Development should be stopped on Bainbridge | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 9:20 am Monday, September 21, 2015

To the editor:

In your editorial of Sept. 4, you ask for patience in instituting traffic impact fees.

The cost to islanders of subsidizing development has forced many old-timers off the island. It is clear someone has to pay for these costs. Because we have not made development pay its own way, the island itself is imperiled. Water alone is going to limit growth.

On land I have owned for decades, a spring that flowed at 7.5 gallons per minute in winter, and 5 gpm in summer, has for the first time gone dry. Drought is a major factor but too many straws sucking too little water will ultimately force the city to supply water to all the buildings it has allowed using private wells. If there is not enough water everyone will pay.

Impact fees cannot prevent this problem.

We can, and must, impose a moratorium on all construction until proven water supplies are guaranteed. Will the bureaucracy that depends on permit fees be held responsible? Will those who profit from development step up and pay the costs?

I think not. You and I will pay or leave.

GERARD BENTRYN

Bainbridge Island