5/22/08

Help county define rural, then demand change

Snohomish County’s community meeting in Arlington is intended to define rural character. It may seem silly, but the resulting definition will influence what kind and scale of development is allowed. I encourage all citizens to go. And I encourage every one of us to make sure our elected officials follow through with the changes necessary to protect that rural environment we’ve spent our time defining.

After all, the public overwhelmingly asked that density bonuses in rural cluster housing be reduced in the latest update of the Unified Development Code. I would ask the County Council  to send the revised code back to the planning department since density bonuses have not been addressed at all.

A great many of us have also asked the county get rid of the code that allows a city of 15,000 people be built on 2000 rural acres. The County Council failed by Councilman John Koster’s vote to institute a moratorium on these cities. In addition, our County Executive, Aaron Reardon, lobbied the Puget Sound Regional Council to remove language from its planning documents that asked counties to avoid developing these cities. He was quoted by the Seattle Times to say that “nothing prevents sprawl.”

I sincerely hope that this new process of defining rural character will not end in more words that look good on our executive’s re-election campaign material, but do little or nothing, backed by little or no real and substantive action, to prevent the sprawl he apparently thinks is inevitable.

June’s meeting is a part of the process, and we must take part. But let us not forget to demand the changes as a result.

Ellen Hiatt Watson
Seven Lakes