WILD SKY UPDATE (as of 9/18) This study of Congress' previous actions related to the Wilderness Act, addresses virtually every claim anti-Wild Sky folks are making, most of which are pure hooey.

NEWS SOURCES:
Everett Herald, Seattle-PI, Seattle Times, Sacramento Bee, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Wired Magazine, Associated Press, LA Times, Washington Post, Drudge Report, Yahoo, G.R.I.T. Updates

NEWS ARTICLES

New

Breaking ground on $33 million improvements to Hwy. 9, what the Herald dubs "Snohomish County lifeline." Yet no state funding was allotted for U.S. 2 improvements. U.S. 2 is the lifeline (especially in an emergency) not only to the coonty but to the state and points east of Washington State, as well as to the impending new-growth cities and gravel extraction areas.. (Don't forget: it is not just a county or state road, but a United States federal highway!)

Critical slope gave no warning before collapsing onto I-90, killing three (Hey, that's why it's called a "critical" slope. Sort of like the 25% to 50% slopes on the latest council mistake, approval of the "Timber Ridge" plat: It will give very little warning before a "house-slide" occurs. But YOU can help: Pray for dry weather. Always.)

Seattle Times article - How Barclays North has taken over Sultan

Taskforce Hearings on NEPA draws strong support Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Reps Resources Committee formed the task force to study the future of NEPA, but their first hearing in Spokane drew a slightly different crowd than anticipated. READ PI's Joel Connelly opinion on federal hearings at a local level.

Other info related to NEPA hearings:

• Main page, House Resource Committee (And guess who's chairman of that committee? None other than pro-property rights Calif. Republican Richard Pombo (the congressman who has been holding the Wild Sky bill "hostage" in the House Resource Committee)
• House Resource Committee Taskforce website
• House Resource Committee Taskforce Press Release

Also of interest related to the Sultan-Pombo connection, are the true grass roots efforts by Sultan UGA resident Ed Husmann (including the FORESTS FOR PEOPLE,***with which he is at least closely affiliated and includes a good deal of anti-Wild Sky info). Mr. Husmann has been stumping for Pombo's efforts to block Wild Sky, as evidenced by his local contacts through ORV (off-road vehicles) and snowmobiler clubs. Among them is the Boeing Employee's Stump Thumpers 4x4/ORV club and a Washington snowmobiling club (click here for details as webpage or in Word) via newsletters and message board activity.

***Interestingly, nowhere on this website is: a phone number, an address or an owner's(s') name(s). A search for it in the Wash. St. Secty. of State Corporation's database reveals nothing.

OTHER "STUFF"

DISCUSSION, OPINION & MESSAGE FORUM

RECORDING WARS
(When the City tried to stop G.R.I.T. from recording public meetings)

FOOD BANK: Put a pre-addressed food bank envelope in your "bills to pay" folder and send a check monthly: $5, $10, whatever you can spare!
For more info, click here.

• COUNTY: Democratic voters made the intelligent choice for Dist. 5's County council candidate, rejecting Steve Hobbs in favor of Dave Somers, the party's official standard bearer. (Steve Hobbs, after promising to accept the party's candidate during the July convention, threw his promise in the trashcan by campaigning with pre-prepared materials the day after the convention's choice (Somers) was made. SO IT'S SOMERS v. SAX, a rerun for the 2001 election. This time, however, Sax's promise to "fix" traffic will ring as hollow as his head often seems to be.
• CORRECTION, with apologies- The reason? A giant Webmaster brain-blip. Paul Price and Dorothy Croshaw will square off for this council position. My preivous statement below makes it sound like Paul Price was the winner and would run against another opponent. [Duh....] LOCAL: In Gold Bar, voters wisely opted for incumbent Paul Price for Council Position #1 (42.44% of the vote), rejecting previous councilwoman Dorothy Croshaw (37.82% of vote), who aligned herself last year with the contentious Joan Amenn, wife of sitting councilman and mayoral candidate Robert Amenn, who was (thankfully) an also-ran with only 18.91% of the vote. We are crossing our fingers that the Gold Bar voters will turn out in droves to defeat Mr. Amenn. Mr. Amenn was the moving force behind the botched and no-basis recall attempt toward Mayor Hawkins, whose self-interests, aggressively-offensive political tactics and lack of regard for legal process has brought council meetings to a virtual standstill over the last two years.
• FD #5 Levy: Approved 56.14%, rejected 43.86%

• Publication of Ordinance 885-05 and Ordinance 886-05, revising open space and recreational codes to conform to a GMA-mandated appeal decision by Fallgatter/Kirkman. (These two legal notices have not been sent to us by the city as required, and it has not yet been posted on the city's new website.)
• Notice of Application - Russell Van Wyngarden for a 7-lot Cluster subdivision on 17.9 acres near U. S. 2. (The applicant's name is Russell Van Wyngarden. Sound familiar? Here's a map of the approximate location of that proposed development in Word and Acrobat.)
• NOTICE: Thursday, 9/29 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING for a new Sultan 39-unit condominium townhouse development called "AJs Place" located on First Street between High and Gohr Road (in Word) There are no signs posted on the property(ies), announcing this event to interested parties.
• Legal Notice - Council Hearing on revisions to PUD code set for Wed., September 28th, 6:00 PM. Note: This legal notice has not yet been posted on the City's website, nor was it emailed to us. (There is also a continuation of the PC's hearing on this subject this Tuesday, 9/20 at 7:00 PM. It is highly suggested that anyone wishing to make comments on the city's requested revisions to this code, attend or submit testimony in writing. For more information on this important subject, click here.)

• Sultan Library's fall schedule of events (in Word, Acrobat) - There's some really fun events scheduled, folks!
  • RELATED INFO: Still open is the position for a student Library Board member (in Word, Acrobat), a credential that looks GREAT on a resume for a scholarship or job, by the way!
  • ALSO, the Friends of the Sultan Library have a new president AND a website: Carole Nichols is their new president, and the Friends now have a website.
• Continued PC HEARING, Tuesday, Sept. 20th, 7:00 PM, on revisions to Sultan's PUD ordinance (in Word, Acrobat). (Click here for a bit of background on the issues for this hearing.)
• Special PC Meeting, also on 9/20, on Sultan's draft Shoreline Master Plan (in Word, Acrobat)

HERE'S A HEAD-SCRATCHER QUESTION: If the City believes it's appropriate to post a notice about the Sportsman's Club's 9/11 Duck Race (a private event by a private non-profit corporation that has nothing to do with government in any way, shape or form and was strictly for FUN), then why haven't they posted a direct link to our G.R.I.T. website, which contains more city documents and "hard" factual information than the City will ever post in its lifetime? ANSWER: First, the Sultan Sportsman's Club seems to have some very powerful connections at city hall. Second (and this is the REAL reason), as is the case with most government entities, the City despises having someone looking over their shoulder. Sad, but oh-so-true.

Also distributed at the council budget workshop was CONNIE DUNN'S PUBLIC WORKS "Wish List" (695 kb pdf file) and rough 2006 budget concepts/figures. One of her wish list items is -- finally and thank goodness -- a Sultan Basin feasibility study and concept plan. We will have more details tomorrow regarding this urgent matter.

*Re Timber Ridge, we and another party, during our intended appeal of of this BAD CITY DECISION, were advised by our attorney that we did not have standing. Thus, thousands of current and future users of the Sultan Basin Road will be exposed to a major safety concerns on this roadway, and will have to pay for needed improvements to the road, the expense for which should have been shared and borne by the developers of Timber Ridge: The very, very sad result of a stupid decision by both the City (Cisar and its consultant, Paul Ingrahm of Berryman & Henniger) and this council.

OTHER ACTIONS DURING 8/10 COUNCIL MTG: Moratorium on PUDs was passed, hearing will be held within 60 days (but the number of pipeline development exclusions pulls much of its teeth); council support for FD #5 Levy lift (recent astounding assessor tax increases does not affect, or help, the FD); Ordinance 882 (Binding site plans) and 823 (budget amend for WWTP dump truck) passed unanimously.

• Sky River Estates, 36627 Mann Road (rev.) (13-lot subdivision on 152 acres; in pdf only; to determine if there's enough traffic capacity on county roads)
• Recent and ongoing- NOTICE OF BLA for another Garth York development (in Word, Acrobat) AND A MAP indicating the substantial revisions to property lines (315 kb Acrobat file) Also: Here is a file showing the County Assessor's parcel and aerial maps which indicate topo/steep slopes [inWord, Acrobat] and the current property lines. (BY THE WAY, we never received a copy of this notice from the city, as they are supposed to do, although once we saw the posted signs, Cyd Donk was quick in supplying us with the notice and map at our request. Unfortunately, the deadline for comments on this land use action was the same day (7/26) we were supplied with the information, barring any opportunity for input.

• Firefighters/EMTs (these are lumped together as a single job function in the CP (FD #5): 1/2 FF/EMT per 1,000 population (or a total of 8.8 FF/EMTs)
• School Students (K-12) - ratio per dwelling unit: existing and future LOS (per CP) is 0.603, with the "existing supply" at 1,675. (I honestly do not know what "existing supply" means. However, luckily, there is a Sultan School District special meeting on MONDAY, 7/25 to discuss the budget, with a Board of Directors meeting following to adpt the School's 2005/2006 budget (see info on meetings at right.)
• Parks: LOS is 42.6 acres per 1,000 population. The "existing" figure in the CP states the "supply" (or existing "Parks" which includes all city-owned buildings and property, including city hall, the fire station, schools, public works facilities buildings, etc.) is 162.4 acres/7,074,144 s.f. although the LOS should be 174.7 acres/7,609,932, a deficit of 12./3 acres/535,7888 s.f. The LOS for next year looks even worse: With an estimated 4,400 population, the city should have a total of 187.4 acres of "park" (again, remember this category also includes all city-owned buildings and structures). This means the City will register a DEFICIT in this category of 25 acres, or 1,089,000 s.f. next uear. Note: These figures do not include any new "parks" being provided by the Sky Harbor development, and it is our understanding that both Stratford Place and Denali Ridge did not provide any park or recreational areas, choosing instead to pay a fee in lieu of providing an actual park or recreational area, a code that was successfully appealed by Planning Commissioners Josie Fallgatter and Jeff Kirkman earlier this year.

• During the July 5, 2005 PC meeting... Commissioner Dalmasso requested that the PC approve non-existent ordinances: What's more expedient than trying to slip through a zoning overlay to benefit a property you represent for sale? Why, passing ordinances onto council for disposition without even having an ordinance prepared or reviewed by the PC! It's such a time-saver. (Hey, we all know this "Follow the Process" stuff simply gets in the way of the "real" business of Sultan's PC: With its current mix of a real estate broker (Dalmasso), a past and previous developer who is married to a real estate broker (chairman Ray George), and a property owner whose property, we understand, is once again under contract to Barclays North (Tom Green), the Commission cannot be bothered with something as trivial as adhering to professional process.
  • Commissioner Dalmasso asked to move the 9-lot short plat and wetland banking ordinances -- which do not yet exist -- from the Discussion to Action agenda so they can be given to the council to act upon. His reason? "The attorney is going to write the ordinance anyway." Hel-LO???? This man is so-o-o out of control, Mr. Mayor. His removal is long overdue.
• Other things that happened during the 7/5 PC meeting:
  • Commissioner Dalmasso (and Chairman Ray George, too, to a certain extent) objected to Commissioner Fallgatter's insistence that when development regulations requiring consistency with the Comp Plan are proposed (by either the council/planner/city, a property owner or a PC member), that the legal petition process be used. (Our understanding is that a procedure has been written, but it has never published or used by the City.). In a private discussion with me following the meeting, Mr. Dalmasso argued that the process should not be followed because, "This city needs to grow. We must grow or die!" My response: "Make up your mind, Bart. One night you're arguing to the County Council that Sultan has become a ghost town, and the next week you're arguing to local corporate Bank of America folks stating they should not close the Sultan branch because of how fast it's growing."
  • Commissioner Tom Green would not recuse himself from the Binding Site Plan hearing (or discussions or the decision), when requested by me. Mr. Green and his partner own property within the Sultan Scenic Business Park, and the development implementation tool for those properties is the binding site plan. My opinion is that, as a man of honor, Mr. Green would prefer to eliminate any appearance of conflict by voluntarily removing himself from these proceedings to avoid any hint of special interests. So we're a bit confused at his reaction.
  • Former Councilman Jimmy Porter showed up, along with Dan Barmon of Barmon Lumber, to testify. Neither were aware of the requirement to financially contribute to required future infrastructure needs (i.e., the east-west-running North Wagley Connector Road). They were also unaware that residential properties contained within the Scenic Biz Park (i.e., ALL properties within the LID 97-1 area), specifically Timber Ridge and an approx. 40-50 additional acres, are NOT required to do so, because Mr. Cisar removed residential zoning from the current configuration of the Binding Site Plan. Timber Ridge has been given a free ride, while Barmon and other commercial property owners must join a "no protest" LID to pay for necessary infrastructure improvements in the LID 97-1 area, along with the Sultan taxpayers, who must pick up Timber Ridge's financial burden for this future roadway. Regardless of how many times this situation was explained to Mr. Porter, he simply did not "get it."

• Ongoing Issue: Did Jim Flower(and Bart Dalmasso) break the City's settlement agreement with Fallgatter/Kirkman when he testified at the June 1, 2005 county comp plan 10-year update hearing? This letter from Mayor Tolson pretty much puts paid to that question.
• UPDATED (6-17) - BARCLAYS NORTH HAS WITHDRAWN THE PROPOSED VAN WYNGARDEN PETITION ANNEXATION to annex 60-plus acres. If annexed, it would have resulted in 199 new S.F. homes, adding 617 (min.) new people to Sultan's population. The reason for the withdrawal is because they could not achieve the additoinal 4% in property valuation required for the petition. (Our question, of course, is why was it ever brought before the council in that condition?) Don't get too excited yet, folks: BNI will simply try Door #2 or #3 to achieve their goals. Available Documents on this issue.
  City's Agenda Cover Sheet from May 25, 2005 council meeting (as Acrobat file, as Word document). The council vote on whether or not to accept this petition has been delayed until the June 22nd council meeting)
  • Annexation Application (195 kb pdf) which includes a map of affected parcels, and a brief overview
  • SEPA review document (203 kb pdf file)
  • CITY'S ANNEXATION GOALS & PROCEDURES
• NEW 6/15/05 - In the midst of personal harassment and constant and overwhelming criticism, and without an attorney, a safety net and without any legal training or background, Josie Fallgatter and Jeff Kirkman appealed decisions made by a City without a clue.
  Fallgatter & Kirkman recent appeal of the Rick Cisar-recommended Sultan Comprehensive Plan, which was approved by council based on his advice, resulted in a City-requested settlement agreement (which Councilman Jim Flower and PC member Bart Dalmasso promptly broke). Their appeal of City ordinances 853-04 and 854-04 (park fees "in lieu of") has resulted in a Final Order and Decision by the Growth Management Hearings Board (in Word) which validates their appeal of these ordinances.
  Fallgatter/Kirkman have been subjected to extreme criticism by city officials because of the taxpayer funds expended on "attorneys' fees." To this we say, "Poppycock & Bull feathers." These were City Administrator/City Planner Cisar-recommended actions. If Fallgatter and Kirkman can represent themselves in their appeals of incorrect legal decisions by the City, why does the City need to hire an attorney to argue its case? If the original advice from Cisar was solidly supportable on legal grounds, why didn't Cisar represent the City in these appeals? (The answer to that question raises a nasty set of competency questions, as far as we're concerned.)
• Ongoing - Info on yet another weapon in the developer's arsenal to decimate taxpayers' (and Nature's) quality of life and simultaneously increasing taxes along with development density: WETLAND BANKING (as presented during Sultan's June 7, 2005 PC meeting, which fulfilled "half" of the request by Commissioners to "hear both sides" of this story.)

• AUDIO (MP3) of 6/1/05 Joint County PC/council Hearing Testimony by Sultan officials: Mayor Tolson, Councilman Flower, and Planning Commissioners Fallgatter and Dalmasso (Councilmember Flower, in his comments on adding Sultan's watershed to the UGA, broke the City's settlement agreement with Fallgatter/Kirkman.)
• As part of the City-requested Fallgatter/Kirkman GMA appeal Settlement agreement (approved by the Sultan Council 5/25/05) an opinion that outlines the majority view of Planning Commissioners as well as one representing the minority opinion of Plng. Commissioners was granted. Here is the MAJORITY OPINION authored by Bart Dalmasso, representing the views of Planning Commissioners Ray George, Tom Green, Janie Botting and Dalmasso), and here is the MINORITY OPINION of Commissioners Fallgatter and Kirkman. (Which report, based on its content, reflects your opinion of how Sultan's future planning should occur?)
• Recent & ongoing: Documents related to the City-requested mediation of the Fallgatter/Kirkman appeal of the City's 2005 comprehensive plan. These are all in a .pdf Acrobat format:
• Thom Graafstra May 13th letter to Mediator Margery Hite, plus attachments:
  • Attach. A & B: emailed discussions re mediation
  • Attach. C & D: email re mediation (Att. C) and copy of SMC 16.134, Annual Comprehensive Plan Amendment Procedures (Att. D)
  • Attach. E: Copy of "Development Regulation Amendment Procedures and Public Hearing and Participation Process" (a "public" document that was unpublished and has never, to our knowledge, been used, despite numerous code (comp plan) amendment actions.
  • Attach. F: Index of Comp Plan Update documents
  • Attach. G: Feb. 27, 2004 CTED letter to City re comp plan
  • Attach. H thru J: various
• Fallgatter/Kirkman Mediation Presentation (2 mb file)
• Settlement agreement (accepted and approved May 25, 2005 by city council)
• Ongoing - SULTAN'S REMAINING SEWER CAPACITY: The answer is contained within a letter from Berryman & Heniger's John Wilson to the City, which helps explain that (in acrobat), which includes a more detailed summary of the remaining, and Cisar-estimated capacity, property-by-property. (summary only as webpage,, in Word or in pdf)
• Ongoing - Transcription (as web page, as Word) of Cisar Presentation to Sultan's Planning Commission May 3, 2005, on the subject of Sultan's Future Growth, which answers the following questions:
  • What is Sultan's current and future sewer capacity?
  • Why is the City organizing a contingent of city officials and private economic development interests to shout out loud to the county council that it needs to support the Cisar- and city council-recommended comp plan UGA (regardless of the appeal by Planning Commissioners Josie Fallgatter and Jeff Kirkman at the Growth Management Hearings Board currently in mediation at the City's request)?
  • Why is City Administrator/Planner Rick Cisar recommending that a Sultan sewer line expansion be tunnelled southward under the BNSF Railroad to service 20 acres in a crtical area (an action that is not included or even mentioned in either Sultan's Comp plan or CFP)?
  • Why is City Administrator/Planner Cisar engaging in detailed discussions with a property owner about annexing his land into the city limits (located in Sultan's UGA north of Pleasant View), when the comp plan and CFP has not even been approved?
  • Why is City Administrator/Planner Rick Cisar urging that another 1,200 single family homes be built in the next few years (3,240 new people, almost doubling Sultan's current population), with no financial plan on how the city can support such growth?
  • We will be posting a representation of the map Cisar presented during this meeting (as well as the one at the 4/30 Council Retreat), which was pock-marked with red dots showing an epidemic of proposed growth areas. Mr. Cisar identified properties and offered explanations for projects that are inside the planning pipeline already (i.e., Stratford Place, Timber Ridge, Denali Ridge, etc.), or soon will be, as he continues to let the developers run the show, rather than the other way around. Despite the poor audio quality (Rick felt obliged to use the City's noisy overhead projector to display his "measle-marked" map, despite the absence of any citizens that evening), this transcription represents our best effort at capturing Mr. Cisar's words.

OLDER STORIES/ITEMS....

• More "Developing News"
• PC AGENDA (in Word) - Although we did not attend the 1/4/05 PC meeting, during which the "relevance" of the Sultan Planning Commission was discussed, we have ordered a copy of the audio tape. The "relevance" of the Commission, the newest pet subject of Commissioner Dalmasso, is outrageous. And if you are not mad at the very concept of discontinuing this advisory body, then that is indeed part of the problem. The leadership at City hall -- both mayoral, the City Administrator and city council -- is to blame, . First, because of their silence during the harassment of Josie Fallgatter and Jeff Kirkman, and secondly due to their "encouragement" of this, and other, city government positions; indeed, public participation in general. If the city would put forth the same PR effort and encouragement of public participation as they do for, say, Sultan's Centennial, the Annual Sultan Photo, the Shindig, the numerous grants the city receives, and other "positive" City events, perhaps people who value Sultan's future quality of life would be anxious to step up to the plate and serve, rather than hide in the shadows. Or, indeed, hear of the opportunity in the first place.
• IN THE "IF ONLY" Category: If only the city leadership would expend as much energy encouraging people to get excited about becoming involved in their government as they do on the city's "feel good" or "Aren't we the greatest?!" promotional activities, one can't help but wonder how much more taxpayer-friendly some of the City's decisions might be.

• Copy of "Fax" read by PC Chair Pro-tem Bart Dalmasso's libel during the 10-13-04 council meeting, along with identical council speaker sign-in sheets. (Either an ESP event of epic proportions, or collusion.)
• Updated "Developing News": Property sales (and other info) as of 12/7/04 on recent transactions on 124th St. SE (Sorry, this info available in Acrobat only.) ALSO: Reardon vetoes growth ordinance which would have allowed a subdivision to straddle a UGA line

• PC Meeting/hearings on 11/16: Sultan's annexation policy has been passed onto council for a council hearing; the hearing on Sultan's Engineering Standards has been continued until Tuesday, Dec. 7th. Plng. Commission members had insufficient time to review this 3-inch high document, and even Ray George, who is a P. E., only got about one-third of the way through it. Detailed comments and/or suggested revisions were made by Commissioners Fallgatter and George. (Boy, was it great to hear substantial input given by a commissioner -- other than Josie and/or Jeff -- who has actually reviewed a city document in depth enough to offer meaningful comments. Kudos to Commissioner George. CORRESPONDENCE/TESTIMONY FROM BARCLAYS NORTH: 11/16/04 letter on proposed EDDS (Engineering Stds.) and on the Proposed Annexation Policy.
  
• Ord. 867-04 2004 Budget Amendment (and back-up, in Acrobat, 465 kb file), and a
• Info and links on Hwy. 2 Signage issue: Sultan's Chap. 22, Sign Code (in Word), several links of interest re SCENIC VISTAS ACT (in Word) and the placement of signs on US 2, and a transcription of the result of Councilman Jim Flower's research on this subject (in Word), given at the 10/25 Hwy. 2 Safety Coalition meeting.
• Transcription of Public Comments, 10-20-04 Council sewer connection fee hearing, by L. Storm, R. Kistenmacher and K. George (in Word)
• The