It’s time for the state legislature to act on unrestrained and rampant development in Snohomish County. If you agree let them know.  This letter was sent to Rep. Fitzgibbon:

February 10, 2022

Via email joe.fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov; Holly.Hines@leg.wa.gov

RE:  Unrestrained and Rampant Development in Snohomish County – Ambleside

Dear Representative Fitzgibbon:

I want to thank you and Representative April Berg for taking the time to discuss our concerns on November 10, 2021 regarding land use issues and inappropriate development in Snohomish County. 

On behalf of those who agree with me, I approach you as a citizen, interested party and lawyer in requesting assistance from the Washington State Legislature. We seek a new path for Snohomish County and the State of Washington.

State law protects waterways, wetlands, streams, lakes, buffers, other critical areas and urban forests. The State of Washington has jurisdiction in these areas and a direct interest and duty in ensuring that the environment is protected by law. This duty is a standard of care that extends to all citizens and specifically applies to developers and government agencies charged with administering the local development process.  The state’s duty and that of local government may appear to be concurrent, however, the state’s duty is non-delegable. This means that the state must enforce the law when local government doesn’t. 

Underscoring the state’s duty is the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA). This state law imposes duties on developers and government agencies. In certain cases developers are required to submit a SEPA checklist to address environmental concerns and impacts. In Snohomish County these documents are submitted to Planning and Development Services (PDS) for obtaining project approval and a permit to develop. PDS relies on these submissions that are routinely accompanied by engineering opinions chosen by the developer. Neither the developer nor their engineers are required to sign a declaration attesting to the truth and voracity of what they are saying. For whatever reason the county does not require this. 

In the case of Ambleside the developer has submitted two SEPA applications with engineering opinions. The first application in December of 2019 was not approved.  The second was submitted in August 2021 and apparently is still pending at PDS despite the fact that we have submitted eminently qualified expert engineering reports and legal opinions showing that the Ambleside project as proposed is in violation of state law and the county code. 

This developer intends to impose a 52-unit buildout on less than 4 acres (designed without sufficient parking) requiring a 1,000 foot plus elevated sewer reaching heights of 6-8 feet. Construction of the units and this sewer would necessarily result in the permanent destruction of dedicated wetlands, buffers, F4 fish bearing salmonid creek, urban forest and critical areas. It would also cause permanent damage to private property.

Left unchecked, the developer with PDS would cause this destruction in the middle of the Penny Creek Basin of the Lake Washington Watershed. Please consider that this is a significant environmental and critical area essential to the survival of the ecosystem and the public good.   Silver Lake sits immediately to the northwest of their proposal. Silver Lake Creek (the F4 salmonid creek) runs from Silver Lake all the way through the north end of the riparian buffer, wetlands and urban forest in and along private property to Ruggs Lake and then takes a turn all the way to Lake Washington.  Unfortunately, Ruggs Lake is rated Category 5 as documented by the City of Everett Surface Water Comprehensive Plan, Volume 2,  November 2017 wherein it was documented overdevelopment damaged this lake. 

At least as of 2001 and then again in 2010 PDS acknowledged that the Silver Lake Creek adjoining Silver Lake and Ruggs Lake is an F4 salmonid creek requiring appropriate buffers.  Until this was recently brought to their attention, PDS was proceeding as if this creek didn’t exist at all.

Moreover, and perhaps incredulously, PDS approved the building of 3 units which have recently been completed and sold. These units are just a few feet of Silver Lake Creek in violation of the buffer. The violation of this buffer also extends to the WSDOT property which is immediately west of the illegal units where Silver Lake Creek runs.  How does this happen? We asked and got no answer.

If you let PDS approve SEPA submissions containing misstatements and omissions and avoid state law we will suffer the consequences.  The irreparable destruction will include erosion, loss of critical areas to include our waterways and wetlands, buffers and riparian zones, urban forest, habitat and the salmon and other fish necessary for our survival. This ungainly destruction contributes to climate change and global warming. 

The Ambleside project is only one example of environmentally offensive projects that have been approved, built and are ongoing in Snohomish County.   The current regime unwittingly or otherwise systematically abridges the entitlement rights of the citizens while serving the interests of the developer to the detriment of our environment and neighborhoods. As the dialectic continues, it is now obvious that there must be change in keeping with the right side of history.

Consider the lack of notice, due process, right to realistically be heard, and equal protection law in the context of how business is done here. PDS and the developers are the co-regulators and adjudicators in making the rules.  PDS admits that it is funded at least in part by the developers. PDS has stated in writing its policy that citizens are considered third parties so it must be PDS and the developers are the first parties.  PDS does not provide real time online access to its own files and developer documents and files. This is in keeping with the third party being the last to know what’s happening. 

The developer has preferential access to PDS and PDS works directly with developers to “cure” what others might call misstatements, omissions and skirting the law in their plans for someone else’s neighborhood.  By the time most of these projects are approved or about to be, it’s too late for the citizens to have any real say about what happens in their neighborhood.  Access to the inside is made difficult on purpose and neighbors trying to oppose these incursions will tell you so.  Sometimes if you ask PDS for information and you’ve asked a question or two, you might not get an answer but once in a while you’ll see a letter from the civil side of the prosecutor’s office that’s been redacted in large part.  Who is getting the benefit of that legal advice? In those situations, is the civil prosecutor representing the county against the public as the de facto representative of the developer?  None of this appears to be a collaborative venture.

The legislature should form an oversight committee to investigate and then ensure that state law enacted to protect our environment is in force in Snohomish County. In keeping with SEPA and the SEPA checklist the legislature should enact legislation requiring developers’ experts and agents to sign declarations attesting to the truth and voracity of what they are submitting.  Moreover, these documents should be subject to independent review by neighborhood councils. Mindful of global warming and climate change, the legislature needs to pass a statewide bill of rights for our environment  protecting the watersheds, waterways, lakes, streams, trees, urban forests and other critical areas with strict enforcement provisions. 

This is the time to make a choice and act on it.