Email brinnongroup@gmail.com for more information.

Our recent email:

Happy New Year. Looks like 2010 will be an interesting year...

1. Brinnon Group meeting Saturday January 23 at 11 a.m. at Bond's. Potluck. Let us know if you need directions.

2. Statesman notified the county last August that it was submitting an application to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to have Pleasant Harbor classified as a Regional Center under the Federal EB-5 Visa Program. This program provides foreign investors with "green cards." Email us for a copy of the letter.

The Brinnon Group has access to experts on this program and we will be following the progress of this plan carefully.

3. You should have the statement of your 2009 contribution and our 501c3 tax number. If you don't let us know by responding to this email. We are using your contributions for public disclosure requests, expert opinions, and our legal fees. Any help you can give us is greatly appreciated. (A hydrogeologist report runs about $1000.)

4. We have been meeting with our state legislators to educate them about the project. Statesman has been lobbying them in favor of the project, but the legislators have lacked some basic information about the resort, including the plan for the foreign investment.

5. Here are some links to current information about the Pleasant Harbor Resort:

a. The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners approved an updated Shoreline Management Program (SMP). The approved SMP has been submitted to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) for final review and adoption. Next, the Locally Approved SMP (LA-SMP) must be reviewed and approved by Ecology before the new shoreline provisions take effect, anticipated for no sooner than Spring 2010.

The Planning Commission proposal for 150’ standard buffer along all streams/rivers and 100’ standard buffer on all lakes was accepted by the Board. They opted to support a 150’ standard buffer for all marine shores, rather than the Planning Commission proposal for only 50’ along Shoreline Residential and High Intensity designated marine shores.

Ecology will schedule a comment period and public hearing, and then provide the County with feedback on the document as to its compliance with the state’s Shoreline Management Act and the SMP Guidelines. After both the County and the State agree on a final version of the SMP, both entities will formally adopt the program, and the new SMP will take effect. Final adoption is currently anticipated to occur no sooner than Spring 2010.

Email us for the press release from Michelle McConnell giving more details.

b. Comments on the Scoping Process received by Jefferson County can be found at www.co.jefferson.wa.us/commdevelopment/Brinnon_MPR.htm

c. Updates on the development process can be found at www.co.jefferson.wa.us/commdevelopment/Brinnon_MPR.htm

First is the PDF of the description of the process handed out at the Scoping meeting. It is 6 pages long. Next is the PDF of the SEIS process further down under the "New Items" section. This PDF will show the steps involved in the SEIS. Both have "Today" arrows to show approximately where the county is in the process. The county says it will update the "Today" status as we move from one step to another.

Let us know if you would like any more information.