Starting with some GOOD news:
Student Council Representative Brennan Deveraux has been approved for another council term. Councilmember Deveraux is arguably the shiniest star on the Sultan council, whose razor-sharp perception, quick logic and delightful wit is rivaled only by Councilmembers Dusty Boucher and Mark Raney (listed alphabetically, to avoid cries of preferential treatment). Bruce Champeaux, however, based on several of his recent bon mots, is quickly closing the gap as third. I'd like to reinforce everyone's sentiments offered last night: "Welcome Back, Brennan!"

Despite an aggressive diatribe by Rob Criswell, the council eventually upheld its previously-recommended amendment of this ordinance to include a clause stipulating that any future approvals of an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) be based on the owner occupying the primary residence to which it's attached.

Councilmember Criswell was notably agitated by Planning Commissioner Josie Fallgatter's comments made on the ADU ordinance during the 9/17/03 council meeting. Mrs. Fallgatter made it clear she was speaking as a resident, not as a public official. Councilman Raney patiently explained to Mr. Criswell that Mrs. Fallgatter was merely exercising her First Amendment rights under the Constitution (More on First Amendment issues later.)

During her public comments at the September meeting, Mrs. Fallgatter lauded the ADU ordinance as a useful device in Sultan's planning toolbox, but she also suggested that the council might consider revising the ordinance to include an owner-occupied conditional use. This apparently pushed a hot-button for Councilmember Criswell, whose excited ankle-biting demeanor was topped only by his limp arguments on why this condition would be unfair to a developer (or real estate broker or entrepreneur). Attorney Graafstra and Councilmember Raney (with a final, helpful assist by Councilmember Boucher) explained the primary intent of the ordinance was to provide an accessory residence for an elderly, ailing (or otherwise indisposed) relative, or in some cases to help defray the cost of an owner's primary residence by providing rental income, not as a possible end-around current development codes or impact fees.

City Clerk Koenig Reports Negative $155,000 Budget: Laura Koenig reported a negative balance in the city's budget, but suggested that at least some/most of that will recoup once property tax payments filter through to the city's coffers. But if it doesn't clear up before year-end, the budget ax is going to fall heavily on a few trees before it's over.

Teen-Senior Intergenerational Center, an Exciting Prospect: Fred Walser reported that Cynthia Touhy, Mark Raney. himself and others are involved in getting this center "airborne." The overall concept is a "share the riches" synergistic environment, where seniors would use it during the morning, teens at night, and both seniors and teens will mingle in the afternoon, sharing and exchanging ideas and talents; i.e., seniors will teach youngster crafts such as crocheting and knitting, etc., and teens will help seniors learn how to use a computer. Sounds like a great concept! Anyone wishing to donate their time should call Fred at -- as he says, The Cop Shop -- (360-793-1051), or Cynthia Touhy or Ryan Donaldson at the VOA (360-793-2400).

ADDITIONALLY, SAFE STOP CHAPARONES ARE NEEDED; call these same folks if you can volunteer an evening.)

City Hall Parking Spaces Approved for Possibly-resurrected Tourist Info Center: With the possibility of "saving" the WSDOT $370,000 tourist Info Center grant in the offing, approval was given for two parking stalls in the city hall parking lot allocated to the Center. The actual condition imposed by WSDOT is that any two spaces within 1,000 feet of the Information Center could be considered an "in-kind" donation of $10,000 each space.

Town Meeting Set: A town meeting has been set for 7:00 PM on Wednesday, October 29^th at 319 Main Street. (Here's hoping that this time the city will properly advertise and promote this event.) Thanks to Kelly Korn for pushing this to the table.

By the way, Mrs. Korn is not a "resident" of the City of Sultan, yet she has had a profound effect on the city for her positive contributions throughout the Comprehensive Plan process. Other residents whose addresses reflect a Sultan address but do not live within the city limits (and who have also had significant impact on Sultan) include: Josie Fallgatter, Cliff Morris, Ray Kistenmacher, Jean Roberts, Sue Shawger, and many, many others. I only mention this because of the almost constant criticism being leveled by an unnamed council candidate, an unnamed real estate broker, an unnamed business owner and developer (and his friends), and numerous others, rejecting people "who do not live in the city limits," and by that action allege that such individuals are less equal than people who do reside within the city limits. Pshaw, and poppycock, I say. That behavior is as almost as bad as "weighting" more heavily the rights of those whose families have lived here "forever" versus those who are newly-arrived.

We "Out of Towners" are voters. We "Purchase Sultan" whenever possible. We are taxpayers. We contribute to the grant well from which Sultan drinks so deeply. We have to travel the roads of Sultan to access Route 2. We are American citizens. We have a Constitutional right to speak. More importantly, we have duty to try to make a positive difference, if we can.

Perhaps we should offset this anti-G.R.I.T. group -- who have started the practice of beginning each public comment with, "I am a citizen of Sultan and a voter (and, occasionally, "And I own property here'.')" -- with "I am an American citizen, I vote, pay taxes, and I'm working hard to help improve the quality of life for all Sultan residents." Whadya think?

• Ord. 825-03, Student Representative: Term of office to be discussed in School Committee and brought back to council.
• Ord. 822-03 Revising R-O-W widths on Short Plats, amended to 60-foot width to apply to 5-plus lots.

"SENSITIVE" AREAS: "A river runs through it" (Also a lake and a creek and cliffs, and, and, and…)

• East Side Proposed UGA Expansion Properties:
  We'll shortly be posting on the website an aerial photo that clearly shows sensitive areas contained within the newly-approved east side UGA expansion for economic development, as recommended by Sultan's Planning Commission. This photo indicates that the northern portion of Wagley Creek runs right smack down the middle of the properties bordering Rice Road (the northernmost 29-acre parcel of which is owned by Anna York), then snakes in a more-or-less southerly direction until it crosses Sultan's east-side city limits. At that point it begins its westward trek through the tortured wetlands of the LID 97-1.

• Quixotic DeLeon UGA Expansion Proposal:

Interestingly, little has been heard from the folks on 132^nd who've been wanting to develop their property for years: Margaret Skogland, Tom Green, Bert Arndt and others, have been in Run Silent, Run Deep mode. What could possibly account for this new behavior? Word is is that those owners have made a deal with the influential Barclays North group (the Vice President of which is Brian McNaughton, he of the substantial contributions to certain county council members). Stay tuned…

Finally, put this into the "Are we being too picky?" category: In response to Councilman Criswell's sledge-hammer complaints about the amount of money the City has spent on the design of road alternatives for the Sultan Basin Road intersection, part of which included a proposal for pedestrian/sidewalk facilities, City Administrator Cisar tried to allay Rob's fears by offering this: "No, our engineer's going to do it this time. Jon's [Stack] going to do it. Our in-house engineer's going to do it." That doesn't encourage us at all. In fact, it sends up some rather large flares, considering Mr. Stack has already gone on public record stating he's not a traffic/transportation engineer, that's not where his expertise lies and he's fairly unfamiliar with those issues. Great.