If this story were a VCR, the pause and rewind buttons would be worn out.
The Arlington City Council has again scheduled a special session in an attempt to annex 110 acres along I-5, where car dealer Dwayne Lane would like to move his downtown Arlington business.
The session is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Roosevelt Building at Presidents Elementary School, 401 N. French Ave.
Environmentalists tried to stop the move with a court injunction Friday, but that attempt failed.
“This is really about trying to do the developer giveaway before the courts can rule again,” said Aaron Ostrom, executive director of 1,000 Friends of Washington, a Seattle-based environmental group. “It’s kind of shocking.”
Eight years after its first try at annexing the land, the city is just a business day away from pulling it off.
City Councilman Graham Smith said Lane requested the special meeting earlier in the week.
“We have supported him all along,” Smith said. “Him being a good neighbor, why not? The earliest we could get together was Tuesday.”
The council’s next regular meeting is not scheduled until June 7, which is why it had to call a special meeting if members wanted to move sooner.
This is the second time this year that Arlington has granted Lane a special session in an attempt to annex the land, which is in an area known as Island Crossing.
The first attempt, in March, was cut short when a state growth hearings board intervened one day before the City Council had scheduled a vote to annex. The growth board said the city still had buildable land elsewhere.
But the battle is much older. The original attempt in 1996 was thwarted two years later.
Environmentalists and some farmers have vigorously opposed the annexation, saying it violates the letter and the spirit of the state Growth Management Act’s mandate to curb urban sprawl and protect farmland.
Proponents counter that the land is uniquely situated between I-5 and two traffic-clogged roads, which make farming too dangerous and financially untenable.
A request for a court injunction filed Friday by 1,000 Friends was denied, Ostrom said. Instead of an injunction, the group will have to let the annexation happen and then appeal it in court.
“The judge’s conclusion was that annexations are reversible and that injunctions are only applicable when an action is not reversible,” Ostrom said.
The Snohomish County Council paved the way May 24 with an unusual emergency ordinance. The council said new data from one of Lane’s consultants showed that Arlington’s buildable lands report needed to be revised and the city did not have enough commercial land in its urban growth area after all.
The County Council deemed the situation an emergency and voted again to stretch Arlington’s urban growth area.
The legal question now remains whether the state growth board can intervene on emergency ordinances. If so, it might try to stop the order on Tuesday. If not, the matter might skip straight to the courts. Again.
Pause. Rewind.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
Island Crossing timeline
June 19, 1978: Island Crossing is zoned for agriculture.
May 16, 1996: The county Boundary Review Board rejects Arlington’s attempt to annex 420 acres, including the Island Crossing area. The board’s decision is appealed.
Nov. 19, 1997: Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer upholds Island Crossing as an agricultural area.
Sept. 2, 1998: The Snohomish County Council votes 3-2 to keep Island Crossing agricultural.
Oct. 22, 2003: The County Council rezones 110 acres at Island Crossing from agricultural to urban commercial and overrides a veto by County Executive Bob Drewel.
Oct. 23, 2003: Farmers and environmentalists appeal the rezone to the state growth hearings board.
Nov. 5, 2003: Gov. Gary Locke’s administration joins the appeal.
Dec. 15, 2003: Arlington approves a separate motion to annex Island Crossing, sending the matter to the county Boundary Review Board.
March 22, 2004: A few hours before the county boundary board is scheduled to meet, the state hearings board rejects the county’s rezone. Arlington had planned to annex Island Crossing that day.
May 24, 2004: The County Council passes an emergency ordinance to allow Arlington to annex Island Crossing.
May 28, 2004: Arlington schedules a special annexation session for June 1. Attempts to file an injunction by 1,000 Friends of Washington are denied.
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