For anyone who has been involved in land use issues, one thing is certain: Developers are powerful and convincing. It takes political will to look past developers’ interests and to protect the common good.
For years there has been a cozy relationship between developers and Snohomish County, resulting in some of the worst traffic congestion in the United States. We will and should have new neighbors — but the traffic challenges and infrastructure costs could be managed much better if our leadership focused more on the common good instead of what is good for developers.
We know it is less expensive to add growth to already developed areas instead of developing relatively undeveloped areas. We know that when development is paused until infrastructure needs are funded while maintaining strong urban road standards, developers find creative ways to meet those standards. And we know that when citizens work together to ask that their needs are considered, they too can be powerful and convincing.
It is time for the citizens of Lake Stevens and Snohomish to get involved.
Both cities have been convinced by a developer that they will be richer if they increase their urban growth area to add businesses and thousands of homes between Snohomish and Lake Stevens. Now both cities are competing for thousands of acres of land, and you should be worried. While the city council members believe the developer when he says that this will increase their tax base (true), they have not yet assessed all the details of what all this new urban development will cost. Studies prove that costs will outweigh the benefits and will result in a net income loss. A net income loss means more taxes and fewer services for you.
Here are more facts that must be considered.
1. Getting yourself into a developer agreement is everyone’s choice; but if a developer is telling you the development is a “done deal,” you should do your own homework.
2. There is no funding available to widen the Hewitt Avenue trestle in a reasonable period of time.
3. All land use and zoning must comply with the Growth Management Act (GMA). The GMA requires that counties and cities plan for growth and can show that they can pay for the infrastructure (roads, sewers, surface water) before they allow development. It also requires that cities and counties direct growth into urban areas — expanding the urban growth areas only after significant “reasonable measures” are taken that will provide for homes and businesses in the existing city and its urban growth areas. The proposed growth area expansions of either Lake Stevens or Snohomish do not meet the GMA requirements.
4. The County Council makes the final decision on whether any rural land is added to any urban growth area. They must follow their own policies, which limit growth area expansion unless there is a demonstrated need. Neither city has a need — so the cities plan to solve that by “asking” for a bigger population allocation. In other words — they are creating the need for their own expansion by asking for more than their share of growth.
5. Transportation is the linchpin in planning for urban growth area expansions. Today, after the defeat of Proposition 1, U.S. 2 and Highway 9 do not have funding for the road expansion projects originally planned. The county also does not have the funding for more county arterial roads. Even small, 20-acre urban growth area expansion requests in south county are being denied based on lack of funding for transportation fixes.
6. Importantly, it is you, the taxpayer, who will be paying for the lion’s share of the needed road improvements for new development. While developers pay into a mitigation bank for road improvements, state law only makes them pay a small portion and mitigation fees are extraordinarily low in Snohomish County. If taxpayers don’t pick up the rest of the tab, they are just stuck in more traffic more often. Are you ready for a lot more traffic on U.S. 2 and Highway 9 — or a lot more taxes? I’m not.
The cities of Lake Stevens and Snohomish have big plans for expansion, and most likely they will be fighting over this land for some time to come. It’s time to use the facts to convince our government to make decisions for the common good. Now is not the time to call for more than our share of growth or to put this land into urban development.
Jody McVittie is president of Citizens for Responsible Growth of Greater Lake Stevens.
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