County won’t listen to others’ concerns
Published 9:00 pm Monday, May 17, 2004
We are responding to your May 7 front-page article about residents fighting the proposed NASCAR track near Marysville or Lakewood (“Residents gather to fight racetrack”). We fully sympathize with anyone living within two miles of the proposed NASCAR track.
Wherever the NASCAR track is eventually built, it is certain that all necessary improvements to access roads will be paid for with our tax money and not by the NASCAR organization. Also, the majority of people attending events at the track will not live in the area so they will not have their homes and lifestyle adversely impacted by the noise and increased traffic as the residents around the track will.
The concerned residents should not be reassured by Snohomish County officials who say, “The project will have to go through a full environmental impact statement (EIS) and public hearings.” We have learned the hard way with the expansion of the gravel industry in our area that Snohomish County government routinely makes the EIS process meaningless.
Legitimate concerns raised by opponents will never be fully addressed. Even if the hearing examiner rules that the EIS is inadequate and denies the project, his decision will be overruled by the County Council.
If a current law or regulation would be inconvenient to the proposed project, the County Council will change the law.
The people assembling and defending the EIS will be paid for their work and enjoy the full cooperation of county personnel, while the people protesting the project will have to contribute their money to hire lawyers and noise and other experts and volunteer their time to attend the hearings and submit their written objections to the EIS.
End result: After many months, the county will approve the project, attributing their decision to a fair EIS process.
Moral: Unless all people who value quality of life issues unite to oppose such big-money projects, we cannot successfully oppose them.
Sharon and David Damkaer
Monroe
