The notice sent to North Bend residents to announce the public hearing to be held on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Mount Si Senior Center seems innocent enough. The implication is that the public will be heard. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is merely an exercise required by law and has nothing to do with the citizens of North Bend’s ability to change the outcome of the ordinances being proposed.

What has been lacking throughout this process is any reasonable justification for the majority of these proposals. There have been many questions in previous public hearings. Answers by the council range from, “Thanks for your input,” to, “You simply don’t understand the issue.” The proposed zoning changes range from the regulatory taking of the commercial value of private properties to restricting single-family homeowners from rebuilding after flood or fire.

Despite completely negative feedback from the public at the Planning Commission hearings, the council has come forward intending to implement each and every one of the proposed regulations. Exceptions for pet projects at Meadowbrook and Tollgate that the average citizen would not be granted are included in the package at taxpayer expense, too.

You might think these ordinances will not affect you, but you would be wrong. After the presumption of salmonids regulations are accepted, you may find you cannot fertilize your lawn or use any form of pesticide in the aquifer recharge area (the whole Valley). If you are thinking of opening a new business or building in North Bend, you had better check out the proposed new TAOD, SAOD and IMU zonings.

Hearings? Yes. Listening to the citizens? No. Don’t plan on watching this debacle on the North Bend cable channel, it’s gone. A victim of budget cuts. No more watching vein-popping diatribes about how the citizens of North Bend haven’t paid their fair share of transportation taxes when the council passed its support of Referendum 51 several weeks back.

Local politics have officially become a pay-for-view event; the cost will be your physical attendance at the hearings and an interest in the future of our community.

Ross Loudenback

North Bend

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