Reardon rolls out his first veto

A Snohomish County Council ordinance violates state law and undermines cities’ influence in setting growth policies, County Executive Aaron Reardon said Friday in executing the first veto in his five months at the helm of the county.

“This is an unlawful ordinance. It’s contrary to the (state) Growth Management Act,” Reardon said in an interview. “I think it sets a bad precedent.”

Council chairman John Koster disagreed.

“There’s not a shred of evidence it takes anything away from the cities,” Koster said. He said the administration misrepresents the result of the ordinance, and he believes it doesn’t run contrary to state law.

“(Reardon) just failed to get beyond the rhetoric and misinformation and the fact that it doesn’t take anything away from the cities,” Koster said.

The executive made good on his promise to veto the law, which would have set a new role for the group Snohomish County Tomorrow, an advisory organization of county and city officials that helps decide how growth will occur in urban areas.

The council approved the ordinance May 5 despite Reardon’s warning a month earlier that he would veto the measure if substantial changes weren’t made. The executive said his offer to negotiate was rebuffed by the council.

The chance of overriding the veto is slim, if nonexistent.

It would take four council members to override the veto, and the two Democrats on the five-person council – Dave Gossett and Kirke Sievers – both urged Reardon to veto the ordinance.

Meanwhile, Koster said he knows he and the other two Republicans on the panel don’t have the votes.

“We want to continue working with the executive. We need the cities in this process, and I think we’ll just move on,” Koster said. “There are too many other issues to continue fighting over this thing.”

The disputed ordinance set policy that redefined the role of Snohomish County Tomorrow. Reardon said the changes would have limited the ability of cities to help set long-range land-use polices and plan for growth around their communities.

The law was passed on a 3-2 vote, along straight party lines.

“For more than a decade, Snohomish County Tomorrow has allowed the county and its cities to cooperatively work out their differences on key growth management and planning issues,” Reardon said in a statement. “This ordinance undermines this important relationship.”

Council member Gossett was pleased by the veto.

The ordinance “sent the wrong message to cities, damaged our relations with cities, and the changes themselves would really lead to bad planning,” Gossett said.

The executive said at least half the county’s cities, including most of the larger ones, are on record opposing the changes.

Reardon didn’t mention the veto in a speech he made Thursday, but was later asked about it, Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said. When Reardon announced that he had already vetoed the ordinance, he got a rousing round of applause, the mayor said.

“There wasn’t any reason to change it,” Haakenson said. “It’s one of those if-it-isn’t-broken-don’t-fix-it things.”

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