Everett, Wash.
Published: Sunday, July 5, 2009

GUEST COMMENTARY / FULLY CONTAINED COMMUNITIES

Don't pave over forests for new cities that don't work

By Kristin Kelly
and Cindy Howard

 The housing bubble has burst. It will take years to work through our existing inventory of houses, yet some want to build whole new cities on forest land. It just does not make sense.

On Wednesday, the Snohomish County Council will take up the issue of these new cities, called Fully Contained Communities (FCCs), at a public hearing because there has been an outpouring of public sentiment against them. This hearing will discuss two options: one option, proposed by Council Member Dave Somers, would repeal the regulations that allow FCCs; the second would retain FCCs, but strengthen the regulations that manage them.

As two members of a stakeholder group that worked on the second option, we recommend that the council not allow the FCCs because they are not needed, will degrade our air and water quality, and increase costs to taxpayers.

The most likely place a new city would be built is on the 3,000 acres of forest land next to Lake Roesiger. Another developer has bought up thousands of acres in the Lake Goodwin rural area. Both are fighting the needed reforms. We hope a majority of the County Council will not be bullied or bought by these powerful special interests.

The fact is FCCs don't work, and are nothing more than opportunities to pave over rural and forest land for the benefit of the developer. We should learn from King and Pierce counties, both who have FCCs. Former County Executive Ron Sims acknowledged that Redmond Ridge has not lived up to its promise and that if he could to do it over, he would not have approved the massive development. Redmond Ridge has not provided the jobs to keep people from commuting to Bellevue and Seattle and beyond. Redmond Ridge and Cascadia in Pierce County have clogged rural roads, increased water pollution and generated more greenhouse gas emissions from all of the cars stuck in traffic. And the taxpayers are stuck with paying to fix these problems.

In today's economic climate, taxpayers can't afford to keep subsidizing more unneeded developments. We must use our limited resources to fix our current problems, make our existing cities more livable, and encourage businesses that pay living wages to move into these cities and employ the residents who live there.

And expanding roads is not the only cost the taxpayer will bear. For a population of 6,000 people 10 miles away from Monroe or Snohomish, the new city will need schools, fire departments with paid firemen, police, a wastewater treatment plant, parks, maintenance departments, and a whole new government. Much of this is paid for by taxpayers, not the developer!

Not only do we oppose the new cities, so do 18 of Snohomish County's 20 cities and towns who compete for funding to keep their cities in the black. Community Transit, whose leaders understand how difficult it is to provide bus service to outlying areas, also opposes the new cities.

The Puget Sound Regional Council just adopted Vision 2040, which directs counties to "avoid Fully Contained Communities." County comprehensive plans are to be consistent with this policy. Avoiding FCCs means not building them unless they are needed. According to Snohomish County's data, a new city is not necessary to house the population and jobs that could move here in the next 20 years because there is more than enough buildable land without paving over forests and rural land. The Puget Sound Partnership, whose job it is to help restore Puget Sound, also recommends that we encourage growth in our existing cities and towns and not pave over forests and rural areas.

Maintaining mobility for our residents and freight mobility for our businesses is a major concern in Snohomish County as our highways and roads are clogged for hours during peak travel times. The traffic from a new remote city will just make it worse. King County's experience shows there is no guarantee that any family wage jobs will come to the FCCs, especially when they are located so far from transportation networks and customers.

We know that a new city will further stretch the already over-stretched budget of Snohomish County and decrease quality of life by flooding our rural roads with urban-style traffic jams, overcrowding our schools, and paving over our rural and forest lands -- forests on which our county's forest product industry jobs depend.

Please join with us on Wednesday and ask the County Council to say no to FCCs, and keep Snohomish County moving toward a sustainable future.



Kristin Kelly is Snohomish/Skagit County program director for Futurewise, and smart growth director for Pilchuck Audubon Society. Cindy Howard is a 27-year resident of the Lake Roesiger community and a member of the Livable Snohomish County Coalition.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA