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08/07/2007: "Who Pays The Cost Of Development?"

Who pays the cost of development in Urban Growth Areas if, and when, they are developed to serve many of the projected 7,400 people expected to move here by 2027? More or less, that is the number that the Washington Office of Financial Management projects San Juan County’s population will increase by the year 2027; a nearly 50% increase. San Juan Island is projected to receive approximately 3,545 of those new full time residents.

The question of where this new population will live, and who pays the bills, is part of ongoing discussions between the County and Friday Harbor as they work on the expansion of the town’s Urban Growth Area boundary. Town planning staff has projected that a smaller percentage of the new residents will move into Friday Harbor than the County planners have projected.

Regardless of who is correct, there is still the question of who -and how- pays for the development of water line and sewer extensions, and the associated costs of infrastructure improvements to supply roads, water, and treat the sewage.

The staff of SJC Community Development & Planning Department (CD&PD) have projected housing patterns will be partially influenced by an increase in workers that replace local employees who retire, and who then either remain on the island, or sell their homes at prices beyond the means of those new workers who either did not have homes to sell, or were unable to sell their homes at a comparable price to values in the our county, and now find they cannot afford to buy in the county.


CD&PD Director Ron Hendrickson has cited studies by the San Juan Housing Bank Commission and others that document a potential crisis in workforce housing in the county. The County has projected that as many as 72% of its new residents will fit into the “workforce” category.

“We are going to need everything from teachers, engineers and law enforcement officers to hair stylists and auto mechanics,” says Henrickson, “and they will need to find housing that they can afford. This workforce is necessary to sustain private business, community services and government.”

The County planning staff believes that to be consistent with the Washington Growth Management Act, the vast majority of the housing for new residents needs to be developed in Friday Harbor; since much of this housing will arguably be in multi-family developments requiring public sewer and water service.

While state law requires the county and town to collaborate on establishing the 2027 UGA boundary, several preliminary meetings of county and town staff have not yet yielded a consensus on a solution to the state mandates. The question of how much workforce housing will be needed and where it should be encouraged to locate are still on the table, as is: who is going to pay for it.?

The San Juan County Planning Commission will hold a public meeting The County Planning staff report to consider setting Friday Harbor’s 2027 urban growth boundary during its meeting on August 24, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. in the Council hearing room at the San Juan County Courthouse.

This meeting will be one more step in the process of finding mutually agreeable approaches to dealing with the difficult problems created by population growth and the need for workforce housing in the years ahead. Critical issues will include: equitably dealing with impacts on Town utilities, traffic, phasing and evaluating alternatives to the size of the land proposed by the Town as an UGA area that can be used for future housing.

These deliberations are part a review required every ten years under state law. .A copy of the report and exhibits is available for viewing at the County Planning office in Friday Harbor. For more information contact:

Colin Maycock, Senior Planner: 360-370-7573 or
Stan Matthews, Communications: 360-370-7405