Two environmental groups have filed an appeal with the state claiming that the city of Lake Stevens isn’t doing enough to protect streams, wetlands and the lake from development.
The groups, the Pilchuck Audubon Society and Futurewise, filed the appeal earlier this month with the state Growth Management Hearings Board.
They are asking the state to declare invalid the city’s rules for construction near Lake Stevens, streams and wetlands. They also want the city to be forced to rewrite its rules.
The City Council voted in April to approve a modest increase in the distance required between new buildings and the city’s bodies of water.
“It doesn’t protect well enough,” said Kristin Kelly of Futurewise, a Seattle-based group that focuses on local governments’ compliance with the state Growth Management Act. She also handles growth issues for Pilchuck Audubon.
Currently, the city requires a buffer of up to 50 feet between a new building and a stream, and up to 150 feet for lakes and wetlands, depending on the type.
The new city rules increase those distances to up to 100 feet for streams and provide for small increases in some categories of lakes and wetlands.
Rules recommended by the state could widen those distances to up to 250 feet for streams and 300 feet for lakes and wetlands.
Kelly said the city should adopt these rules.
The state rules are based on “best available science,” according to the state and environmental groups. In their action against the city, the groups contend the city’s rules are not based on such scientific information.
Before approving the rules, the city hired a consultant, Gray and Osborne of Seattle, to do a scientific review of the city’s bodies of water, city administrator Jan Berg said.
The state’s rules are based upon looking at an average for the entire state, Berg said. “Lake Stevens’ best available science is based on Lake Stevens.”
After approving the modest buffer increases on April 30, the City Council also voted to review the rules with the possibility of increasing the distances.
That review won’t be completed until fall at the earliest.
The Greater Lake Stevens Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Vern Little and others have come out against increasing the buffers any more than already approved by the city, citing concern that it could affect plans for redevelopment of the city’s downtown.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
