BOTHELL — Growing pains in one of the fastest-developing parts of the state have left the Snohomish County Council with tough questions about how to manage an abrupt, often uncomfortable split between rural and urban areas.
Last week, homeowners along 43rd Avenue SE implored the County Council to put some rural properties east of Bothell inside the urban-growth boundary. The up-zone would allow them to sell their land at a higher price, and leave behind traffic, noise and other byproducts of the suburbs that have taken shape on three sides.
The changes they want — pushing the growth boundary a few blocks eastward and down-zoning some faraway neighborhoods as rural — could subject a different set of homeowners to the same headaches.
“We shouldn’t be pitting one neighborhood against another neighborhood,” said Chuck Austin, a 43rd Avenue homeowner fighting for urban zoning.
Austin was one of 28 people who spoke to the council during last week’s hearing. The meeting lasted 90 minutes, but that wasn’t enough to sort through competing interests or to reach a decision. It’s set to resume at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 16.
“That gives us enough time to delve into all of the questions that have been raised so that hopefully we can come to a wise solution,” said County Councilman Terry Ryan, who represents the area as part of Council District 4.
The council is considering three proposals to expand the urban-growth line. If the council agrees, then planning staff would study how the proposed changes would affect traffic and the environment, among other areas. A final decision wouldn’t occur until 2019.
Separate proposals from a homeowner and a land-use consultant would put 281 acres along 43rd Avenue inside the growth boundary.
Through a zoning swap, a similar amount of urban land in other parts of the county would be designated rural. They suggested two neighborhoods, one along Lowell-Larimer Road in unincorporated Everett and another next to Granite Falls.
Instead of the swap, 43rd Avenue homeowners said the county might consider changing its policies.
County planners said the council should turn down those requests for failing to meet state or county requirements.
A third proposal from the Northshore School District involves the new North Creek High School campus, which touches backyards along 43rd Avenue. The growth line runs through the school grounds, leaving 31 acres of ball fields with rural zoning. The district wants it all zoned urban. County planners say that request deserves further study.
Zoning on the southern part of 43rd down to Jewell Road generally allows one house per 5 acres. Things change suddenly at 188th Street SE, where developers have built six or more houses per acre.
The street dead-ends there now, but there are eventual plans to transform the road into an arterial, extending it to 180th Street, in the north, and Maltby Road, to the south.
Nearby homeowners say the road plans are more signs their rural way of life has disappeared. Another concern for the county and environmentalists is protecting water quality in Little Bear Creek to the east.
The rural-urban dividing line is poorly drawn through the neighborhood, argues Clay White, a former county planning director and now employed as a planner with LDC, a Woodinville-based engineering firm working with the homeowners. White would like to see the line moved east to a 100-foot-wide utility easement.
He submitted one of the applications to the county. Property owner Paula Crandall submitted a similar application for neighboring land.
Some homeowners just to the east said that if the line gets moved, then they’ll wind up dealing with the same problems once development reaches their doorsteps.
Some people in the proposed swap areas are upset, too. They don’t want the value of their land traded to benefit people in entirely different communities.
Shawna Steele worried that the county could render worthless the 9 acres she owns along Lowell-Larimer Road. Steele had been counting on being able to develop it some day.
“What are we going to do with the property that we based our retirement on?” she asked.
Peter Burkett owns eight acres in the possible swap area next to Granite Falls. Burkett doesn’t see any sense in rezoning his land 25 miles away from where the change is needed. He might want to sell, if the opportunity arises. That almost happened a decade ago, before the deal fell through, he said.
“They need to solve the problem themselves,” Burkett said. “Unless you can tell me why it’s Granite Falls’ problem, I’ll have to go with my premise that it’s not Granite Falls’ problem.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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