JOB WELL DONE!
In a critical decision issued yesterday, Snohomish County Hearing Examiner Barbara Dykes supported 7-Lakes' appeal and concluded that the development of 49 homes was not a development of only 166 acres, but rather an integral part of a larger development on 2,000 acres. The single cluster application was remanded back to the county planning department to order a full environmental impact statement on the ENTIRE development.
Congratulations to our community!
We all share in the credit for this win. Many people have said this development and anything backed by big money is a "done deal" before the citizens get involved. Well it's not! At least not in this case! And we owe it to our community.
In the hearing, volunteers Rone Brewer, our local environmental consultant from Sound Strategies, surveyor and planner Tom Barry from Metron GIS, and independent land use planner and SEPA expert Bob Landles all testified with considerable grace and knowledge. Our local experts' testimony outweighed the roomful of the McNaughton Group's hired hands attending day after day. And our attorney, David Bricklin of Bricklin Newman Dold, LLP, deserves the credit for an incredible job.
Our board of directors throughout the hearing, including Robin Stinardo, Pam Shoberg, Dave Ridgeway, Quentin Mitchell, Stuart Hunt, and Wayne Taylor all helped get us to this point of success. We regret that Pam is leaving us for her work with the Master Gardener's and continued work with other non-profit endeavours, and we thank her for her help and wish her luck.
Transportation Meeting
Most of you have probably received the McNaughton Group's letter announcing a transportation workshop held jointly by them and Snohomish County. We will have a representative in attendance. What could they be planning now, you might ask, since we just won our appeal? They may well continue pursuing the rural clusters. But their end-goal has always been a larger development with more density. They still own property and want to develop it. They should be talking about those transportation impacts and how to accommodate the concerns of the community. It's our hope they do incorporate real community input into their designs. And now, because of our win, we can be assured that they'll also have to assess the environmental impacts en total.
What happens now?
The developer will very likely appeal to the County Council. If they lose there, they may appeal to Superior Court. 7-Lakes will continue fighting for our community, so that we can be assured that this development will be held to the highest standards of the law. This, as has always been the case, will take all of us.
Why is this win important?
Conducting an environmental impact statement (EIS) is no small task. It’s very time consuming and very expensive. And this is an environmentally sensitive area replete with wetlands and draining into the Stillaguamish River and Port Susan. So the requirement of an (EIS) is a very big deal. It may mean the re-design of their development, the inclusion of better storm water treatment facilities, or a change to how septic is handled. It means a lot more money from them, and a lot more time. In this economy, especially, that’s a very big hit to a developer. It may mean the end of their development if they can’t afford to pursue it. Consider that their costs have increased dramatically already because they have to bring in water from Everett. They’re hurting like every other builder or developer (and, I might add, individual citizen) in this recession.
This is a tremendous win for our community. We will make an impact on how 2,000 acres is developed in North Snohomish County. And because community groups like ours continue to demand integrity from our planning department, it will, eventually, impact how all development is handled here.
Continue to work with us for our quality of life, and integrity in our government.
thank you,
Ellen Hiatt Watson
7-Lakes President