State growth laws demand that Snohomish County set aside enough land to satisfy its need for gravel, sand and rock for the next 20 years. That means gravel mining is going to happen in somebody’s backyard. The question is, whose backyard? Any volunteers? If recent public meetings are an indication, the answer is no.
No one wants the noise, pollution and traffic. Those factors disrupt anyone’s quality of life. Yet, some of us tend to forget that the housing developments we live in now once required a lot of noise, pollution and traffic to make them a reality. Land was cleared, wildlife impacted and current residents inconvenienced to accommodate us. Still, a mentality persists throughout our county, and certainly elsewhere, that says once we move to an area growth should decrease or stop. While there are some projects that definitely shouldn’t be in our backyards, there are others that must occur to manage growth and its resulting needs.
Six areas in our county host land nearby them with strong mining potential — Granite Falls, Arlington, Darrington, Monroe, Sultan and Gold Bar. As the county shapes its plans by the end of the year, public meetings are being held to gather community feedback. That they already altered some plans, shows that officials are listening to public feedback. But that shouldn’t mean that if a group screams loud enough, the county should move on. We can’t play a game of hot potato with the gravel mining issue.
What we can do is find creative ways to tolerate the work and possibly negotiate some benefits.
Monroe Mayor Donetta Walser made a good point in a Herald news article earlier this month when she said gravel mining posed a serious issue to east county along Highway 2 where "there’s already a huge traffic problem both in capacity and safety. Adding gravel trucks on top of this we felt was just too much for the area."
But, if that argument were to succeed, the land around Monroe, Sultan and Gold Bar might be eliminated from the overall plan, unless an alternate route could be made available — leaving Granite Falls, Arlington and Darrington to carry the burden. A successful argument from any of those groups against mining in their areas would continue to chip away at available land. And the requirement for meeting our county’s gravel, rock and sand needs would be crushed.
This is where it pays for a town to get creative. Incentives are not unheard of when projects promise to disrupt an area. Some cities welcome a project for the benefits the community will receive, such as ballparks and play fields. The county must work with cities and individuals who could be seriously impacted, to find ways to make the mining bearable. And it must see that projects meet safety standards for the community.
Gravel mining in this county appears to be inevitable. Somebody is going to have to blink first.
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