01/14/2008: "Growth Board Grows “Impatience” With County"

County and State officials warn no more building permits for Eastsound and Lopez Village unless the county comes into compliance on UGAs
San Juan County has asked -and received- extensions from the State to bring the County into compliance on the Eastsound Sewer District, and on Jan. 8, they also asked for a 180 day extension to meet state requirements to comply with GMA orders for the Lopez Village Urban Growth Area plan.

The Board (Western Growth Management Hearings Board) administers the state’s GMA (Growth Management Act), and in the face of the repeated requests for extensions, the Board has become a bit testy.

Former Lopez County Council candidate Steve Ludwig is concerned that “SJC can't afford to meet the State mandated requirements for protecting public health in UGAs,” due in part to the high cost of installing infrastructures in areas designated UGAs. He also points out that “neither can it [the County] admit that it made a mistake in designating Eastsound and Lopez Village as UGAs” in the first place.

Former County Commissioner John Evans was part of the original GMA process, and while critical of the Board’s demands, said that "Lopez Island and Orcas Island need to have GMA compliant UGA's in order to meet present and future needs for housing and commercial activities."

Ludwig states that as a result of County action, and then inaction, the “landowners in the two areas have been left in limbo since 1999.” At least to that extent, Evans and Ludwig are in agreement. Evans believes “The future citizens of the Eastsound area should not suffer simply to meet shortsighted planning goals of the Growth Hearings Board."

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Communications Manage Stan Matthews’ take on the issue is that the Board has “warned that if it does not see progress by mid-April, its patience may run out.” Matthews states “That could mean that no building permits could be issued for projects in Eastsound until the County and the Sewer District meet the Board’s requirements.

Such threats are not uncommon from local and state government agencies, and have been used in the past by CD&PD Director Ron Hendrickson, and the Board, to get some forward motion toward County compliance.

A longtime member of county wide planning, and in particular the Eastsound planning process, Jim Nelson of Orcas, wonders “what purpose would be served by stopping permitting in the UGA?” and adds “then additional growth pressure simply moves to the rural areas which is contrary to the intended purpose of GMA”.

One of the problems with coming into compliance is related to the issue of extending utilities outside of the UGA. For Evans "the Eastsound Sewer and Water District is taking the very responsible position that they be able to serve the needs for sewer service outside the urban growth boundary.”

Evans is concerned that because “these areas outside the UGA boundary sit on top of the aquifer that supplies much of the drinking water for the urban growth area and beyond, there is a very real danger that absent a good sewer system, the aquifer will become polluted and unusable.”

The Board seems to believe that without sewer and water, growth will be forced into a UGA.

Given the fact that almost any property can support a well and an on-site septic system, it seems unlikely that a prohibition on extending utilities will result in no, or limited growth, outside of an UGA.

Looking at an addendum to the Growth Board’s grant of the extension gives some insight into what may pull the trigger on the threat: Board Member Margery Hite said, “In my judgment, if the [April] progress report does not show that the targets are being met… the board should entertain a motion for a determination of invalidity.”

Nelson finds the comments from Hite perplexing, and “leaves one with the impression that they may just stop permitting in all or part of the UGA. I can't imagine how this would work or what purpose would be served by doing that.

Nelson point out that such an action “would take most of the pressure off the County to do anything. No growth/no problem. The County isn't out of compliance because they want to be. They simply don't have the resources to move fast enough to satisfy the Growth Board's increasingly unreasonable demands on small rural counties.”

The County and the Eastsound Water and Sewer District have been in negotiations seeking ways to meet the state requirements for a plan to provide “urban level sewer service” to the Eastsound Urban Growth Area while not extending urban services into rural areas.

Evans believes such a move is an improper solution, he said “the County has the responsibility to take the legislative steps that are necessary to allow the sewer service to be provided and avoid a future health crisis."

While the Sewer Board has declined to enter into an agreement with the County, it has agreed to prepare the necessary financial and service plan reports which, Henrickson believes, will satisfy the Growth Board.

San Juan County Prosecutor Randy Gaylord, whose office negotiated the deadline extension on behalf of the County, is reported to have stated the Growth Board has granted its last extension of time to reach compliance for Eastsound. “The Growth Board is poised to halt development permits in Eastsound if we don’t show progress in the next three months,” Gaylord warned.

Key words in the Hite quote are ”progress” and “should”; but the submerged danger is a definition of progress. “I understand the Board’s impatience,” said Henrickson, “But I think we are finally moving toward a resolution to the problem.”

If history is any guide, as long as the County is working to resolve the problems, it is unlikely it will be found to be out of compliance. Ludwig sees the problem in a different light: “Apparently, County officials are settling into a comfortable state of permanent non-compliance with the GMA, rather than back down on their demand that Lopez Village become a UGA.”

As former County Commissioner John Evans used to say, “the train has left the station” on that track, and San Juan County must now present an interim progress report to the Growth Board on April 15.

The Eastsound Sewer District has promised to complete work on its capital facilities planning reports by the end of March. Full compliance must occur by June 4, and a hearing to review the compliance is set for August 11.