People may be wondering what’s going on with the proposed development at Camp Casey. After all, it’s the largest single development proposal on Central Whidbey in at least 20 years. It includes housing for 360 people, 1/2 -mile of road construction, over 1-1/2-acres of new buildings, construction of a sewage treatment plant, and clearing of at least five acres of forest that has never been logged.

Whidbey Environmental Action Network has appealed this development to the Growth Management Hearings Board and the first hearing will be on May 13. As usual, Island County’s attorney is arguing that we, the people, have no right to even claim that this development will have significant environmental impacts because we have no legitimate interest in the outcome. According to the county commissioners, the only people who have an interest in the impacts that development will have on their community are the developers. The rest of us are just uppity flies that get in the way of the county’s plans for more outsized development.

Whidbey Environmental Action Network will be holding a meeting to discuss the Camp Casey development and what we pesky citizens can do about it. You’re invited tonight, May 7, at Race Road Fire Station. For more information, call WEAN at (360) 579-4202.

Steve Erickson

Langley