Few issues facing Snohomish County are as complex and divisive — or as important — as those surrounding growth. And nothing eludes consensus more than finding the proper balance between economic development and the preservation of farmland.
Agriculture is a valued part of our past and present, and must remain so in the future. At the same time, population growth requires a reasonable expansion of services and government revenue.
Since 1995, this issue has played out at the I-5 interchange with Highway 530, the area known as Island Crossing, where auto dealer Dwayne Lane is leading an effort to have 110 acres on the east side of I-5 rezoned from agricultural to commercial. Lane wants to move his downtown Arlington Chevrolet dealership to Island Crossing, where it would have greater visibility. Environmental and farm groups, among others, oppose the change.
The latest chapter in this saga occurred when county Executive Bob Drewel vetoed the rezone, which had been approved by a 4-1 vote of the County Council. Now the ball is back in the court of the council, which must decide whether to override Drewel’s veto. If it does, the case will likely be appealed to Superior Court by 1000 Friends of Washington, an environmental group.
Drewel said he vetoed the rezone because it was similar to one recently invalidated by the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board. He worries that the county could lose state and federal grant money if it’s found in violation of the Growth Management Act, but that seems unlikely while the case is on appeal. Drewel’s action gives proper notification to the council of new issues raised by the hearings board, offering the council a chance to reconsider.
This is a unique case on a unique strip of land, one where the development Lane proposes makes sense. The County Council should allow the courts to decide by overriding Drewel’s veto.
Island Crossing already has urban characteristics: The area in question is served by a sewer line with ample capacity; service businesses already exist; the Stillaguamish Tribe has opened a methadone treatment facility there; and the land is bordered by three busy arterials — I-5, Highway 530 and Smokey Point Boulevard. Traffic alone makes this a less-than-attractive strip for farming.
The City of Arlington has long favored the rezone and the sales tax revenue it could generate once the city annexes the area. Growth pressures, citizen initiatives and a poor economy, as everyone knows, have severely strained city budgets.
The area lies within the Stillaguamish River floodplain, and Lane and his engineers vow measures to mitigate flooding problems can and will be taken. That must be approved before any ground is paved.
Allowing commercial growth at Island Crossing wouldn’t be the attack on agriculture opponents claim. For an example of a freeway interchange where commercial and agricultural uses exist side by side, just look north to Burlington, where a complex of auto dealerships is backed to the west by farmland.
Yet opponents have made this a poster-child issue for vanishing farmland in Snohomish County, drawing a hard line. This freeway interchange isn’t the place to wage such an all-or-nothing battle. Limited commercial zoning like Lane proposes makes sense there.
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