For months, the name Brightwater seemed synonymous with Edmonds. On Tuesday, the waterfront community was rightly relieved of the connection — for now — when King County Executive Ron Sims named a site along Highway 9 north of Woodinville the preferred site for the Brightwater sewage treatment plant.
Although Sims and Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel insisted no final decision has been made, everybody knows the Highway 9 site is likely to be officially selected in 2003. Of the two sites, it appears to be the better choice.
No one spot is the perfect choice for plunking down a wastewater treatment plant. But the preferred site, east of the intersection of Highway 9 and 228th Street in south Snohomish County, is the larger of the two finalists and sits in an area more suitable for such a facility. Edmonds has plans for the Unocal site listed in its comprehensive plan. And the size of the Highway 9 site, according to Sims, makes the area more amenable to buffers and odor-control efforts.
Sims’ preference to run pipelines from the plant through King County and designate Point Wells, just north of Richmond Beach, as the spot where treated wastewater will flow into Puget Sound divvies up some of the burden between the counties. And King County seems serious about efforts to protect the local environment.
Highway 9 opponents were there in force for Tuesday’s announcement. It’s clear they plan to fight this as hard as they can, and they have every right to do so. But they should also focus some of their energy on ways to negotiate with King County should the project go through at the preferred site. After all, $130 million in mitigation fees is nothing to scoff at.
Concerns that the plant will be an open invitation to developers are valid, but it’s likely the area would have been sought for development anyhow, given the rapid growth nearby. Residents are right to question the impact more development will have on traffic. But, again, that can’t be blamed solely on the wastewater plant. Growth and congestion are happening all around us. We need to be looking at other long-term solutions for handling our traffic woes.
Still, opponents of the Highway 9 site have time to influence what happens in their area, even if Brightwater is destined to be part of it.
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