The Snohomish County Council on Oct. 22 unanimously approved a six-month moratorium on applications for the construction of sewage treatment plants.
The emergency ordinance will prevent King County from submitting an application to build its Brightwater sewage plant in Snohomish County. However, King County says its effect on the Brightwater project will be minimal.
There was little discussion before Wednesday’s vote, but Snohomish County Council chairman Gary Nelson said the moratorium gives Snohomish County citizens another chance to express their views on the placement process for large wastewater treatment facilities.
Nelson said King County has not fully explained the potential harm that may come from building the Brightwater facility in Snohomish County.
“We have really been denied the opportunity to proceed in a fashion that gives the citizens the total picture of what the impacts are,” Nelson said.
King County has been eyeing two spots in Snohomish County for the $1.3 billion Brightwater plant.
The preferred site, which would serve residents in both counties, is along Highway 9 just north of Highway 522. The former Unocal site in Edmonds is an alternative site.
King County wants the treatment plant operational by 2010 – when officials say King County’s two existing treatment plants will reach capacity – and King County Executive Ron Sims is expected to announce the final site around Dec. 1.
King County officials said Snohomish County’s emergency ordinance won’t drastically affect the project because they weren’t planning on submitting any applications until late spring or early summer.
Instead, Pam Bissonnette, director of King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks, said it’s good that Snohomish County is taking time to rewrite its permitting process.
“We would be concerned if it was extended beyond six months for very long,” Bissonnette said. “We’re still on target to build it by 2010, and we’re anxious to keep moving on that time frame. It’s still a pretty aggressive timetable, but the consequences of not meeting it are serious to both King County and Snohomish County.”
The County Council passed the emergency ordinance to preserve the county’s ability to establish a conditional use permit process for essential public facilities such as sewage treatment plants, jails, hospitals and other public facilities.
The county’s prior regulations, which required special permits, was recently rejected by the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, a group set up by the governor to sort out land-use disputes.
Snohomish County officials said they were worried that King County would submit an application for Brightwater before Snohomish County could adopt new rules requiring conditional use permits for wastewater treatment plants and other public facilities.
That would mean the Brightwater project would be “vested” and wouldn’t need a special permit before construction could begin.
Brian Kelly and Victor Balta are reporters for The Herald in Everett.
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