Small amounts of sewage are draining from Roche Harbor homes into Westcott Bay because they are not able to connect to the resort’s larger system due to the current zoning. While the amount of drainage shows no sign of being harmful, Roche Harbor property owner Kevin Peterson worries about the future.

Brent Snow, Roche Harbor’s manager, confirmed that the drainage of common household chemicals from residences around the bay is a environmental concern for Roche Harbor.

The homes are mostly zoned as rural residential and rural farm and forest, but based on the high number of homes on small parcels (under an acre), they should be classified as a Limited Area of More Intense Rural Development in order to connect to the Roche Harbor sewage system.

In 2005 the Growth Management Act was amended to allow for something called a Limited Area of More Intense Rural Development, often referred to as a LAMIRD, which helps areas maintain their rural characteristics by preventing certain developments that are urban, while also considering the unique needs of an area, such as Roche Harbor.

Peterson predicts that areas surrounding Roche Harbor will develop to a density of one house per existing lot as there are no regulations to control the number of dwellings. He also said that the soil in the area doesn’t drain well enough to support the current density of homes with private on-site sewage systems.

He said he hopes the county’s update of the comprehensive plan will provide tools necessary to properly minimize adverse environmental impacts of areas like the homes around Roche Harbor.

San Juan County is in the preliminary stage of updating their comprehensive plan. According to San Juan County Planning Manager Linda Kuller, Peterson’s request that the Planning Committee re-zone Roche Harbor has been formally added to the 2016 list of docket requests to be evaluated this year.

Peterson and Snow are worried that waters will become polluted as the area continues to develop.

Peterson, an architect and city planner, sees the problem of avoiding pollution as addressing the zoning classification of Roche and the surrounding homes. He said that the issue with fixing the drainage problem is the shortcomings of the first version of the Growth Management Act in the 90s, which labeled Roche Harbor a master planned resort with an urban activity center to support the development around Roche Harbor. However, several homes that have been built along Westcott Drive, Armdale Road, White Point Road and Afterglow Drive are zoned as rural.

This means the homes cannot connect to Roche Harbor’s sewage system, which would allow the sewage to go through the Roche Harbor water treatment system before draining into the harbor. Peterson says that if the area was re-zoned as LAMIRD, experts could evaluate each home’s sewage needs on its own merits and would be able to investigate, and decide what is best based on the environmental, economic, and functional issues facing each home’s sewage needs.

Snow said Roche Harbor’s system is large enough to support the community around the resort if the system pipelines could be expanded with future development of the resort and the surrounding community. Several counties in Washington, including Whatcom and Thurston, have worked to change rural areas and have them zoned according to the LAMIRD designation.

Currently parts of Roche Harbor’s sewage system reach outside of the Roche Harbor urban activity center. However, those homes were already connected to Roche Harbor’s system before the application of the Growth Management Act, according to Snow.

He also pointed out that connecting these homes to the Roche Harbor sewage system wouldn’t be an overnight project. Snow made clear that if the area were re-zoned and an appropriate fee for the use of their sewage system was agreed upon, and approved by proper authorities, expanding pipelines as the resort expands to give homes access to their system would be possible and welcomed.

“We are happy and willing to facilitate our neighbors and protection of the environment,” said Snow.

Check out a graphic of the infrastructure issues near Roche Harbor at www.sanjuanjournal.com.