Auto dealer Dwayne Lane’s proposal to develop Island Crossing at I-5 north of Marysville got a jump-start by Snohomish County Councilman Kirke Sievers Monday.
Sievers has asked that Lane’s 110-acre rezone proposal — vetoed by County Executive Bob Drewel Sept. 26 — be put on the council’s Wednesday agenda.
Sievers, an Everett Democrat who earlier voted to approve Lane’s rezone, did not return calls for comment Monday.
It will take four of five council member votes to overturn Drewel’s veto. The council faces a deadline of Oct. 26 if it wants to override the veto.
Lane’s rezone proposal stretches back to the mid-1990s, and has been highly controversial.
Lane has said he needs to move his auto dealership from Arlington to the high-profile location at Island Crossing to keep the business viable.
Others, though, have said the land should not be developed as an urban extension of Arlington.
The Stillaguamish Flood Control District has raised concerns about Lane’s proposal because the land sits in the floodplain of the Stillaguamish River, and some believe more development there would worsen flooding for others.
Farmers and organizations such as the county’s Agricultural Advisory Board and the Snohomish County Farm Bureau have criticized Lane’s development plans, which they say will mean the loss of prime farmland.
Changing the zoning from agriculture to commercial uses is also opposed by growth-management groups such as 1000 Friends of Washington, which says that prime farmland must remain in agricultural uses because of the state’s Growth Management Act, the law that protects farm and forest lands from urban development.
Lane, however, has said he would mitigate potential flood impacts.
His family and other supporters also have said the land is no longer suitable for farming, and traffic in the area has made it more dangerous for farmers.
Drewel said he vetoed Lane’s rezone because it ran counter to state growth laws, and he was worried that state sanctions against the county could mean the loss of millions of dollars in funding for parks and roads.
If the County Council rejects Drewel’s veto, the zoning change also would allow Costco-style stores, hotels and retail centers on the property.
The council meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Jackson board room, on the sixth floor of the County Administration Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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