County shouldn’t give weight to poll

I attended the May 27 Snohomish County Planning Commission public hearing concerning a proposed moratorium on applications for development of Fully Contained Communities (FCCs).

At that hearing the only folks opposed to the moratorium were those who want to profit from an FCC, most particularly Dave Barnett, landowner at the Lake Roesiger site.

One of the proponents of the FCCs who testified was Don McDonough of Don McDonough and Associates, which is a market research firm that Mr. Barnett hired to do a poll in support of his FCC plans. In Mr. McDonough’s testimony, he highlighted that 65 percent of respondents in his poll were in favor of FCCs. However, as I read the question, it seems to convey only two choices to those who were polled. One, would you prefer to keep bungling things up at your cost? Or two, would you like to do it perfectly at no cost to you?

Nowhere in the poll did it mention that the FCC would be located in the far reaches of our rural areas, like Lake Roesiger. As you read this, would you consider this unbiased scientific investigation? I don’t. While the majority of planning commissioners expressed a high degree of interest in this poll, to me, it is worthless and distorted, and should not hold any weight with our County Council.

Clark Thompson