Sewer project foes vow to fight on

By Jennifer Langston

Herald Writer

SNOHOMISH — The new sewer line that the city plans to build would cut through the pasture where William Romanick’s cows now munch grass.

He and his wife, Alice, have lived on five acres along Ludwig Road, west of the Snohomish city limits but inside its urban growth boundary, since the 1970s.

His neighborhood still feels like the country, and he likes it that way.

But if growth is destined to come his way, Romanick doesn’t want a sewer pipe and a 600-foot-long strip of city land crossing his property.

"It just screws up everything if I wanted to build houses on there some day," he said. "You can’t use it for anything after they get through with it. I don’t know what kind of deal they could make."

Romanick and other neighbors have ignored or tossed out letters from the city of Snohomish seeking to acquire land for a sewer line or asking to conduct tests and surveys on their property.

"We are not in favor of them coming and never have been," said Marti Wick, who lives on 88th Drive SE. "Next time maybe we’ll try Russian or Spanish and maybe they’ll catch on."

The $9 million sewer line construction project would eventually allow the city to serve businesses along Bickford Avenue, as well as neighborhoods north and west of the city where future growth is supposed to occur.

Mayor Cameron Bailey said at a recent meeting that building the sewer line is the city’s No. 1 goal. The areas it would serve are the city’s future, because they’ll draw economic development and family wage jobs.

Some landowners and businesses to the north are anxious to be annexed by the city. But to reach those areas, the first leg of the new sewer trunk line is planned to run through a bucolic neighborhood west of Highway 9.

The city needs to acquire parts of 18 parcels of land in that neighborhood. So far it has agreements on seven, city officials said Friday.

The Snohomish City Council is expected to decide June 4 whether to begin proceedings to condemn land from property owners who won’t sell willingly. City Attorney Grant Weed said last week that the city still has the authority to condemn land for public projects even if it’s in the county.

The city council recently voted unanimously to apply for a public works loan to finance much of the project. The city hopes to begin construction next summer.

Several residents who live along the first phase of the proposed sewer line said the city would have a fight on its hands.

"They’re not going to get anywhere," said Steve Campbell, a doctor who lives on 89th Avenue SE. "To a person that I’ve talked to, nobody wants the sewer, and nobody wants to be annexed."

Some worry about potential damage to Cemetery Creek, a tributary of the Snohomish River that the sewer line would approximately follow. They’ve questioned why the line couldn’t run straight up Avenue D rather than into their neighborhood.

City officials say the sewer line has to follow the path of least resistance because it’s fed by gravity.

Mothers like Wick aren’t wild about having their streets torn up or the heavy equipment that will be operating while kids are out of school and playing. Others say the city should straighten out problems at its sewage treatment plant, which has been violating clean water laws, before allowing more growth.

Snohomish is also negotiating with the state Department of Ecology and an environmental watchdog group to address pollution violations and make necessary fixes at its sewage treatment plant. City officials contend the problems would not be exacerbated by adding more sewage.

Nancy Soderblom, who grew up on 35 acres of rolling fields and pastureland along Cemetery Creek, said the sewer line will inevitably bring more people and change the character of the place she hoped to bequeath to her grandchildren.

"The people who want to try to get all the houses in here with the sewer system, they wouldn’t want that next to their property," she said.

Interim City Manager Jack Collins said the city doesn’t need permission from 100 percent of the landowners who were merely asked to allow crews on their property to do surveys.

The city hoped to figure out where to site the line to easily provide sewer service to those homes. If the landowners deny access, they may just have to spend extra money to hook up to the sewer line later, he said.

The reality is that growth and public health demand that the sewer be built, Collins said.

"The real question is whether the sewer is going to be in the right place or the wrong place, because sooner or later the sewer is going to be there," he said.

You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452 or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.

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