Property owners need to demand answers

To The Eagle:

What is a National Heritage Area? Is it a historical area? Is it a specific zoning area? What does it hope to accomplish and by what means? Who will administer it? What is the time frame to opt out and how?

Most of the areas that fall into any of the above are usually administered by someone outside the affected area, that is, a board, (non-elected) who is based in another area with more population. The usual targets for historical and heritage sites are to restrict any development through the permit process. They will try and tell you what color your house should be, what it should look like, etc.

The restrictions come under many names--studies, impacts, water table, landscaping, protected plants and animals, historical, traffic, on and on. They are all intended to restrict the property owner's use of their property.

The above are some of the many questions that should be asked by property owners who will be impacted in one way or another.

We need to demand answers.

Mike Mouliot

Cathlamet