West River ruling could send critical message

The county Board of Appeals has struck a blow for environmental enforcement, denying a retroactive variance for a West River landowner who built in the Critical Area without proper permits.

The homeowners, the Piera family, have two homes on an 8-acre peninsula at the end of Holly Landing Road in West River perched between Smith and Jones creeks.

They added a carport, masonry footpaths and a driveway within the most restrictive 100-foot buffer of the Critical Area without permits, and sought to secure the necessary variance for those structures after the fact.

The county cited them for the violation in May 2004 and...