Clallam County citizens gain sufficient signatures to place Initiative to Repeal the Critical Areas Code on the ballot
Next step: Validation of signatures by county auditor

Clallam County, WA - 7/7/01 - Bob Forde, chair of The Committee to Repeal the Critical Areas Code announced today that sufficient signatures have been gathered to place the Initiative to Repeal the Critical Areas Code on the ballot in November.  He will be submitting the signatures to the Clallam County Auditor for validation on Monday, July 9th.

"It's taken a team effort to get this accomplished," said Forde about the issue that is complex enough that many local residents had little understanding of the details of the 80-page law.  "There was a core group of individuals who worked very hard to get the signatures in; and without them, we would have fallen short," he stated.

Forde and several others have been speaking at various organizations and on radio programs to try and get their message out about how many individuals have been, and continue to be, harmed by the onerous ordinance.

An attempt to get the Repeal on the ballot began in 1999 when the County Commissioners passed the Critical Areas Ordinance against overwhelming public opposition.  After passage by the Commissioners, the ordinance became the Critical Areas Code.  Immediately after passage, the Libertarian Party of Clallam County filed an initiative to repeal the Code in its entirety. While the Party was unable to collect enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot, they did make contact with many people interested in property rights.  

Earlier this year, Forde and  several other individuals formed the nonpartisan committee to repeal the Critical Areas Code, and repeated the effort.  Signature gathering will continue until Monday to provide an adequate buffer against invalidated signatures.