To: Whatcom County Planning Department From: Wendy Harris Date: 6/22/09 RE: Public Comment On The Whatcom County D-EIS For UGA Review I urge the Planning Staff to adopt the “No Action Current Comprehensive Plan Alternative” for purposes of adopting population projections and adjusting UGA boundaries. (In the unfortunate circumstance that Staff feels compelled to accommodate more population, then I advocate Alternative Plan X, which results in less over-all environmental harm than the other proposals.) Additionally, more emphasis should be placed on impacts to our water resources. The County should remove existing and proposed UGAs within sensitive watersheds, such as Lake Whatcom, Lake Padden and Drayton Harbor. The County must adopt more stringent land use regulations to limit impacts on our water resources. I suggest the County review Bellingham’s amendments to the Silver Beach Ordinance and adopt something similar, with appropriate adjustments for rural land use. The County Should Proceed Under the “No Action Comprehensive Plan Alternative” The “No Action Comprehensive Plan Alternative” has the lowest overall population increase, results in oversized UGAs, and creates the least encroachment of new growth into urban and rural areas. Therefore, it has the lowest over-all negative environmental impact. The other alternatives do not present rationales compelling enough to justify additional environmental degradation. It is ...