MUKILTEO — A divided Snohomish County Council on Monday upheld an earlier decision to allow a developer to build a subdivision on steep, wooded property in the unincorporated Picnic Point area.
The council voted 3-2 to deny an appeal of hearing examiner Peter Camp’s decision on the Frognal Estates project. Camp granted approval to developer Integral Northwest in May.
Voting in the majority were Council Chairman Terry Ryan with Councilmen Ken Klein and Hans Dunshee. Councilmembers Brian Sullivan and Stephanie Wright voted to overturn the decision.
The Picnic Point Preservation Committee group and the Regatta Estates Homeowners Association asked the County Council to review Camp’s decision. The council took up the issue during a hearing last month and returned Monday to deliver its decision.
The project calls for 112 homes on 22 acres behind Picnic Point Elementary School.
The first plans for the development were submitted to the county under the name Horseman’s Trail in 2005, before the recession sunk the housing market. The county didn’t issue a final environmental impact statement until September of last year.
Plans call for moving about 285,000 cubic yards of dirt to help even out the hilly contours of the site. Other features include large retaining walls and an extensive drainage system.
Camp’s decision imposed monitoring requirements to check for muddy water flowing off the property during construction. Work trucks also must use Picnic Point Road to the extent possible and avoid 60th Avenue West, which runs by the elementary school.
The process for appealing land-use cases involving the hearing examiner to the County Council has come under criticism. In cases such as Frognal, the council must act in a quasi-judicial capacity, rather than its typical legislative role.
In the November election, a ballot proposition will ask voters whether they want to change that process. If the proposition succeeds, the council would no longer have a role in reviewing some land-use or environmental cases from the hearing examiner. Appeals would go instead to the Superior Court. The proposed change arose from the county Charter Review Commission.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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