Sixty percent of Brightwater sewage hookups (about 300,000) will be in south Snohomish County – that is perhaps a million new people, give or take a few hundred thousand.
Investments to match will be needed in each and every community in the range of tens of millions to billions for roads, water mains, electrical lines, schools and other infrastructure that inevitably follows sewage capacity.
A serious problem with an argument focused on what one man (Ron Sims) wants, is preemption of an all-out, no-holds-barred discussion that should be had by community people actually participating in basic decision making. Snohomish County will undergo the most profound period of change in its history. Is Brightwater more cause or effect? Is it wise at all?
For example, why are we not looking at 21st Century treatment technology? Tertiary, the highest state of the art, associated with local scale and decentralized facilities, would seem to be a smarter way to go. Especially if growth proves slower than projected or occurs in other areas, such as south and east King County.
Perhaps the real issue here is that top-down executives don’t trust local communities. Citizens must mobilize to change the governance pattern before this large scale billion dollar expense creates a large scale disaster as the wrongful product of a lack of trust between citizens and public leaders.
An immediate way to do this is to make sure that all candidates in the upcoming election are willing to fight for local decision-making concerning Brightwater. Those who brought this situation about should be held accountable.
Edmonds
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