My day on Lake Washington

I spent the majority of today on a boat in Lake Washington with officials from the City of Renton reviewing their Shoreline Master plan. Although the weather was bad this morning being on the lake and looking at the shorelines and the habitat was amazing. We could see a huge difference between what newer developments were able to do with their property according to the state Shoreline's Act and what older properties were able to do with their land when the state didn't have any regulations.

More than anything what I learned today is that we still have a lot of habitat that we need to protect along the shoreline and the respective cities have to work hard to enforce the rules. The biggest surprise to me was seeing the difference between what Seattle does with their shorelines, what Bellevue does and what the city of Renton does. I think about the environment often but never about the shoreline this trip opened my eyes.

~Ed

Comments

[Melinda]

Would be really interested to hear more about "the difference between what Seattle does with their shorelines, what Bellevue does and what the city of Renton does." Perhaps a second post?