Salmo,

Streamside buffers are critical and they need to be protected and increased. Unfortunately, the urban areas trashed theirs long ago and now they would like to move the cost of their mistakes to the rural landowners. I think it is perfectly OK to require strong protections along waterways and to ensure surface water is kept clean, but a blanket 65% taking on all rural land regardless of location is simply arbitrary. There are going to be many properties where minimal protections are necessary, and others where 65% may not be enough, but the ordinance doesn't seem to address that obvious difference. I just wish there was flexibility in the new law and if the County does see the need to "quaranteen" a significant part of someones property to protect the County's natural resource base, they should pay for it. Of course if I had the answers, I'd be running things instead of spouting off here.