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UPDATE April
29, 2005 SULTAN CITY COUNCIL RETREAT is Tomorrow (Saturday), April
30th, from 9 a.m. to 3 PM: This is a PUBLIC EVENT, although citizen
comments will be allowed. Mayor Pro-tem Jim
Flower announced at Wednesday's council meeting that he will be departing
the retreat at Noon, as he had doubled-booked himself ("I'm having
a bunch of the boys over to fire up a fuel bike after lunch").
The priority for this decision by Flower is questionable, but
it seems to underscore Councilman Flower's performance as mayor pro-tem
during last Wednesday's meeting, several portions of which turned into
a free-for-all. It was reminiscent of the worst meetings during
Rowe's contentious term. The complete audio
of the meeting will be posted on our website (broken up into small sections
by topic) today or tomorrow and we heartily encourage anyone interested
in Sultan's current, and future leadership, to listen to it. Keep in mind the November elections this year,
where FOUR (4) out of seven council seats are up for grabs. Of particular interest in this meeting are comments
related to the ongoing Barmon Lumber permitting snafu, complete with
an uncharacteristic public display of anger by Councilman Boucher leveled
against Rick Cisar, and Flower's instruction to staff to reschedule
a 5:00/5:30 PM May 11th Sultan Wild Sky Tolson-requested workshop to
be given by Congressman Rick Larsen's office.
Ostensibly, the rescheduling was required because of Ed Hussman's
advisement to the council that evening that a Wild Sky workshop would
conflict with citizens' desires to attend the County's Critical Areas
Ordinance open house in Monroe that same evening.
However, the CAO event is scheduled from 6:30-8:30 PM, clearly
allowing enough time for citizens to attend both events, should they
wish to do so. Interestingly, this
rescheduling because of a conflict with a major county event now sets
a precedent for the City of CO. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE OPEN HOUSE MAY 2nd (from 5:00 to 8:00 PM) at Monroe's Junior High
School, 1408 West Main Street. Currently,
the county council's recommended alternative is HIGH GROWTH, and includes
FCC's (Fully Contained Communities). If you do not know the issues, then at least
swing by and let your public officials and representatives know that
you want to keep GROWTH LOW and the quality of the ENVIRONMENT HIGH. This is YOUR comprehensive plan. YOU are the
one who must live with the results of traffic gridlock and over-taxation
caused over-development with under-financed infrastructure (i.e., lack
of sufficient developer-paid improvements to roads, sidewalks, schools,
water, sewer, libraries, police, fire, parks, public staff, etc.). CORRECTION (County's Critical Area Ordinance Open House)
and interactive workshop
in COUNTY MAY REMOVE PUBLIC NOTICE REQUIREMENT FROM BLA
CODE (Boundary Line Adjustment):
Little noted and not reported at all was a hearing this week before
the County's Planning Commission to decide whether a developer-requested
rule change -- which would abolish legal noticing to neighbors and others
of pending BLA proposals -- should be granted.
Sadly, only three people attended:
Mike Pattison from the MBA (Master Builders Association), Noel
Higa from Higa-Burkholder, who is well-known to Sultanites, and, thank
goodness, Kristy Kelly of Futurewise (formerly, 1000 Friends of Washington),
representing citizens' interests. The
Planning Commission recommended to the county council that public noticing
remain. However, the current council will ultimately
decide this issue, and as we know, can wreak much havoc with a stroke
of their pen. (And in this day
of increasingly constrained public participation, is it really appropriate
to take a step backward?) CO. COUNCIL RESPONSE TO AMERICAN RIVERS' REPORT ON THE
SKYKOMISH: We have requested, and will soon be sent, the
letter from the County Council sent to this association, disputing the
association's assessment that the Skykomish is the nation's 4th most
at-risk river. Many people seem
to be confusing this association's designation of "at risk"
with "endangered." Check
out the differences in definition on their website (links posted on
my front page). We will, of course, post this letter as soon
as we receive it from the county. BARCLAYS NORTH DONATES $5,000 TO SULTAN'S CENTENNIAL:
Congratulations and many
thanks to Barclays North for their donation.
It is both generous
and appropriate when one considers that Barclays' currently-planned developments will carve Sultan's future, and
significantly impact its quality of life. And speaking of
Sultan's future, we hope an equitable portion of this money will be
used to support Laura Fox's "Next 100 Years in Sultan" project,
in conjunction with the Centennial Committee and the Sultan Arts Council. If residents will recall, Laura is asking folks
to design their concept of what Sultan could, or should, look like 100
years from now -- using photographs, drawings, pictures, essays, poems,
craft projects, drama, songs, sculpture, or you-name-it. Entry forms can be obtained directly from her
(marsgirl0737@hotmaill.com, 360-793-0737) or at the Sultan Library. These forms need to be submitted no later than
Tuesday, May 10, with finished artwork submitted no later than Friday,
June 3rd. We encourage everyone
to participate. HIGHWAY 2 SAFETY COALITION MOVING FORWARD TO RELIEVE
U. S. 2'S INCREASING GRIDLOCK: Sultan
Police Chief Fred Walser and Coalition Chairman has -- with the help
of WSDOT, the County Public Works Department and representatives from
east county cities -- been moving toward the development of a Rural
Route Development Plan for east county U.S. 2.
The Plan, when completed, will provide recommendations to WSDOT
for badly-needed improvements to assist the increasing gridlock being
felt from too-fast growth and increasing gravel truck traffic.
With the specter looming from the current county council's desire
to approve a high-growth alternative Comp Plan, U.S. 2's importance
and capacity condition rises exponentially.
Much of the county's projected 2025 population increase is supposed
to occur in east county, both inside cities
and in unincorporated county areas. When combined with the not-yet-felt
impacts from Cadman's Gold Bar expansion -- 300 new per-day truck trips
-- and the effects of developments in Monroe and Sultan already in the
planning pipeline but not yet on the streets, the Coalition's efforts
will become increasingly more urgent and important. Congratulations to Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser
and Chairman Fred Walser (as well as to charter Coalition members John
Seehuus and C. H. Rowe), for keeping this coalition
rolling along over the last several years. LORETTA STORM, Co-Founder,
G.R.I.T. (Governmental Responsibility,
Integrity and Truth) www.ittakesgrit.org 360.793.6683 |