NEWS-TIMES WHIDBEY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011 | Vol. 120, No.82 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Inside: Pioneer Way opens. A12
Experts fault commissioner’s wetland study By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Rebecca Olson/Whidbey News-Times
With both legs amputated to her knees, Cindy Strickland, 74, relies on the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool as her only means of exercise. She uses a motorized chair to enter and exit the water.
Pool closure would leave some swimmers helpless By REBECCA OLSON Staff reporter
Four days a week, 74-year-old Cindy Strickland climbs from her wheelchair onto a motorized chair that lowers her into the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool. Legally blind, diabetic and with both legs amputated to the knees, the water is the only place Strickland can move freely. “It’s my exercise. I don’t walk. I don’t do much of anything but swim,” Strickland said. Swimming helps her work on coordination, breathing and “just everything,” Strickland said. Threats to close the pool due to funding loom over Strickland’s head but she said she’s trying to remain optimistic because she doesn’t know what she’ll do if the pool closes. A renewal levy that funds more than half of the operations costs of the North Whidbey Parks and Recreation District will be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, which will be mailed out
this month. If it doesn’t reach the required 60 percent supermajority, officials may close the pool, which is by far the district’s largest expense. The renewal levy is just that: It would maintain the current rate taxpayers pay at 17 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Strickland said the community doesn’t realize the value of the pool. While many children and adults use it, Strickland said there should be more but she isn’t sure everyone knows the pool is available in Oak Harbor. “They don’t see it as a plus; it’s just a thing that’s there that costs money,” Strickland said. As she exited the pool, every lane was being used by swimmers, including community members exercising, Navy personnel training and people lounging in the hot tub. Lifeguard Roberta Garrison has been swimming at the pool since 2004. After a hip replacement, she said she and the other elderly people at the pool need to swim to ease
walking trouble. If the pool closes, Garrison will have to go to the Anacortes pool. “I can’t imagine kids living on the island without swimming lessons,” Garrison said. She learned how to swim in a lake but would have chosen a pool if possible. Allowing children a place to learn to swim is number one on Patricia Hardin’s list of reasons to keep the pool open. She said she never wants to hear a report that a child drowned in local waterways because the child had no opportunity for swimming lessons. “I don’t think there’s enough for kids to do in the area. Closing one of the big things is not a good idea,” Hardin said. Hardin does aerobics at the pool four days a week to ease the pain of a herniated disc. She tried to exercise at Curves but the pain made her quit. Without the pool, Hardin said she may have to stop exercising. Sgt. Wybert Ebanks used the SEE POOL, A4
Island County Commissioner Kelly Emerson and her husband lost their lawsuit against the county and no longer want to build a sunroom on their Camano Island home, but the controversy surrounding the project built without a permit lives on. Scientists from the county planning department, the Department of Ecology and Oregon State University identified what they described as numerous and significant flaws in the rambling 130-page wetland report that the Emersons submitted in July, more than nine months after they were ordered to do so by the code enforcement officer. “This report contained much extra information, and did not provide relevant information to determine the presence or absence of wetlands on the site. Ecology identified these problems at the county’s request,” Susan Meyer, a wetland specialist with the Department of Ecology, said. The Emersons hired hydrogeologist Steven Neugebauer of the Duvall-based SNR Company to do the wetland study. He’s known in the region for giving presentations about wetland science, usually for property-rights groups. This isn’t his first brush with the Department of Ecology, which had previously been asked to review SNR Company wetland reports by four different jurisductions. He said the department filed a complaint against him with the geologist licensing board and he’s filed complaints against the department. Neugebauer stands by his report on Emerson’s property and claims that under-educated employees at the Department of Ecology misunderstand wetland science and have inappropriately relied on a manual that should only be a guide. “We are following science as it is supposed to be done. They don’t do the science correctly,” he said, adding that he’s asked a couple
‘Frankly, I cannot justify further expenditures of public funds on additional peer review unless the outstanding civil penalty of $37,000 is paid.’ — Bob Pederson, planning director
of independent hydrogeologists to review his report. He also plans to file another complaint against the department for practicing geology without a license. But according to the Department of Ecology and the Island County planning department, Neugebauer is misleading clients when he claims a geologist license is required to perform a wetland delineation. He cites several RCWs and WACs that give no clear answers, but the Geologist Licensing Board’s website states that a license is not required for the “collection of groundwater level data for the sole purpose of wetland delineation.” Moreover, Christine Anthony, spokesperson for the Department of Licensing, said there’s nothing in state law that regulates who can create a wetland report or stream delineation. In fact, she said the state’s Model Critical Areas Ordinance says that it’s up to each local jurisdiction to decide the qualifications for a wetland professional. As a result of the controversy, it’s still an unanswered question as to whether there’s a stream or regulated critical area on the Emersons’ SEE WETLAND, A4