HomeMy WebLinkAboutCounty Council April 7 1992I WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
2 Regular Meeting
3 April 7, 1992
4 The meeting was called to order by Council Chairman Dan Warner in the Council
5 Chambers, 1000 N. Forest Street.
6 Present Absent
7 Ken Henderson Larry Harris
8 Dennis Vander Yacht Marge Laidlaw
9 Barbara Brenner Robert Imhof
10 The Council recessed as the County Council and convened as the County -Wide Flood
11 Control Zone District Board of Supervisors.
12 1. RESOLUTION ADOPTING FUNDING MECHANISM FOR COUNTY -
13 WIDE FLOOD CONTROL ZONE DISTRICT AND AUTHORIZATION
14 FOR COLLECTION CHARGES (AB92 -106)
15 The public hearing was opened.
16 Foster Rose, City Council Member: Read a statement stating that the City Council
17 understands the dilemma the County faces but Bellingham has its own flooding problems;
18 Rose said he felt it would be inequitable for Bellingham residents to be mandated to
19 contribute to this flood funding mechanism. The City Council does not support its inclusion
20 in this plan. He asked that the Bellingham City Council be allowed to review the scheme
21 and the assessment plan. Rose said the City collects money from new applications only with
22 the tax assessed on impervious surface.
23 There was discussion among Rose, Warner, Henderson, and Brenner on the taxation
24 issue.
25 Linda Irvin, Program Analyst, Executive's Office: Distributed a packet of
26 implementation suggestions she had prepared to be entered into the public record.
27 Matt Lagerwey, Mayor of Everson: He spoke of the damage that the floods had
28 caused and said he believed this to be a fair assessment. He thanked the Council for its
29 efforts.
30 Hal Downey, 504 20th Street: He commends the Council with setting up a flood
31 control district but does not agree with the method of assessment. He said he chose to live
32 in Bellingham because it was not affected by the floods. He said that few people in a city
33 are ' able to apply for the Open Space designation to reduce taxes.
34 1 Ken Spear, 335 N. Forest Street (738- 1348): He. said he fears the tax because the
1 tax promotes growth because it gives the impression of safety. He said the County property
2 will increase in value and the City property will decrease in value. He encouraged the
3 Council to use Huxley College people rather than go outside the County for expertise; also
4 suggested a warning be given to all buyers about the flood possibility. Rivers are the blood
5 vessels of the land and dams will constrict them until the earth has a stroke.
6 Brenner and Warner made ,comments about the purpose of the flood district.
7 Pred Nowicke, 3341 Berg Road: In favor of instituting the program that has been
8 reviewed by the Council and the Committee on flooding. Everyone will benefit from this
9 program; City residents use the County parks and the County residents generate taxes for
10 the City by shopping there. Our floods cause a lot of damage in Canada and it has
11 promised if Whatcom County does nothing, Canada will build dikes at the border to protect
12 themselves; that will increase the damage here. Patchwork solutions when the floods occur
13 are not enough; preventative methods must be developed, said Nowicke. He urged the a
14 county -wide assessment.
15 Doug McKeever, 5090 Noon Road: He said as a geologist, he knows that flood
16 control is counter - productive. Increases in control expenditures are paralleled by increases
17 in damage. Subsidizing people who live in flood plain is unfair. He questioned the upper
18 limit of the proposed plan. He urged the Council to look at Brenner's figures.
19 Scott Swanson, Glacier: Improper forest practice application may be one of the
20 causes of flooding. He mentioned an application to harvest 274 acres of some of the last
21 of the timber in the headlands of the upper Nooksack. The creek channels are being
22 degraded yearly and this might eventually isolate the residents of Glacier. He said he is a
23 logger but it hurts to see the clearcuts. The 15 corridor represents the County's future but
24 Glacier is its history.
25 The public hearing was closed.
26 Warner explained the boundaries of the flood district and restated the benefits of this
27 plan for everyone. He said this is an economic problem and we are not charging ourselves
28 the true cost of our consumption. If we don't bear the cost, the environment will suffer; if
29 we do, the economy will suffer.
30 Items discussed were: perceived inequity of the charges; meeting of the City and
31 County councils; assessments; difficulty of separating assessment on the database; are most
32 of the areas in the flood plain areas in the assessed diking districts; rebates.
33 Comments were made by: Brenner; Henderson, Keith Willnauer, Assessor.
34 Warner said anything that is done on flood management should be very sensitive.
35 Henderson said that the effects of logging on Cornell Creek will be reviewed by the
Minutes, 4/7/92, Page 2
1 Planning and Development Committee.
2 Vander Yacht said that those drinking the water in Bellingham are really drawing
3 from the Nooksack.
4 Warner said it seems that this tax could not be collected in 1992 but rather in 1993.
5 Linda Irvin said as soon as the resolution is approved, the money could be borrowed from
6 the ER &R fund. Irvin said there would be a lot of pressure to finish the resolution and
7 institute an immediate collection.
8 BRENNER MOVED THAT - THE - COUNTY PROCEED- WITH A 1993
9 COLLECITON AND BORROW FROM THE ER &R FUND IN THE INTERIM.
10 Brenner, Vander Yacht, and Henderson discussed the options.
11 SPECIAL PRESENTATION
12 TRANS MOUNTAIN OIL PIPELINE PRESENTATIONS OF ABOUT 1/2
13 HOUR EACH FROM: THE STATE ENERGY FACILITY SrM
14 EVALUATION COUNCIL (EFSEC); TRANS MOUNTAIN PIPELINE
15 REPRESENTATIVES; AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
16 ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNITY, INCLUDING THE AUDUBON
17 SOCIETY AND THE WASHINGTON ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
18 (AB91 -074)
19 Warner explained the procedures.
20 Graydon Hayward, Trans Mountain Executive responsible for this project. He said
21 Trans Mountain had tried to meet with the County. Council over a year ago. He stated
22 there is a meeting planned in Bellingham tomorrow evening and Thursday morning at the
23 Lakeway Inn. He said they had spent $15 million over that past year studying
24 environmental impacts. Jim Pike gave a 15 minute slide presentation.
25 Hayward said this will never be built until the refineries agree to use the pipeline.
26 He said in Rosario Strait the pipeline would replace tankers. Brenner asked for a
27 comparison of the double hulled tankers and the pipelines as to safety to the environment.
28 Hayward said that information will be available soon and will be filed with the public
29 library. It will deal with the comparative risk factor and the capability to clean up a spill
30 should it occur. Brenner asked Hayward to forward this comparison to the Council when
31 it is complete. If the Governor approves this, the customers must agree to use the pipeline
32 before 1993 when construction is scheduled to begin. Jim Pike said tankers do not have
33 leak detection equipment as pipelines do.
34 Allen Fiksdal, Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) Project Review
35 Manager: The membership of this committee is composed of 13 state agencies. The
36 committee was developed in the mid 70s and it has sited many projects including nuclear
37 sites. EFSEC is currently conducting a preliminary site study. Pat Serie, on the consulting
Minutes, 4/7/92, Page 3
1 team doing the preliminary site study: She said her group received a small non - specific
2 proposal on which to base the study. The consulting team met with the governments of the
3 six counties through which the project would pass and held public workshops. These
4 resulted in an interim report. A technical review followed and the preliminary study will
5 be ready next week. There will be a comparative risk study on tankers versus pipelines.
6 Many people were concerned with water quality, resources such as fisheries, wetlands,
7 aquifers, the power of eminent domain, earthquakes, regulatory concerns, liability concerns;
8 clean-up concerns; EIS concerns; leak detection; air quality; etc.
9 Fiksdal said EFSEC plans to release the study next Tuesday and will send copies to
10 counties and tribes. The application will be submitted in May and the formal process will
11 begin at that time. Counties can have a member appointed to the EFSEC council; it will
12 be the lead state agency for SEPA. There will be adjudicative proceedings to hear expert
13 witnesses from all sides. The EFSEC Council will make a recommendation to the Governor
14 who will have two months to decide. The County Council is required to make the
15 recommendation in 12 months but can receive an extension. There will be land -use
16 meetings in each county. The Council will entertain petitions to intervene in the process.
17 Fred Sears, North Cascade Audubon Society: Urged the Council to get involved in
18 the process. If the pipeline goes in he would like to see the reduction of tankers. He says
19 spills are the fault of human error and Trans Mountain has presented this as a much safer
20 operation than it may be. Correction of damage to the environment should be paid for by
21 the company.
22 Leslie Payne, Chairperson, Laurel Pumping Station citizen's watchdog organization,
23 Stop the Oil Pollution and Pipeline ( STOPP): STOPP is an incorporated organization. In
24 the last few years there have been repeated spills. Trans Mountain answered complaints
25 by saying they are just smells. The group found that communities exposed to far less than
26 the Laurel community was exposed to had severe health problems as a consequence. She
27 seriously questions this company's concern about the resident's health and safety. Trans
28 Mountain stands to make a great deal of money and will not have to live with the effects.
29 The officials downplayed the three spills from the Laurel pumping stations but many people
30 and animals have become sick in the immediate area. This project would cross Whidbey
31 Island's sole source water supply aquifer, threaten Camano Island's drinking supply and pass
32 under the Puget Sound for six and a half miles. There is no contingency plan for a rupture
33 under the water. There was only a 13 percent recovery from the 1991 spill that went into
34 Deer Creek. Trans Mountains showed a lack of concern for spill clean-up at the pumping
35 station. She said she would be against this proposed pipeline where large quantities of oil
36 would be carried.
37 Fred Felleman, Conservation Biologist for American Ocean's Campaign: Coalition
38 for Safer Transport (COST) is the group he represents. There are also groups called
39 STOPP, No Oil Port, NOPE, and NOT. These are grass roots organizations around the
40 counties for concerned citizens. There will be both tankers and pipelines in the Sound as
Minutes, 4/7/92, Page 4
1 there is a low point transfer station. If this company was really interested in protecting
2 Puget Sound they would require more safety features. Felleman showed slides. Ted Dansen
3 from Cheers founded this organization. This is one of the most significant areas in the
4 country and we need to protect it.
5 Dr. James was not able to attend the meeting and asked Joni Hensley, Environmental
6 Nurse with the Health Department, to read a statement. The Whatcom County Health
7 Department and the Northwest Air Pollution Authority were contacted when the latest spill
8 occurred at Trans Mountain Pipelines, March-7. Neither agency had testing equipment but
9 Trans Mountain did the test and said there was a safe level of gas emission. On March 9,
10 the Health Department asked the Washington Health Department for literature on
11 hydrogen sulphide; the guidelines were received late this afternoon. Those citizens at most
12 risk to hydrogen sulphide exposure are young children, the elderly, pregnant women, people
13 with asthma, respiratory illness or heart disease; it is recommended these people take steps
14 to minimize exposure. The Health Department is taking steps to more adequately access
15 equipment, monitor gas spills, measure gas levels, and review toxicological contents.
16 OTHER BUSINESS
17 1. Recision and re -award of Bid No. 92 -10, two one -half ton 4X4 pickup trucks
18 (AB92 -089A) (Finance Committee approved initial bid award)
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Tom Sutberry, Deputy Administrator, explained this issue.
BRENNER MOVED TO RESCIND THE ORIGINAL BID AND RE -AWARD
THE BID TO DEWEY GRIFFIN.
The motion carried 4 -0.
2. Recision and re -award of Bid No. 92 -11, four one -half ton 4X2 pickup trucks
(AB92 -090A) (Finance Committee approved initial bid award)
BRENNER MOVED TO RESCIND THE ORIGINAL BID AND RE -AWARD
THE BID TO BELLINGHAM CHRYSLER.
The motion carried 4 -0.
3. Approval of purchase of additional Sheriff s patrol vehicle for a DARE officer
(AB92 -155) (no Finance Committee review has taken place)
Items discussed were: the lack of committee review; the need for speedy passage to
meet the deadline on the state contract.
Comments were made by: Warner; Henderson; Brenner.
Minutes, 4/7/92, Page 5
I BRENNER MOVED THIS ITEM BE APPROVED.
2 The motion carried unanimously.
3 4. Motion relayed from the Finance Committee regarding Health Department
4 staffing levels (AB91 -386C)
5 This item was withdrawn.
6 INTRODUCTION (No action at this time)
7 1. Receipt of appeal of Hearing Examiner's decision on SV9 -91, filed by
8 Salvatore and Nancy Papetti (AB92 -150) (placed on file pending receipt of
9 transcript)
10 2. Receipt of an appeal of Hearing Examiner's decision on AA2 -92, filed by
11 C.H. Richards et. al. (AB92 -080A) (placed on filed pending receipt of
12 transcript) .
13 3. Receipt of an appeal of Hearing Examiner's decision on AA3 -92, filed by
14 C.H. Richards et. al. (AB92 -058A) (placed on filed pending receipt of
15 transcript)
i6 Items 1 -3 were introduced and will be forwarded for the appropriate action.
17 REPORTS AND OTHER ITEMS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS
18 Growth Management Workshop in California: Henderson spoke of the intense
19 meetings he and Brenner attended in California. He agreed to give a report on it.
20 Sums Mountain Review (AB92 -003): Henderson said he and Harris attended the
21 Sumas Mountain clear cut full review with 21 other people including Doug Goldthorp and
22 Gordon Scott. He said they are concerned about the cumulative effects of these cuts.
23 American Planning Association Meetings: These meetings will be held in Bellingham
24 next week including a luncheon with the Governor on Friday. He urged Council Members
25 to make their plans to attend.
26 Forest Practices Meeting: Henderson said the Forest Practices Board has declined
27 to have a meeting here but there will be a meeting in Everett at 1:30 on April 23.
28 Henderson recommended we ask the Executive to allow the staff to assist the Council in
29 formulating a policy statement to reflects its position.
30 HE SO MOVED.
Minutes, 4/7/92, Page 6
The motion carried.
2 Developmental Disabilities Funding Levels: Harris said Whatcom County is the
3 largest loser in the state as it would be held at the same funding level as last year.
4 Additional Work Session (AB92 -347): Henderson requested the Council meet April
5 219 4:15 - 6 p.m., for a work session on the issue of Shorelines.
6 Health Department Request: Warner said Dr. James would be given 30 minutes on
7 April 28th to discuss Health Department issues.
8 Solid Waste Advisory Committee: Warner said the committee has divided itself into
9 two sections with one to deal with comprehensive plan issues and the one he is on that
10 examines disposal issues.
11 Medical Waste Issues (AB91 -055): Brenner said one company bringing in medical
12 waste to RECOMP has violations in Arkansas and another is in danger of being shut down
13 in California for extensive environmental violations. The County has no control over the
14 carriers bringing in medical waste for disposal.
15 Staff Report (AB92 -058): Woods said he would write a report on a conference he
16 attended yesterday.
L7 Timber Meeting in Everett: Fred Miller said the Council should turn out in force for
18 the Timber meeting in Everett, April 23, and arrange some car - pooling. Watts said the
19 county vehicles could transport private citizens as long as an employee drives.
20 Conference Scholarship: Brenner said she was disappointed with the coverage by the
21 Herald on the California workshop. Brenner explained the method by which she and
22 Henderson received the scholarships to attend.
23 Special Meeting: Warner recommended meeting Monday, April 13, 12 -1:30 p.m. to
24 go over the testimony on the Critical Areas Ordinance and get the results to the Planning
25 Commission in time for their evening meeting.
26 The meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
27
28 ATTEST:
29�
30 4Bara Maher, Depu Clerk
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
aj,4& /�
Daniel M. Warner, Chairman
Minutes, 4/7/92, Page 7