It probably should come as no surprise that politics is threatening to spoil what appeared to be a refreshingly cooperative effort on growth management.
Last week’s move by the Snohomish County Council to replace a crucial growth report — one that was generated through nearly three years of work by county and city growth planners — with one that better suits the council’s Republican majority has injected further acrimony into the already touchy debate over growth.
Council members Jeff Sax and John Koster, who are largely responsible for writing the new report, argue that the original version made faulty assumptions that skew the picture of future land availability. They say that their challenges of those assumptions went nowhere, so in the 11th hour they wrote their own report, one that critics say would open more land for development. The council approved it on a 3-2 party-line vote.
Dubbed a "buildable lands report," the study is intended to show how cities in the county have complied with the state’s Growth Management Act, which seeks to save farm and forest land by restricting urban-style development to cities and the areas where they can expand, called urban growth areas. The county has a Sept. 1 deadline to submit it to the state.
The changes Sax and Koster made could lead to the expansion of urban growth areas and to more densely packed developments within cities.
Whether there are problems with the numbers in the original report certainly warrants further discussion. But a complete change of direction in a crucial document at the last minute seems unnecessarily antagonistic, and could undermine future efforts at cooperation between the county and its cities.
Relationships between the county and its cities are often fragile, subject to political pressures. Valuable cooperation has been fostered during this long process, which has been overseen by Snohomish County Tomorrow, an intergovernmental committee established by the county council. Having the council dictate its will at the last minute fosters mistrust. Every effort should be made by the council to continue a constructive, civil dialogue that leads to consensus on the issues in dispute.
Sax says the report shouldn’t advance the agenda of any particular group, be it pro-growth or anti-growth. Koster says he doesn’t want to force cities to do anything they don’t want to do. Both would do well to back those words with a concerted effort to work in good faith with Snohomish County Tomorrow.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
