MORATORIUM: Yea or Nay?

We believe Councilman Mark Raney's brave and bold discussion item during the August 2^nd council meeting is a "development" we like. It reflects the sort of clear-headed thinking that, for the most part, seems to be missing in Sultan.

Recent growth issues have pushed our infrastructure to seriously questionable levels. Our water supply is due for a major overhaul; U.S. Highway 2 is beginning to look like Highway 99, especially during peak periods; and the Sultan Basin Road/Cemetery Road and Route 2 intersection is rapidly becoming a flash point. Those of us living on and using Sultan Basin Road are seeing a striking and alarming increase of traffic on this road, even during daytime hours. And the bad news is that most of the development slated for Sultan Basin Road hasn't even shown up yet.

Other growth issues (with which the author is, unfortunately, not as conversant) such as the demand our current and future growth will be placing on local schools – must be considered carefully.

The "long-term" water supply alternatives hinge on a population figure currently being questioned. And, while the city-hired consultant indicates future industrial park growth east of town has been factored into these alternatives, it is my personal opinion that it has not. At least, not substantially. Just for starters, the city hasn't even determined yet what types of businesses or industries will be invited to come "live" with us, much less what the zoning densities will be. The 1994/95 Comprehensive Plan called out a per-capita use of 160 gallons per day (gpd), the same as it is today. That means that each and every person in Sultan will use an average of 160 gallons each day. Given a current population of 3,200 people, with a minimum of 1,500 more in the next few months – even without any further housing or development -- that's 752,000 gpd. The Comprehensive plan called out an average daily demand of 759,520 gpd for the 2000-2013 time period, so we're already topped out relative to our daily estimated use. We have an estimated maximum of 1.3 million gpd which on isolated occasions, we have come dangerously close to.

We believe some of the real-life "planning" done recently by the City underscores the need to erect "caution" signs along the development fast track. Still fresh in our memory is the grandiose city hall, built in spite of significant public opposition which displays gorgeous windows and the city library, but little actual functional floor space. (At the risk of poking a bit of "pun" at the city, we might even say it was full of hot air.) According to our 1994/95 comprehensive plan, there should be 1,507 square feet of city office space allocated per 1,000 people. The new city hall falls significantly short of that expectation, even based on current population figures, much less factoring in future growth patterns. Additionally, while the city may have a beautiful building made of bricks, it has little to offer in the way of "clicks"; i.e., computerized support, required computer equipment, and internet/intranet communication capabilities and other electronic necessities in the 21^st Century. Based on a recent inquiry made by us, the city is still waiting improvements to their phone system.

Another instance of poor planning was the Traveler's Park with the foundation and Information Center building. Positive effort should always outweigh no effort or little effort, but the placement of this park is, we feel, quite dangerous. A "park" placed within a few feet of both a railroad track and a major U.S. highway? Ill-conceived, at best.

Lastly, if the Wagley's Creek debacle of last fall and winter is any indication of the City's ability to plan ahead and control unforeseen events, I want nothing that comes of such "oversight." Plain and simple, the City botched it. Whether one agrees with the new salmon recovery guidelines/laws or not, they exist. It is up to us to either live with them or revise them. A government that would allow such a travesty to occur, when it is supposedly imbued with the responsibility of upholding the law and protecting taxpayers' funding, needs close watching, at the least.

So where does that leave us? How do we plan for the future? One important way is to slow down and smell the exhaust fumes. That ain't the aroma of roses spewing forth on Highway 2 on Sunday evenings and every morning and evening commute. What's worse, all other Route 2 corridor communities seem to be caught up in the "gold rush" for developer money, just as we are. (Has anyone traveled through Monroe on a Saturday afternoon or Friday night? Phew! You can now actually see the exhaust fumes.) What will happen to Route 2 in Sultan? My prediction is that, unless we do something radical now, within two years' time our concern about its safety won't exist. Traffic will be slow-and-go virtually 100% of the time. Good news, bad news: No one will get killed at those speeds, but no one's going anywhere very fast, either.

What we do is the three "P": Plan, prepare, proceed. In order to plan, one needs to start with a premise – where do we want to be in ten years? In order to come up with that, we need input. Taxpayer and resident input. What do our RESIDENTS want? Not city personnel, but residents. Many of the key positions in town making decisions for our future are held by individuals who live elsewhere. If we wish to stay a small and friendly town, we need to ensure that controls are put into place to restrain the type of growth we've been experiencing. If, on the other hand, residents want to grow large enough to have an industrial/economic base to service 20,000 potential patrons (Source: Page 4 of the Sultan Industrial Park Master Plan, "Commercial Development Potential") from 9,000 households, then we need to plan and build the infrastructure to support it. We cannot simply do nothing, like rabbits caught in the headlights of an ongoing truck. We must actively and realistically plan and prepare for growth, whether it be small or large. We already have enough on our plates to cause us a bellyache. Let's not pile on more without knowing whether or not we can digest it.

So that brings us back to the beginning: Do we enact a moratorium or not? It will do no good to do so if we don't use that time constructively. Before initiating one, we need to lay out goals needing to be accomplished within that six-month period, as well as projected timelines for each goal's accomplishment, then stick to it. Otherwise, that precious six months will only be wasted.

If I had a magic wand and could wave it over Sultan to "fix" everything that's gone wrong in the last 12-18 months, as well as put into place a plan with which to effectively plan for our future, I would do the following:

1. Step into place the steps necessary to achieve the desired results prior to "activating" the moratorium's six-month time table.
2. Preferably, the moratorium should be effective for both building and permitting functions, or, at the least, new permitting only. While the "catch up" planning phase is in progress, no new applications should be accepted.
3. Determine an accurate population figure, taking into account current and future population based on a pre-determined period of time. In other words, if we determine we have 3,200 population and we have 500 homes built that are already "in the pipeline," we would need to factor that in.
4. Appoint a taskforce made up only of people living in Sultan or within Sultan's UGA to develop a survey/questionnaire of how they see Sultan in ten years' time. Then generously publicize a series of public hearings to be scheduled during times most people can attend (at least one hearing should be held on a weekend). All times, dates and locations should be publicized at the same time, with "reminder" flyers placed at all local businesses.
5. Have the hearing tapes transcribed, and together with the surveys, the taskforce will formulate conclusions, in order of importance.
6. Publish the aggregate results of the public's input, and give them at least 10 days to digest the information.
7. Hold one final hearing to gain further clarification on the mandate received, and/or make final revisions.
8. Have the taskforce develop recommendations for the future direction of the city.
9. Submit the taskforce's findings and recommendations to a 15-member committee comprised of the following individuals/offices: The city planner, the police chief, the public works director, the president of Commerce (or a member elected by the Chamber to be a representative), two members of the city's Planning Commission (selected by the Commission), two members of the city council (selected by the council). The remaining seven members should be taken from volunteers within the community (by a yet-to-be-decided process).
10. That 15-member committee would then consider and evaluate the taskforce recommendations, essentially rewriting (in broad strokes) the Comprehensive Plan.
11. Once the Comprehensive Plan has been "reframed," the Planning Commission should review and rewrite the codes to reflect the city's future direction. (For this process, the Planning Commission would require administrative and staff support.)
12. Once the codes are solidified and consistent with the Comp Plan, then it will be a simple matter to decide on the direction for water, school, traffic and development issues.

The only problem with this scenario, of course, is that, even with the full cooperation of city personnel to support it, it would take probably 12 months (or perhaps more) to accomplish rather than just six months. And to state the obvious, there will be factions in town dead set against a moratorium at all, much less one lasting that long.

One thing I know for sure: It's clear the city government does NOT have a mandate to continue the explosive growth we've been experiencing. We need to step back, take a deep breath, and look at the big picture before our greed kills our way of life.