Growth management bill tops $1 million

Two San Juan County commissioners say may be time to sue the state's growth hearings board over its decisions regarding the county's growth management plan.

John Evans and Darcie Nielsen vented after learning that the county’s most recent growth management plan is still out of compliance with state requirements.

The growth board concluded that Eastsound’s Urban Growth Area boundaries don't comply with the Growth Management Act, and ordered the county to complete an analysis of its future wastewater and drainage services. It also ordered the county to reconsider what it calls “incompatible uses” in its Airport Overlay Zone.

The county has spent more than $1.3 million since 1990, when it began work on a plan to meet state Growth Management Act (GMA) guidelines. It faces the prospect of spending another $140,000 in 2003, according to County Auditor Si Stephens, who confirmed the numbers after meeting with Planning Director Laura Arnold.

Evans, of Orcas Island, was bristling when he told the Eastsound Planning Review Committee on Oct. 17 that the county should tell the state its work is over.

Evans has threatened on several occasions to sue the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, the group which found elements of the plan, including those dealing with Eastsound and Lopez Village, to be out of compliance with state guidelines.

Nielsen, of San Juan Island, also told the Orcas Island Association of Realtors on Monday, “It’s time to bring in the big guns” — skilled lawyers who have won state reviews of local plans overturned elsewhere in Washington.

However, Commissioner Rhea Miller of Lopez Island said she “expected” the growth board’s ruling, adding that it shouldn’t affect planning for Lopez Village.

On Oct. 28, Nielsen accused the growth board of rendering a decision that was arbitrary and contrary to the wishes of residents.

“It’s not about planning any more,” she told the Orcas Island Association of Realtors. “The community process doesn’t matter any more. (The ruling ) blows me away.”

Evans and Nielsen feel that the goal of the GMA process has degenerated into getting something past the growth board, not serving residents. If the county continues with the Growth Management Act, Evans expects the process to continue to be lengthy, expensive and with no certainty as to the final outcome.

“All this money is gone, and we’re just beginning,” Evans said. "(The process) is a merry-go-round that never ends.”

The plan, rejected by the growth board on Oct. 15, had earlier been considered by the Eastsound Planning Review Committee, county planners, and the Planning Commission before it was adopted by the Board of County Commissioners. Each of the groups rendered a different opinion, as did private parties Fred Klein and Lynn Bahrych.

Nielsen was deeply troubled that the appeals submitted by Klein and Bahrych apparently received as much credence as those of the commissioners and county agencies. Klein appealed the county’s Eastsound Airport Overlay District. Bahrych’s appeal called for maintaining a moratorium on guest houses.

San Juan County Planner Pat Mann feels that the concerns of the growth board can be addressed within the next six months — the deadline set by the state — without spending a great deal of local money.

It will require the Eastsound Sewer District to bring its service plan into compliance with the recommended boundaries for Eastsound. That may be easier said than done, however. Sewer Commissioner P.C. Wilde said the service plan does not need to be changed.

“Our service area supersedes this planning thing,” he said.

Nevertheless, the sewer district has agreed to meet with the county Planning Department on Nov. 14.

The growth board is also demanding that residential development be all but eliminated in the area in and around the airport. This was the recommendation of both Mann and the Planning Commission, as well as Klein, but the Eastsound committee fought it, and county commissioners sided with the Eastsound committee.

If the County Commission decides not to fight the growth board, Evans will propose that Eastsound do away entirely with its Urban Growth Area and redesignate itself a Limited Area of More Intensive Rural Development .

Evans believes it will save local taxpayers millions because it will eliminate the need for a sophisticated wastewater and drainage system. But Nielsen said she didn’t know if this was true — it would be up to the growth board, she said, acknowledging that it could rule either way.

Evans doesn’t know if a "limited area" designation would make it more difficult for Orcas Island to provide affordable housing than it would be if Eastsound remains an Urban Growth Area. Mann believes a "limited area" designation would make things far more difficult.

Eastsound committee member Fred Munder has asked the Planning Department to settle the question. Mann said he would offer his view of the pros and cons of a "limited area" and Urban Growth Area within the next week or so. But, he said, it was only an opinion.

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