As much of Western Washington was still cleaning up from the storms and floods of early December, some business owners in the Snohomish River flood plain were pushing the County Council this week to keep trying to get federal development restrictions eased there.
Talk about paddling upstream.
A public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 30, by which time two newly elected Democrats will have joined the council, likely creating a solid majority against spending more county money on an effort that already has cost the county some $60,000.
The lightening rod of this controversial issue is Harvey Field, the privately owned Snohomish-area airport that would like to expand. Community resistance has been fierce, backed by compelling arguments that the fill required for such an expansion would make flooding dangers even worse. Indeed, the idea of bringing substantial amounts of dirt into an area with a history of major floods seems unreasonably risky, despite the local economic boost an airport expansion could provide.
But this isn’t only about Harvey Field. Some 30 other businesses exist in the flood plain, and tighter development rules established there by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2005 have tied their hands, leaving them unable to grow, even modestly. They can’t remodel, add bays or covered areas. Essentially, they’ve been sentenced to slowly wither away.
County Councilman Dave Somers, whose district includes the flood plain, is working with the Department of Planning and Development Services to see whether the county can make code changes that would allow those businesses reasonable flexibility to expand without adding to flood problems. He’s seeking a fair middle ground between businesses’ desire to return completely to the pre-2005 rules and where they sit now. We hope his efforts bear fruit.
But the quest to change FEMA’s flood-plain rules is an ill-advised exercise, and likely a futile one anyway. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rules and the Endangered Species Act could present even more barriers to further development.
It’s time for the county to stop spending money on a bad idea. Looking instead at how its own rules can be changed to treat existing businesses more fairly is a much better one.
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