BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - "Welcome to Brain Damaged Island," joked Bainbridge Island homeowner and real estate agent Doug Nelson.
He doesn't really mean it. He loves Bainbridge, grew up there and plans to stay there. But he and, according to his attorney, many other residents are fed up with the city's code on Native Vegetation Zones, NVZs.
The City Codes state: "Its purpose is to protect and enhance the Island's natural character, water quality, native plant communities, and wildlife habitat along the shoreline."
But Nelson says it's gone too far and is reaching beyond city limits into his yard.
"We have no lawn out here to throw a Frisbee, catch a ball, kick a soccer ball back and forth," said Nelson who just celebrated the birth of his sixth child. "I'm left with thorny bushes and salal."
The NVZ requires Nelson to plant only native vegetation on his beachfront yard, forbids him to put in a lawn, or wide paths, or any structures including benches or decks in the vast majority his yard. He claims his yard is more protected than the public beach between it and Puget Sound.
Nelson has gone along with the code so far, but is now suing the city. His attorney says Nelson is just one of several people seeking legal advice and possible law suits over NVZs.
"It's this idea that you have no choice. You will march and you will with little or no discretion," said attorney Dennis Reynolds. "It pushes people." Several communities have similar vegetation buffer rules as they try to meet standards imposed by state and federal governments and some are facing similar lawsuits. They defend them as rules to protect Puget Sound and other water bodies. Bainbridge Island city officials refused several offers to defend the ordinance saying now that there is litigation involved, they can't discuss it. A spokesman referred us to a State Department of Ecology representative who said, they support many municipal beach protection measures, but had nothing to do the Bainbridge Island code.
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