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11/04/2008: "A Storm Water Funding Plan"

Public meetings on the intent, and some options, for funding of the storm water ordinance drew few people , but in any case the County Council expressed their opinion this week that the best choice for funding would be a 50-50 split on funding; as shown in the chart.

The “50-"50” funding plan was proposed by subcommittee member Howard Rosenfeld, and Subcommittee member Gene Knapp immediately endorsed the funding plan, while subcommittee chair Rich Peterson said, “I can live with it, though I might end up voting the other way.”

The funding fees will assess half the cost of capital projects to parcels of land county-wide and half to the island on which each capital project is built.

The capital fee would be assessed in addition to an estimated $23.84 per parcel annual base fee which would fund the Storm water Utility’s basin studies, water quality monitoring, facilities maintenance, technical assistance program and administration.

Parcels designated as forest land and parcels in Friday Harbor - which has its own Stormwater Utility- will not pay into the County system.

Last week’s public input meetings did not produce a clear citizen preference. Only eight members of the public showed up to sit with seven members of the government at the San Juan meeting, with about the same number in attendance on Orcas.

Attendees at the Lopez meeting overwhelmingly endorsed a fee structure that would have required each island to pay the total cost of capital projects on that island. At sparsely attended meetings on Orcas and San Juan Island, citizens expressed preferences for other options.

The Council and the Public Works Departments have both indicated a desire to revise the existing plan, which was submitted to the Board in 2005, but citing the County’s years of delays in implementing a stormwater plan, the Hearings Board has ordered the County to show good faith by promptly funding the projects that have already been identified. Based on past cases, this would stop any enforcement action from the Board.

The Council is on record stating that "The Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board has threatened to find the County in invalidity if it does not fund its stormwater management plan. That finding would stop the County from issuing building permits for anything other than single family homes and potentially subject the County to fines and other sanctions."

However some state officials have said the reality is that if the County is making a good faith attempt to solve the problem, they will continue to work with the County and not attempt to stop the County from issuing permits.

Council Chair Howie Rosenfeld said it was a middle ground between a flat countywide fee for capital projects and a fee which would have placed a larger financial burden on properties within unincorporated urban growth areas, where most of the stormwater management projects will be built.

In order to get the fees on this year’s property tax statement, San Juan County Treasurer Jan Sears has advised the Council that it must have the fee structure in place in November. The full Council will get its first chance to discuss the subcommittee’s recommendations at its workshop meeting next Monday, October 20 at the Eastsound Fire Station on Orcas. The ordinance will be formally introduced at the Council’s October 28 meeting and a public hearing and possible final action on the ordinance is scheduled for the Council meeting on November 4, 2008 in Friday