Lend your support to Land Use Code changes

In order to protect the vibrant quality of life we experience here, an abundance of native species, and the water that surrounds our lands, we urge you to lend your voice in support of the proposed changes to the Bonner County Land Use Code.

Through measures to protect these resources, we may ensure that Bonner County be a desirable place to live, work and play well into the future.

The 40-foot setback is not proposed to change; the compromise is that we now require that the setback be vegetated along water bodies to protect the water from pollution caused by runoff from stormwater, construction and landscaping. This is integral to the quality of the nearshore water of Lake Pend Oreille; degradation in developed areas is already being documented. A vegetated butter can be very attractive, low maintenance, be an attribute to local properties, and maintaining resources and land values.

In addition, the proposed stormwater and erosion control grading ordinance is important to keep the soil on land. Not only does sedimentation degrade water quality, it causes landowners to lose vast amounts of land every year. County commissioners need your help in deciding what measures to adopt. If we do not adopt more stringent land use regulations, this land will no longer look like your home.

KATE WILSON

Sandpoint