Some disturbing language lies within the Port Angeles Planning Commission’s May 6 Climate Resiliency Plan.
Words included in the plan are “disincentivise building,” “disincentivize development and remove infrastructure” and most troubling of all, “add filing to property record for development that may still continue in high-risk areas.”
Clearly the city has a housing affordability crisis.
Disincentivising development and declaring certain properties high-risk will not help housing affordability.
What defines high-risk?
Relevant sources for climate change planning are cited on the Climate Resiliency Plan page of the city website.
The 2015 Climate Change Preparedness Plan for the North Olympic Peninsula (CCPP) and the 2014 North Olympic Development Council (NODC) Resilience Plan are 2 cited documents.
Both of those documents define high risk as “areas with high climate change impact risk.”
Is that your property?
Is it mine?
Isn’t it every property in the city?
According to CCPP and NODC Resilience Plans, defining a property as high risk is the first step toward the city “working with banks to remove mortgage subsidies (e.g. loans)” and “working with insurance industry to remove subsidies.”
In a time when the city planning commission should be welcoming in real estate developers to solve the housing affordability problem, the planning commission is instead welcoming in real estate lawyers to defend citizens against their own city.
Brian Mattuch
Port Angeles