Builders hurried to beat new rules

Published 12:10 pm Thursday, December 27, 2007

I agree that we all should work together toward meaningful solutions on development issues but, regarding the Dec. 18 letter from Samuel L. Anderson of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, “Builders comply with runoff rules,” there are a few things that puzzle me.

Why, if the new critical area regulations were so unimportant, did developers line up in record numbers for permits to beat the new rules? (The Herald, Oct. 7, “Builders stampede for permits to beat deadline on new rules.”) I don’t really think that every developer or builder doesn’t care about the impact they are creating, but I am sure that there are more than just a few bad apples out there. The almighty dollar does seem to corrupt the conscience at times.

Anderson states at the end of his letter that he is hard pressed to see how nasty, uninformed cheap shots at builders lead to collaborative solutions.

Comments such as the one made by the Master Builders’ Mike Pattison in an article Oct. 27, 2006, “Rural house clusters opposed,” are totally counterproductive. He said his group opposes any effort to repeal the rules: “We’ll fight this one bitterly,” Doesn’t sound like anyone there wants to talk about any collaborative solutions on that issue, does it?

What are we, the uninformed people, supposed to think when we read articles and comments like these?

I don’t believe most people are as uninformed as one may like to think they are, and it is very depressing to watch helplessly as more and more seemingly unabated development takes place. When will it all end?

Jerry Northey