Orcas Islanders covered a lot of ground during the first town hall meeting since 2007.

“What are the county’s top challenges?” asked Ed Sutton.

County Council Members Richard Fralick and Gene Knapp both agreed that it was managing growth and the impact on the environment.

“We’ll have been successful as a county if we can look out in the morning and see we’ve protected the land,” Fralick said. “On the flip side, when people buy land, they need to know exactly what they can and can’t do with it.”

With snow falling outside the fire station’s windows, more than 100 people attended the gathering on Feb. 25, led by Fralick, Knapp and County Administrator Pete Rose.

The evening began with a brief presentation by the councilmen on current county issues, followed by a questions and answers forum. On an overhead screen, Knapp, District 5, Orcas East, provided a list of recent council topics to spark questions from the crowd.

And the audience came well prepared.

Steve Henigson requested the sign ordinance be rewritten. Henigson, who volunteers his time to maintain and paint the signs for Orcas Center, said he believes strongly in their value and thinks the enforcement of the ordinance is unfair, as some signs come down immediately, while others stay for weeks on end.

Rose said that perhaps the signs could be in a different form, fashioned to look more like street signs, which was done in a city he worked for previously. He also cited Woodinville, where the lodging tax funds tourist destination signs. In that example, the Orcas Center would meet the definition of a tourist destination. He noted a different scenario in Healdsburg, Calif. where downtown businesses pay for signs with several business logos in a single frame.

The stormwater fee was brought up, with audience members asking for more explanation on how the money is used. Rose said the basic fee covers stormwater monitoring, maintenance, administration and basin planning, with about $5 per billing set aside for future capital projects.

Fralick, District 4, Orcas West, said he would like to look at rural stormwater policies to make the county’s plan more appropriate for this area.

The budget was a hot topic for the night. Fralick explained that the 2008 general fund was $15 million, while for 2009 it is 14 million. The total amount for all funds was 55 million in 2008 and 51 million for 2009. This is due to a decrease in sales and real estate taxes and a significant reduction in interest on money that has been in the bank during the year.

Charles Binford said he believes that there is a huge amount of money the county is missing out on from people not paying sales tax for items sold on Orcas.

Rose told Binford there was “more than a kernel of truth” in that statement, and state law now requires that sales tax is paid at point of delivery instead of point of sale.

“It will probably take two to three years to get everyone reporting properly,” Rose said.

Joanne Francis asked the councilmen about the progress on retro-permitting, which is the practice of applying for permits after a project has been completed. She said that current fines are not enough of a deterrent, and that the county shouldn’t force through retro-permits on properties that wouldn’t have been approved in the first place.

Fralick said it was of concern and Rose added that it is addressed in two places. For the average “mistake,” the fee ordinance provides for the building official to assess double fees for building without a permit. In the new code enforcement ordinance to be considered this year, there will be a penalty section and the council will consider whether additional fines should be assessed for intentional, egregious or repeat violations. He noted that the new ordinance will deal with the issue of not allowing an unpermitted improvement to remain if it was prohibited to begin with.

Video conferencing for the county council’s meeting is a priority right now, so residents of other islands may tune in to their proceedings. Fralick said it might be fairly inexpensive to use web conferencing. The council will start a trial project of putting video clips sorted by agenda item from their meetings on the county website starting in March.

Ed LeCocq spoke about the rash of burglaries on the island, which he feels are drug-related.

“It’s got to be solved or it’s going to kill this community,” he said. Rose said that his concerns would be raised with the San Juan County Sheriff.

The Sounder spoke with the Sheriff, who said that two persons of interest were identified and both have left the island. One has multiple warrants and is believed to be in California, while the other person was returned to another jurisdiction with an outstanding warrant. The cases are still open, but according to the Sheriff, the burglary incidents dramatically reduced when the individuals left the community. Orcas deputies continue to work these cases and welcome any information.

Pierrette Guimond spoke about the cell tower ordinance, asking the council to not give cell phone companies carte blanche when revising the ordinance.

“I am not against cell towers, but we need to protect the rural and residential areas where they are put,” she said.

Sutton, who is chair of the Ferry Advisory Committee for the San Juans, spoke about the ferries’ current situation.

The proposed long-range plan included two options. Plan A calls for the acquisition of 10 new vessels over the next 20 years and would make capital investments in land transit programs at selected terminals to encourage walk-on ferry ridership.

Plan B calls for the purchase of just five new vessels, the elimination of the Anacortes-to-Sidney ferry route.

Plan B is off the docket, Sutton said, and the Sydney run is very likely safe, which means that the domestic capacity on the “Chelan” is preserved as well. The Transportation Commission has now presented a financial proposal that seeks to fund Plan A, which recommends that fares be raised six percent every year for five years to close the operating budget deficit.

The audience asked about the Eastsound Urban Growth Area, specifically about the cost of being completely compliant.

Rose said there is just one issue left, which has to do with an Eastsound Sewer and Water District future service pipeline that is outside the UGA boundary. It will cost around two months of staff time to correct the problem, or the district can modify its master plan.

The UGA projection is that there will be 449 additional homes in Eastsound by 2025. There was a request to know the population and housing at “build-out.” A check with county staff after the meeting showed that build-out numbers have not been projected at this time.

Paul Kamin of the Eastsound Water Users Association answered a question about providing water for the UGA.

“There are many options that are developable, including building a new reservoir, maximizing groundwater production, desalinization, and expanding our existing reservoir. The bottom line is we are state-mandated by the Health Department to provide for growth the county is planning and projecting. The issue with each of these new source options is, of course, cost.”

Fralick and Knapp closed the meeting by asking the crowd if they’d like to see another town hall meeting held.

The audience answered with a resounding yes.