Experience, professionalism, even-handedness, a willingness to listen and embrace creative solutions.
Those words describe Republican John Koster and Democrat Dave Gossett, both of whom are seeking re-election to their respective seats on the Snohomish County Council. Both have earned a second term.
Koster represents District 1, which takes in Marysville, Arlington, Granite Falls, Stanwood and Darrington. The conservative former state legislator and dairy farmer has brought a keen intellect and – surprisingly to some – pragmatic approach to the council.
A prime example is his effort to establish a market-based program that allows farmland to be preserved in exchange for allowing developers to build extra houses in urban areas. The concept, called transfer of development rights, respects farmers’ property rights by letting them realize the full financial value of their land (developers get “density credits” in exchange), but forever protects that land from development. After much preparation, a pilot program is under way in Koster’s district.
Preserving farmland isn’t enough, though, if farming isn’t economically viable. On that score, Koster has been a vocal supporter of Executive Aaron Reardon’s agricultural action plan, an ongoing and highly promising effort that grew out of the Focus on Farming conference Reardon and Koster organized with county farmers last year.
Koster’s challenger, Democrat Suzanne Smith, owns her own agricultural business and is a former member of the Marysville City Council.
Her campaign focuses on the county’s No. 1 issue, growth. She argues for raising mitigation fees on developers for schools, parks and transportation, forcing growth to pay for more of its own costs. Expanding the county’s road system will take even more money, and she says the county should build voter trust by identifying clear but limited road projects and completing them. Smith also favors finding creative ways to boost farming.
In our endorsement of Smith’s opponent in the primary, we wrote that Smith wasn’t up to speed on some issues and needed to do more homework. To her credit, she has worked to do so, but she still has more to do and would face a steep learning curve on many complex issues.
Gossett is an easy choice in District 4, which takes in the Mountlake Terrace, North Bothell and Mill Creek areas. His experience as a council policy analyst before being elected four years ago has paid off, giving him a firm grasp of the complexities of growth issues.
He is approachable, collegial, fair and hard-working. He successfully brought a prescription-card program here that is providing free drug discounts to many county residents, and has found cost-effective ways to relieve congestion at busy intersections.
Gossett understands that denser urban development is coming to his district, and says he’ll help make it more palatable by working with developers to make sure it’s designed well.
Republican Eva Davies is challenging Gossett in her first run for public office. A local GOP activist, Davies says one of the reasons she filed for office was because it appeared no one else would challenge Gossett.
Good intentions aside, Davies isn’t well-prepared for this position, and can’t touch Gossett’s depth of knowledge. There’s little room for on-the-job training on a five-member council in the state’s third most populous county.
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