Clean Water Alliance Files Final Brief in Sudden Valley Appeal

Tim Paxton is a board member of the Clean Water Alliance. The alliance is a group of Bellingham citizens who are concerned about our water resources in Whatcom County.

The Bellingham-based Clean Water Alliance, a public health advocacy and environmental group, filed a final brief in an appeal of the Whatcom County Urban Growth Area designation of the Sudden Valley decision. Currently, the case is being heard in front of the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board.

Bellingham citizens are forced to appeal Whatcom County’s third attempt at a Urban Growth Area designation in Sudden Valley to keep a new city from being placed next to their sole drinking water reservoir.

Two previous efforts by Whatcom County to designate Sudden Valley an Urban Growth Area were declared invalid in 1994 and 1996 by the state Growth Management Hearings Board. Water quality conditions in the Lake Whatcom reservoir have dramatically worsened since these previous two attempts to cement a permanent new city within the reservoir.

Lake Whatcom Reservoir is the only unprotected drinking water reservoir for a major city in Washington state. It is also now contaminated with mercury, benzene, fecal coliforms, deadly crypto-sporidium and is listed as a “failed waterway” by the Environmental Protection Agency.

A few of the main points that the Clean Water Alliance contends in its 65-page brief:

•Whatcom County did not perform Land Needs Analysis required by both Washington state law and the County Comprehensive Plan planning policy prior to designating SuddenValley an Urban Growth Area.

•Whatcom County did not coordinate transportation issues with City of Bellingham as is required by state law. Build-out in Sudden Valley will cause Lakeway Drive to become overwhelmed with traffic, for example.

•Whatcom County did not perform a required environmental impact study in regards to stormwater, water quality and impacts from urbanization.

•Whatcom County Council relied heavily on an “inter-local agreement” to reduce density in Sudden Valley for making approval of this Urban Growth Area designation. The Clean Water Alliance contends the agreement was an illegal agreement attempting to restrict a future legislative body and more damaging, was signed with the Sudden Valley Community Association (a private organization) with which the county is not allowed to make inter-local agreements according to Washington state law.

•Whatcom County did not study the impacts on the already declining/extinct fish populations as is required by the Washington State Growth Management Act. Small mouth bass in Lake Whatcom are under a health advisory because of mercury contamination, for example, and unique native Kokanee are near extinction.

Whatcom County did not follow the requirements in its own Comprehensive Plan and county-wide planning policy, which “requires designation of urban growth areas in a way that minimizes impacts on agricultural lands, forestry, mineral resources, watersheds, water resources and critical areas.” Lake Whatcom watershed impacts from urbanization were ignored.

Whatcom County did no facilities cost analysis that is required under the State Environmental Policy Act, regarding needed facilities for this designation.

Whatcom County has twice before had its considerable lack of planning regarding the city’s reservoir overturned by the state Growth Management Hearings Board. In each occurrence, citizens had to sue the county to protect their public health and their drinking water reservoir.

Oral arguments in front of the hearings board begin in July and a final ruling is expected in August of 2002.

Possible implications of the hearings board ruling overturning the Urban Growth Area designation include a possible invalidity of the Urban Growth Area designation from its inception and a resultant potential cancellation of anticipated additional service of the Lake Louise sewer interceptor. This is based on Washington state growth management law which makes extension of urban level services to rural areas illegal.