Gov. Gary Locke on Tuesday ordered sanctions against Snohomish County because of the County Council’s efforts to put Island Crossing farmland into Arlington’s urban growth area.
Locke asked the state treasurer’s office to withhold the county’s portion of the gas tax starting March 1 – an amount expected to top $9.2 million in the next year. The county planned to use the money for road construction, repair and maintenance.
The county’s push to urbanize Island Crossing violates the state’s Growth Management Act, Locke said. It’s the first time he has ordered sanctions against a county deemed out of compliance with the act.
In a statement, the governor said the County Council hasn’t done enough to comply with the June decision of a state growth hearings board on the Island Crossing dispute.
“It was my desire to avoid the imposition of sanctions and work together on a solution,” Locke said in a statement.
“We do not intend to punish the people of Snohomish County,” he said. “We would simply like the council to comply with the order of the board.”
Locke’s decision to impose sanctions, announced just weeks before he leaves office, was met with glum reaction by county leaders.
“I’m not surprised, because I knew this could happen,” County Executive Aaron Reardon said. “But I am disappointed that we’re at this point.”
Reardon asked Locke in July not to impose sanctions. Later that month, Locke wrote County Council Chairman John Koster a letter requesting that they work together to bring the county into compliance.
Koster said he thought the council had taken adequate steps and that the land had reverted to its earlier designation for agricultural use after the council passed a law following the growth board’s decision.
“We believed we were in compliance,” Koster said. “We don’t think there is any ambiguity. As far as we’re concerned, this ground is designated ‘ag’ ground.”
Koster said the governor’s move to levy sanctions left him puzzled. “You’ve got to wonder if this isn’t somewhat political – a parting salvo by our soon-to-be parting governor,” he said.
Ron Shultz, an environmental policy adviser for Locke, said the council needs to completely repeal the law that removed the land from agriculture uses.
Koster said the council will meet in a closed-door session on Monday to discuss its next step. He said it would be up to the council to decide if it wants to ask the state’s next governor to drop the sanctions.
“I’d like to tell them to go pound sand. But I can’t make that decision,” Koster said.
Car dealer Dwayne Lane has lobbied the county for years to let Arlington expand into Island Crossing so he can build an auto dealership at a high-profile location next to I-5. Lane is one of 23 property owners in the Island Crossing area who want the land-use designation changed.
But the idea of removing the land from farming and opening the Stillaguamish River flood plain to more development has ignited opposition from farmers, growth-management activists and others.
The controversy moves to Superior Court in April. Lane is pursuing an appeal of the growth board’s decision that prevents further development at Island Crossing.
“The reason that our lame-duck governor has again brought out the hammer of imposing sanctions on Snohomish County is to influence the trial in Superior Court that is scheduled to begin in just 12 weeks,” Lane said in a statement.
Recent court decisions have supported local control of land-use policies, Lane added.
The Growth Management Act is the sweeping land-use law adopted more than a decade ago to protect farmland and forests from urban sprawl.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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