UPDATE June 26, 2006

IN THE SKY VALLEY:

• The U. S. 2 Safety Coalition will be meeting this Tuesday, June 27th, at 7:00 PM (319 Main Street, Sultan).  The agenda for the meeting can be located on the Coalition's front page of its still-in-work website:  www.us2safetycoalition.org Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate.
• 22 Single Family Homes being proposed at the Intersection of Kellogg Lake Road and the Sultan Basin Road: There is a proposed 22-lot subdivision/rural cluster ("County Village at Winters Lake") being considered by the county at this location.  The "three-way" intersection of Kellogg and SBR is located smack in the middle of this 60-acre parcel.  Unless the Sultan Basin Road is improved sufficiently to bring it to the level of standard needed to function as a major future county arterial, any new residential homes and new "infrastructure" that results from such a development, will make it difficult, if not impossible, for major roadway improvements to be economically made to Sultan Basin Road.  We see this proposal as a cornerstone for future county development in one of our most pristine areas.  (Winters Lake is adjacent to the proposed subdivision's vertical [i.e., north-south middle/center] and one-third pdf a mile south of Sultan's 366-acre watershed.) If you would like more information on this proposal, please call the county planner: Paul MacCready, 425-388-3311, Ext. 12943, or email him at paul.maccready@co.snohomish.wa.us

IN MONROE:

• "U. S. 2 Signal in trouble" - A question from driver about problems with left-turn signal at 522/US2 intersection, answered by WSDOT engineer. Below is the link to this morning's Herald item: http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/06/26/100loc_b2stsmarts001.cfm
• Wednesday, June 28, 7:00 - 7:30 PM (City hall council chambers) - PUBLIC HEARING RE  ETHICS  CODE: Members of the current Monroe city council are attempting to further "relax" the code, rendering it toothless.  The Ethics code was the result of a citizen initiative, and a hard-fought, many-year struggle to keep its "bite."  We have heard from citizen advocates that these changes, if approved, will decimate the current code, and will result in yet another citizen initiative.

IN SULTAN: "Seven plat approvals fail"  -- and --  "Please, once again, WHERE is the entrance to the 35 new acres of Sultan Parkland next to its Water Treatment Plant?"

Long well-known insufficiencies in staffing levels of the Sultan police force, as well as in the total number of acres required for parks/open space in Sultan -- issues on which the City has failed to act -- has caused a bit of a sticky wicket for the City of late, as it has attempted to obtain preliminary plat approval for seven subdivisions.  John Galt, Sultan's hearing examiner, as well as the Sultan City Council, as first- and second-"stage" approval entities, have both been placed in an impossible position by Mayor Tolson and Planner Rick Cisar, who made the decision to go to the approval step without having legal or complete applications in hand.  Developers, too, are feeling the sting of this situation, as delays have added costs to their projects.

In the most simplistic terms, the city is required to adhere to its own codes governing preliminary subdivisions and concurrency issues, as well as with the state mandates to adhere to subdivision and GMA (Growth Management Act) laws.  In pushing plat applications to the approval phase while they are still inconsistent with basic legal minimum criteria, is unwise, at least; and with a Hearing Examiner such as Galt, whose professionalism makes him a joy to watch, it is absolute folly.

Along with several other problems contained within most of these plat applications, the prime impediment has been the City's failure to comply with its concurrency.  Concurrency means (again, in simplest terms) that a plat application cannot achieve approval unless and until it meets certain standards, or "levels of service" as stipulated by its own comprehensive plan.  Each City is free to set its own levels of service.  But, once set and approved in its Comprehensive Plan, a city is required to maintain those levels.  And each new plat application must undergo and pass this "concurrency" test.

As an example:  Sultan's Police Level of Service minimum, as published in its 2004 Comprehensive Plan (performed under the auspices and close and constant hands-on scrutiny of Mr. Cisar) is that the city shall maintain police staffing at a level of 2.6 uniformed officers (which does not include its chief)  per 1,000 in population.  Becuase the city's current population is between 4,500 and 5,000 (5800, as used last Tuesday evening by Berryman & Heniger's Roger Waggoner in talking with the City's new Planning Board), with a total of five (5) uniformed officers, they city falls well short of what it has decided is its minimum required for adequate citizen protection:  Assuming a 4,500 population, the city should currently have 11.7 officers.

This lack is frightening, especially when one considers the thousands of new residents from the oft-stated proposed 1,400 new homes expected through the pipeline in the next three to four years (1,400 homes means  at least 3,800 more people).

Chief Walser has conveyed to us that he believes the city's current level of service is too high:  He would suggest the levels recommended by the International Association of Police Chiefs, which is 2.2 officers per 1,000 in population, but also quoted suggested levels from other police/law enforcement resources.  Interestingly, the City (or, at least, Mr. Cisar) did not use Walser as a resource when setting its 2.6-officer level of service during creation of its comprehensive plan, neither (to our current knowledge) has this subject been discussed with the Chief recently, at least, within a discussion related to long-term planning.  Hel-LO?

Re the lack of adequate acreage for the park/open space requirement, the city "fixed" this deficit by adding acreage from its Skateboard park, Reese Park and a new annexation of 35 acres adjoining its Water Treatment Plant.  Only problem with this is that no one can seem to find the "entrance" to this "parkland." 
Further clarifications given by the city on this subject (upon deeper questioning as to where this "parkland" entrance might be, and/or whether it is a public access), have resulted in its left hand in the cookie jar.  Or, perhaps a more appropriate analogy might be the left hand getting stuck in the tar baby, along with its right hand (neither of which, apparently, knew what the other hand was doing).

We have photos on a webpage on this issue, but it needs updating: things are far worse than they seemed initially when we first posted that page.  For instance, a Sultan resident recently visited the city's "entrance" (the western dead-end/terminus to 124th St.) to the Water Treatment Plant and smack into a 10-ft. chain link/barbed wire fence and two "No Trespassing" signs.  Upon speaking to the owner of the private residence there (next to the WTP), whose land one must cross to get to the WTP gate, she said that although the City does have legal right-of-way to cross her land to access the city's water plant property, that egress is still private property. Translated, this means "no public access."  Hmmmm....Stay tuned.

In addition to public access issues, the process the city followed in annexing the property is deeply flawed and is the subject of yet another Growth Management Hearings Board appeal.  (Gosh, folks, wouldn't it just be simpler -- and cheaper [for the taxpayers] to follow your own codes and state law?)

The Galt decisions (or most of them) are available on our website.  If you cannot locate them via our website "Google" search feature, give us a call or send us an email and we'll make sure you receive them.

Please travel safely,
Loretta Storm, Co-founder
www.ittakesgrit.org