racCAOooon? at the end of the day i can let the raccoon loose up in the vast Roche Harbor acreage above my farm without bad repercussions for my chickens i hope. but its clear to me after today's grange hearing the current update of the CAO needs to be killed. jay ibold