Vashon Island
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VASHON-MAURY ISLAND WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 34
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Preparing for pot: Officials ready the rules County, island react to
spike in youth suicides
By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Proposed regulations regarding Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana use in the state, could mean that Vashon will see marijuana-related retail businesses and production facilities in the heart of downtown next year and fenced fields of marijuana around the island. Representatives from King County’s Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER) and a variety of other governmental agencies hosted a public meeting last week on Vashon, seeking islanders’ feedback on DPER’s draft zoning ordinance for marijuanarelated businesses that will grow, process or sell the drug for recreational use. DPER representatives also provided information about zoning rules the agency plans to create for medical marijuana facilities, which DPER currently does not regulate. Roughly 30 people attended the meeting and expressed a variety of opinions and concerns. “This is great. I never thought this would happen,” said Kathy Flynn, an islander who spoke at the meeting. Others expressed reservations, including a woman who said she voted yes on the initiative, but lives next door to a medical marijuana dispensary and wonders what effect it might have on the value of her home, which she hopes to sell in the spring. Meri-Michael Collins, co-chair of the Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse, noted the potential appearance of marijuana-growing facilities, slated to be located in rural and agricultural areas, as the state’s draft
Schools and VYFS continue suicide education, grief counseling By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
Community Business, Regional Business and Industrial, and retail sales would be allowed in the Neighborhood Business, Community Business and
As regional leaders respond to a recent spike in teen suicides in King County, calling it a serious public health issue, islanders are noting a small increase in suicides among young people on Vashon as well. “I think we feel the sensitivity of this subject in our community right now,” said Lori Means, a parent educator at Vashon Youth & Family Services (VYFS), which has provided counseling and education along with the Vashon Island School District in response to recent suicides and other deaths. “We want to make sure we’re providing the information and support that parents and community members need.” In King County, 11 children under age 18 died by suicide in 2012, nearly three times the annual average, prompting the county to examine the deaths and produce recommendations released this month for preventing future teen suicides. On Vashon, three people between ages 14 and 22 have committed suicide in the last 12 months. Officials from VYFS and the school district are currently planning programming for the newly declared Suicide Prevention Week in Washington, set for the second week in September. “We will in some way be honoring our losses, and also, at the very least, making sure parents know ... what the signs are, what they can do if they think that their child is at risk and how they can respond to their child’s grief about losses in our community,” Means said. Last October, VYFS worked with the Seattle-based Youth Suicide Prevention Program (YSPP) to provide counseling, support groups and suicide education after Palmer Burk, a well-known 14-year-old who attended Vashon High School, committed suicide. In May, 20-year-old Samantha Burkart, a 2010 VHS graduate, died by suicide, and this month a 22-year-old island man also committed suicide. Officials from Public Health – Seattle & King County say that Vashon’s suicide rate in recent years has been consistent with the county’s, but the number of recent suicides among young people is an anomaly. According to county statistics, during the 10-year period between 2002 and 2011, just one of 15 people who reportedly committed suicide on Vashon was under age 35. Annie Kirk, a violence and injury prevention specialist at the public health department, called the three recent suicides of young islanders a concern, but warned that it’s too soon to call the tragedies a trend. Since the number is still small and represents just one year, she said, it’s not an increase that county officials would consider statistically significant. “From our perspective, here at the health department, the mathematical or statistical significance answer isn’t the right way to approach the situation right now because we
SEE MARIJUANA, 18
SEE SUICIDE, 19
Susan Riemer/Staff Photo, map courtesy the Department of Permitting and Review
Jarrod Lewis, the assistant director of permitting with DPER, fields questions at a recent public meeting about the proposed zoning for marijuana-related businesses on Vashon. A detail from DPER’s map of Vashon, below, shows areas where marijuana would be allowed to be grown, processed and sold under the proposed zoning ordinance. Pale green indicates areas it could be grown outdoors; the gray area indicates where marijuana could be grown indoors or processed; the lighter pink areas show where marijuana might be grown indoors, processed or sold by a retail business and the darker pink areas indicate where retail establishments could be located. The cross-hatched marks indicate areas that could not be used. regulations call for them to be surrounded by 8-foot barriers and be outfitted with lights and security cameras. Several in the audience advocated for allowing processing facilities to be located at growing facilities — something DPER’s draft plan does not call for. DPER will likely alter some of its proposed regulations because of the comments it received on Vashon and at other public meetings it held around the region, John Starbard, the director of DPER, said, noting that public feedback is still welcome. “We want to hear from the public on this very important matter,” he said. Most of the comments offered at meetings were well-reasoned, he added.
“People had really done their homework,” he said. “You can’t ask for more than that.” DPER’s proposed plan calls for indoor growing and processing of marijuana in areas zoned as