Floating Your Boat, Not

I took myself to the Community Advisory Committee every-so-often meeting last night to find out the news on the Point's need for a pier and dock and ramp or whatever it is that you need to launch a boat and fish from and also climb into the boat.  There's creosote on the old piers and the State has no tolerance for creosote any longer for environmental reasons.  Last time the County folks were up, they were planning to submit a proposal for a grant from a state agency that does such things to get about 3/4 of the money that would be needed to rebuild all the stuff that is needed (about $300,000).  The County was planning to pay the remaining 1/4, and, if the proposal was accepted, then dock and pier, etc., voila!


In the interim, life and politics intervened.  Whatcom County was declared to be in non-compliance with State zoning policy with respect to urban sprawl, and one of the many off-shoots of that finding is that a County in non-compliance with State regulations is not eligible for grants from the State.  Thus, although it is is possible that the County will submit a grant proposal for this money, it is vanishingly unlikely that it will get the money that would make the pier and dock possible, at least in the foreseeable future.

A big setback for the small boating population here, as well as seasonal boating visitors.  Not surprising, in most respects, though.  Nothing happens quickly and anything that involves public money is increasingly at risk of not happening.  Perhaps when we are living without public services of any sort it will occur to the general public that taxes are required for the kind of life it wants.