Responsible Growth * NE Washington replied to an invitation from Selkirk Sun owner Sonya G. to write an Opinion Editorial in response to POC commissioner candidates, Young and Minnich. The two candidates plans are for Pend Oreille County opt out of the Washington Growth Management Act of 1990. The attached link is RG * NEW’s op ed., which appeared in the October 3, 2024, Selkirk Sun edition.
We should have emphasized more in the op ed the that two incumbent candidates, Gentle and Smiley, have voiced their opposition to the GMA for years.
RG * NEW’s question to the candidates would be if POC could find a way to opt out of the GMA who, then, would be in charge of land use politics? Who would protect our health, critical areas, and environment from urban sprawl, over development, and the light and heavy industrial complex? Real estate and land speculators and developers? Or the “stacked” Planning Commission who are mostly of one pro-development mind?