Editorial: BACK FOR THE FUTURE

The current and recent actions by the City require that the people of Sultan get our government under control. It has become clear that, unless residents take an active role in the way the city is planning for our future, the current administration will continue to have negative financial and quality of life impacts. We need to take a step BACKWARDS in order to plan appropriate for the times AHEAD of us. Toward that end, I am recommending that the citizens of this town and our city councilmembers consider a moratorium on current development and planning, a step not taken lightly, to be sure, but one I'm certain most residents will agree with, after reading and considering this editorial.

The City effectively has no comprehensive plan in place. It has exceeded its 2012 population capacity, and outgrown the infrastructure that should have supported the city until that date. The City is besieged with a potential 600-acre gravel operation, beset by legal battles real, impending and imagined, is in the midst of planning a major development thrust into the LID area, and must review and revise its Comprehensive Plan this year. This city currently has no city administrator, no planning staff (it has lost a total of four key employees since February), and is currently spending thousands of dollars for outside consultants to do our planning for us, consultants who have no idea what the people of Sultan want, and are simply following this administration's direction. This city is, quite literally, operating in crisis mode.

Sultan, like most of government today, is simply ignoring what its people are saying they want. But we should, and do, expect more from the friends and neighbors who are running this city. A government without oversight is government guaranteed to go blind to the desires of the people it is supposed to serve. It is up to us -- the people of Sultan -- to make them hear us. If you are one of the minority who see the development going on around you and call it good, then you need do nothing but sit tight, grab that bag of chips and continue watching TV or playing games on the internet, assured that the government of Sultan is working diligently on your behalf. But if you are not pleased with what you see happening around you, YOU need to get involved and become active. You represent a majority of people here who wish Sultan to remain rural and green and retain a long-term grace and beauty. It is the reason we moved here. But in order to accomplish that you need to join the fight to "Keep Sultan Green." You have to want that MORE than the developers and the Sultan sell-out's want the money they will take from Sultan by doing so. Sultan is in the process of cannibalizing itself -- eating away our resources and what we hold dear for the almighty dollar. WE are the ones who need to somehow make our voices heard and -- more importantly -- make our government accountable.

How did our city get into so much difficulty? First, like most of government today, the city "fathers" are simply not listening. Secondly, and of almost equal importance, the government of Sultan has been using erroneous infrastructure and population criteria which has resulted in backwards planning. This has caused a significant overloading of our future infrastructure and resources. Because of the city's actions, we now need to think ahead far enough so that we can take a few steps backwards and let the city catch its breath in order to determine its future direction. The cost overruns on recent capital projects will make this difficult, but more difficult still will be dealing with a Sultan as gridlocked and concrete-laden as Monroe. Monroe has become, like Lynnwood, Federal Way, Kent and so many other communities, a place where the addition of a little green park here or a tiny tot lot there is like putting cosmetics on a corpse.

Before going forward, we need to look back over our shoulders to see what went wrong, and what, if anything, we can do to stop this self-destructive trend.

The city fathers then called this state-mandated job "good and done." Using one of the elements from the comprehensive plan process as justification -- which was for cities and towns to coordinate and localize jobs where feasible or practical -- the City then rolled up their sleeves, and went to work on their own plan, one that bore little resemblance to the one the residents of Sultan had sculpted and said they wanted.

The first thing the City did was to approve a new sewer plant. This plant was designed and built to serve a maximum of 4,819 people through the year 2018. The next was to approve a major LID to serve the eastside industrial area and hoped-for future businesses which could provide local job opportunities. (This LID is commonly referred to as "the Wagley's Creek LID" because it parallels that ecologically-sensitive creek which has become such a focus of controversy.)

Both of those actions would have been laudable if the city fathers had confined themselves to competently implementing those two capital improvements in a careful and cost-effective manner. Instead, the City became heady with the power given by the premise of the Growth Management Act, which was to build and enlarge locally, allowing the city to have a stronger voice on how it should grow and plan. This is the sad dichotomy of the GMA: It gives power to the cities by which they can forge their own destinies. The "catch" is that there are virtually no controls or results-checking mechanisms, other than via expensive lawsuits. It assumes that city governments will wisely self-monitor their own growth -- via the required Comp Plan revision process every five years -- but this is not always done. A perfect example is evidenced by Sultan's 7-year-old plan, one which has been shredded and butchered by the City's actions, leaving us with no effective Comp Plan whatsoever.

Three other events then occurred in rather quick succession, which helped to decimate Sultan's financially and developmental health, and thus, its quality of life.

The first event stretched Sultan financially, adding further burdens to its already-strained economic situation. It occurred when the City went "window shopping" for a new city hall it could not afford. In spite of substantial controversy, this grandiose pantheon to an economically-struggling government was approved and constructed. At the time of approvals, assurances were given that the costs would not exceed existing funds and future grants. (Akin to Bart Simpson buying the Taj Mahal on his VISA card.) However, governments have a way of coming up with ideas that sound pleasing, the implementation of which bear little financial resemblance to the original plan.

This was certainly the case with our lavish city hall, as evidenced by the still-outstanding debt. Last November the City issued yet another $500,000 bond to pay off the remaining $300,000 balance from the previous year's bond (nothing more than a loan), a bond which was issued for the purpose of paying off a portion of the city hall debt. We are essentially borrowing money to pay off borrowed money, not a sound recommended business practice. This building, while beautiful, falls woefully short in terms of functionality and space efficiency. Our comp plan specified 1,507 sq. ft. of space for each 1,000 people, making this building's total functional square footage of approximately 3,500 fall well short of the recommended 7,100 s.f., based on current population figures. (Read our 2001 Population Estimate Analysis.)

Several subsequent actions by the City have resulted in deeper penetrations into the "tar baby," and have handed us the utensils of our own destruction, or cannibalism, of the quality of our life here.

The first event was the selling of Sultan, if you will. The city encouraged unrestrained and rampant growth. Just like most government, the city fathers wished Sultan to grow larger and more powerful. How to accomplish this? By developing, of course. More development means more taxes. It became open season on open space. Developers and contractors, smelling opportunity, poured into Sultan. And, if not actually invited, they were certainly actively encouraged to come and welcomed with a red carpet, a carpet which quickly turned into a lovely shade of green -- the color of money. The Comprehensive Plan and its "prime directive" -- that of restricting sprawl and conserving and maximizing open space and resources -- was quickly forgotten in the subsequent and joyous feeding frenzy. Willows Trace, Eagle Ridge, Pleasantview, and a long parade of other residential communities, started to sprout up as quickly as the skunk cabbages in the wetlands they replaced, bringing controversy and violations of the City's own codes in their wake.

The shut-down of the LID caused severe project delays and cost overruns, which has at least doubled its cost. Estimated originally in the neighborhood of $2-2.5 million, a cost which would have been pricey enough, it now exceeds $4.5 million, and the project is still incomplete. And all of the cost overruns will be borne by Sultan taxpayers, in the form of unnecessary taxes and over-development its citizens don't want. As seems to be the way of life for the "little guys," we end up footing the bill once again for government's cavalier use and inefficient spending of our tax dollars.

And now, finally, Sultan is on the verge of revising its tattered and now-defunct Comprehensive Plan, which has been so assiduously ignored. (As an aside, to highlight the problems inherent in the City's "planning," the docketing process by which to review and revise our Comp Plan, approved Planning Commission after extensive and valuable public input, was mysteriously revised on its way to the Council for discussion and final approval. Planning Commission Chair Chris Wakefield-Nichols brought this puzzling "presto-chango" revision to the Council's attention during the May 2^nd board meeting. At whose direction or request was this unauthorized and astounding editing, we wonder? Is this something that a city planner takes upon him/herself to do unitarily? The Council voted that this docketing process needs to go back to the Planning Commission, redone and resubmitted for the Council's approval.)

To show how badly our 1994 comp plan has been ignored, below are just a few pertinent items….

Sewer: Sultan's sewer treatment plant was put into operation in 1998. Designed to serve a total maximum population of 4,819 through the Year 2018, it is already obsolete (on paper, at least). In fact, according to a statement made by Councilman Jimmy Porter at a Rowe fundraiser in September, 1999, this plant was "obsolete before it was even built." (Is it possible he was aware of future plans unbeknownst to the rest of us?)

Water: Our water situation is insufficient as well, considering that the future water alternative the city selected last year did not include water usage estimates needed by the commercial area businesses, and we believe, did not adequately consider possible future residential build-out needs. The population projections which were largely the criteria upon which that water alternatives study was based, indicate a total population in Year 2010 of 4,412. Our Comprehensive Plan states a sufficient water supply until the Year 2013 with a total capacity population of 4,747, a forecast that, given the City's unbridled development, is also woefully inadequate. G.R.I.T.'s current population estimate of 4,331, and 4,736 after pipeline development is completed would support the theory that we'll soon be shopping again for a new water alternative even before the infrastructure for the newly-chosen water alternative is in place. Sort of like Jimmy Porter's comment on the sewer plant. And, of course, that assumes no "outside" impacts, such as problems with Lake 16, Spada Lake or future supply demands from Everett and surrounding areas. Thinking along these lines, I will ignore the risk of sounding a bit flippant, and say that I hope Everett and the rest of Snohomish County forecasts and plans a bit better than does Sultan.

Transportation: Our transportation "river" to the outside world, which is our one and only ingress/egress -- Route 2 -- is operating beyond Level of Service F, as defined by our Comprehensive Plan. The term, "Level of Service" or "LOS," is a yardstick for measuring highway traffic levels and movement. For instance, a Level of Service "A" represents "low volumes, high speeds and no delays, i.e., clear sailing. Level of Service "F" -- which is the worst rating -- means "stop-and-go" traffic, with very low speeds and high volumes, more commonly known to those commuting to Bellevue and beyond as "gridlock." As of the most-recent WSDOT Average Daily Traffic volumes report -- which unfortunately only reflects volumes as recent as 1999, this highway is defined at a LOS F, as measured against our Comp Plan. (1999 is just about the time traffic resulting from the first newly-developed homes started to impact, so volumes subsequent to 1999 are not reflected in this report.)

Neither WSDOT's Safety Improvement Strategies nor Economic Initiative Strategies plans include any mention of functional improvements through Sultan. The "Financially Constrained 20-year Mobility Strategies" plan says: "Widen to 4 lane, median divided highway to Sultan (Milepost 21.42) including access purchase. Widen to 4 lanes without median through Sultan eastward." A four-lane improvement through Sultan by WSDOT, even if feasible, is many years distant. It was the opinion of one of their traffic development engineers that the mention of a 4-lane in this latter report was virtually obsolete, but the report had not yet caught up to the reality (sort of like our Comp Plan, I guess). This engineer also said, "a bypass is pie in the sky."

Barring either divine intervention or privatization of highway improvements with removal or significant revision of state-mandated legal and labor constraints for road construction contracts, this bypass will NEVER be constructed. Worse, the governor's Blue Ribbon Transportation Commission's recommendations have simply extended the "solutions" we've been practicing in this state for years, which is tax, improve HOVs, spend money on mass transit studies, then tax us again. (Actually it's worse than that, since regional taxing for regional projects will undoubtedly be the wave of the future, the result of which will be to not only "share" the funding for local projects but "share the blame" as well.) In short, this major U.S. highway, one of only two major east-west routes over the Cascades, slows with each passing year as traffic volumes surge, with no hope of improvement. And, unlike a flooded river, once Route 2 overflows its capacity, traffic will be going nowhere fast.

Granted, the City is not responsible for this highway. But the City's current and future rampant development -- along with those of Monroe, Gold Bar, other communities east of us, and increased recreational traffic from Seattle -- has bloated volumes. The City could have moved forward as both a champion of the people and a government leader of the Route 2 corridor communities -- one with both foresight and wisdom -- had it urged a "slow down" development approach with WSDOT and the County, rather than adding to the congestion. If the City had sponsored a sort of "Route 2 Summit" local for communities in trouble because of this soon-to-be-bottlenecked highway, and forged a coalition and consensus to present their shared problems jointly to WSDOT and the County, it would have emerged as a clear visionary. This leadership role may seem unrealistic, granted, given Sultan's propensity to self-destruct, but the City Council is not without some foresight and may wish to take this to heart. At worst, it would be a wake-up call to WSDOT and the County, at best it would most assuredly capture the attention of Sultan's taxpaying public.

Only by withholding future tax dollars by refusing to continue to develop until Highway 2 is improved will the Route 2 communities receive desperately-needed attention. Why should we wait until we become Route 2's servant, rather than the reverse?

So, to recap: Sultan passed its 1994 comprehensive plan, immediately ignored it, built up to capacities which have, or shortly will, exceed our 2012 infrastructural limit, and is now, finally, redoing its comprehensive plan (which by law should have been revised at the latest last year). Now that the "old" plan has been ripped asunder -- even though it was set in place to guide us through 2012 but never followed -- the City will now being doing a long overdue overhaul (with expensive consultants guiding the process, taking input from the current administration, rather than citizens). What new targets and populations will it reflect? And what makes anyone think that the City will follow the goals and strategies contained in the new one any more than they did the one previous?

Tom Green, one of Sultan's Planning Commissioners, and a long-time resident, real estate agent and developer, said during a recent council meeting that something had to be done to allow developers to shorten the process -- make it easier for them to develop. He gave the example of Boeing moving out of town because regulations and controls were so onerous. (Actually, Boeing's headquarters were "driven" out of town -- slowly -- by the gridlock on our roadways, and our non-friendly business taxes which seemed to pay for nothing except ever-larger bureaucracy.) Surprisingly, however, I partially agree with Tom on this one. Whether or not we should make things simpler for developers is subject to debate. But there's no debate that we could make things a bit simpler for developers: We could do something different -- we could do it right the first time, rather than expending both the developer's and taxpayers' money going through endless legal hassles.

We need three things to streamline and simplify this development process: (1) an administration in tune with residents' desires; (2) a planning department willing to uphold and follow our own laws; and (3) a completely revised set of codes which are cogent, consistent and easily understood, interpreted and enforced. Items #1 and #2 may be difficult to obtain. The last item -- clean codes -- is easier to accomplish but developers in town would undoubtedly consider it a bitter pill to swallow since it would require a breathing space of three to six months to accomplish.

This flies in the face of a dearly-held philosophy of many in town who believe that if we don't "act now" we'll lose potential development opportunities. This is, put as politely as I can manage, utter poppycock. If we DON'T redo the codes and get back on track and organized, it's a guarantee that more projects will be mishandled and bungled. We will experience the same sorts of problems we've been having over the last two years: project stoppage and reworks, projects below or outside code specification, shoddy workmanship, lawsuits, in short, everything we should by now be smart enough to avoid. It's like the old AAMCO commercial: Pay me now or pay me later. Since we'll be development anyway, why not put a little time at the front end to do it right this time rather than a lot of time later trying to untie the Gordian's Knot?

My suggestion of a building and development moratorium may not sound quite so far-fetched now, perhaps.

We need to stop and catch our breath. Let's get new planners on board and properly trained, hire a city administrator, and revise our comp plan. For a change, let's see the long view, plan FIRST and implement AFTER the pieces are agreed upon and in place, planning more towards the way our original comp plan was approved by the people of Sultan, but never followed by the City; the Plan that a majority of the people wanted then, and still do. In short, restrain and control our growth in such a way that we can retain the quality of life we've enjoyed in the past: Let's "reverse engineer" a fix by analyzing past mistakes and incorporating solutions into our code matrix.

Those wishing to retain the natural beauty of our area have to want it more than those wanting the money. It's that simple. Conserving beauty takes effort, more effort than selling out. And if we don't plan for our future, we'll be looking back five or seven years from now on a Sultan that has been remade in Monroe's image.

There are rare and unique communities who had the wisdom of foresight and have consciously planned and controlled their future, but they are few: Boulder, Colorado, Carmel/Monterey, California come to mind. This restraint did not come easy or quickly, but it resulted in "destination" locations, places people want to visit because they are well-planned, beautiful areas in the midst of encroaching and mindless sprawl. But it's not easy. It takes effort. Are Sultanites up to the challenge?

Sultan's Planning Commissioner Ron Kraut has said it best: "Let's plan for those who live here, not for those that leave here."