Letter: What is rush on lakeshore regs?

Dear Editor:

Earlier this year our Lincoln County

commissioners appointed a committee to review the 1976 Lakeshore

Regulations and make recommendations. A series of four publicly

attended meetings were held, of which the public attending was

overwhelmingly against any sweeping changes.

In the end, the committee members made

minor changes and were in agreement with the public by voting 9-0

against major changes. They submitted their recommendations and

were generally ignored.

Aren’t our county commissioners elected

to represent the will of the people who elected them? Then why on

Dec. 8 are the Lincoln county commissioners planning to adopt

extensive changes and additions to the existing 1976

regulations?

Apparently, the commissioners and the

planning department have decided that it does not matter what the

public wants or what their committee has unanimously recommended

and have proposed a new draft of approximately 20 pages in

length.

They want something with “more teeth”

in it. Their latest proposal is a cookie cutter set of regulations

adopted in other agencies elsewhere.

At one of the meetings, I asked the

planning director, “Do you have any statistics to support your

changes?” The answer was “no.” It seems to me that there are always

a few “troublemakers” in any group of individuals – so why then

enforce major changes and regulations on the 95 percent of property

owners who care for their lakes and their environment, when it’s

the 5 percent who need to be corrected?

Who is the true beneficiary of this?

Surely, it is not the property owners.

The public has agreed that some changes

should be made. There is no argument with that. However, to what

degree is the issue. They have asked for public input and that is

good but due to the high degree of protest, more time is needed in

my opinion.

I believe that the commissioners should

hold off on making their decisions until next spring or early

summer when more lakeshore owners are back to give their input or

until there can be more public hearings on the matter.

What is the rush?

Sharon Johnson

Troy