Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning and Development September 18 1989WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE September 18, 1989 The meeting was called to order by Tom Burton, Chairman at 1:03 p.m. with members Will Roehl and Emily Jackson present. Others present were: Dan Taylor, Planning; Ray Weden, Ray Weden Engineering; Mark Challender, Becky Peterson, Council of Governments; Andy Norstadt, Bellingham Herald; Lee Murphy, KGMI; Charles and Shirley Kermen; Beverly Razore; and Mr. Olson. 1. DISCUSSION OF HORTON ROAD VACATION WITH MR. & MRS. C. KERMEN Burton said that Randall Watts was called to California and was unable to attend today's meeting so your discussion with him will have to be postponed until the next meeting. Mr. Kermen said they had requested a copy of Watts' letter to Burton; he stated that an engineer's report had been done but that it had been done by Ray Weden. "How can Mr. Weden represent both sides of the fence? He worked for Cordata or the Trillium Corporation and at the same time was working for the taxpayers of the County. That shouldn't be." He stated that they had requested a copy of the minutes of the last Planning and Development Committee minutes and noted an error. In the second paragraph, Collins Road should be Thomas Road. Kermen stated the term "binding site plan" keeps appearing in Mr. Weden's and Mr. Watts' statements, and they have found that the binding site plan is mentioned in the RCW 58.17.035 as an alternative methods of land division, meaning that land can be divided into any shape. It does not mention that it can be used for the vacation of roads; vacations are still referred to RCW 36.87.040 where it refers to an engineer's report. Mr. Kermen would like to have a copy of the Engineer's report. Under RCW 36.86.050 it states that "a vacation or abandonment of roads shall be published at least once a week for two consecutive weeks preceding the date fixed for the hearing in the County official newspaper and a copy of the notice shall be posted for at least twenty days prior to the hearing at each termini of the County road or portion thereof proposed to be abandoned." Mr. Kermen stated that it was run only once in the Westside Record Journal and once in the Bellingham Herald according to both papers' records. He stated that Michele Gierman signed an affidavit (Exhibit 5) stating she had posted five notices on March 13, 1986 which was fourteen days in advance instead of the required twenty days in advance. Mr. Kermen stated that for six roads there would be at least twelve termini and only five were posted. Mr. Olson who has lived on the corner of Horton and Aldrich for more than thirty years stated he had never seen a sign posted and a light post is right beside his house. Mr. Kermen said they were the only ones objecting to the vacation of Horton Road at that time and they were not answered except by Ken Hertz who stated that "We are going to build the Planning & Development Minutes, 9- 18 -89, page 2 Horton Road." He stated he needs all the information he can get if they do go to litigation. Mrs. Kermen noted that Ray Weden had stated at the last meeting that he remembered the Kermens protesting at the 1986 meeting but it was apparent at that time that the roads would have to be vacated because the alignment had been approved. Weden stated that the road vacation was in the EIS and there was a public process. Roehl said the main questions are: Are there any alternative ways of vacating a road? and were they adhered to? Mr. Kermen stated that all they are asking for is County road right -of -way access to a street or proposed road in the Cordata project. Burton stated that Mr. Watts would be asked to the next meeting. The Kermens asked if they should bring their attorney. Roehl said they probably should meet with Watts with their attorney and see if anything can be settled. Mrs. Kermen wants to know what would be wrong with putting in the short spur of road to connect them to a Cordata Road. Burton said this would probably be an engineering opinion. Mrs. Kermen asked it that would be Ray Weden's opinion or a County engineer's opinion. She stated that they were very concerned with Ray Weden speaking for our excellent Whatcom County Engineering office. She cannot understand why Ray Weden would be their spokesman. Mrs. Kermen stated that according to the WAC 196 -27 this is a conflict of interest. 196.27.020, Fundamental Guidelines for the professional conduct of engineers, E, 4, 4a, 4b and 4d relate to this. Jackson asked Weden what procedure was followed to get from the original map to what is in place today. She stated she had difficulty establishing an audit trail of how and when the Horton Road was vacated. Weden said there was an LRID done to establish a road from the east boundary to the west boundary. All roads running east and west were vacated except Allen Road which runs north - south. He said they followed the PUD process approved by the Council. Mrs. Kermen asked if he was including the Horton Road in the binding site plan. Weden said they were including it as a new road right of way. Jackson asked again what the process was. Weden replied that the whole 600 acres was included on a general binding site plan. Roehl asked when the straight shot road rights - of -way of Horton Road were vacated. Weden replied that it was on the general binding site plan. Mrs. Kermen said that the County engineers' office still showed the old alignment a few months ago. She asked if he had discussed these changes with the County Engineer. Weden replied that he had not; he works directly for the Director of Public Works. The County Engineer did sign the face of the binding site plan. Jackson asked if Weden was working for Cordata or the County when he did the alignments. He stated he computed mathematically where Planning & Development Minutes, 9- 18 -89, page 3 the alignment was for the County; the alignment was done through the permit process for the PUD. Jackson stated she still does not see the procedures that were followed to get to the final point. Did the Council just accept this? How does the person in the Assessor's office know to change the maps? Weden said that he was asked to do a general site binding plan and it was passed around the other departments for approval. Jackson asked if it was adopted by the Council by resolution or the Hearing Examiner or how was it accepted. Jackson said she can't even find the job responsibility description for Weden Engineering in the file and she would like a copy from Weden for our files. Mrs. Kermen asked what date Weden was appointed as the County engineer. Weden said he would check at his office. Jackson asked that the County engineer attend the next meeting to explain how road vacations are done. John Tyler said the binding site plan is part of platting and platting is one form of road vacation; that is allowed by RCW 58.12. Jackson said that the one benefit of having the County engineers involved in the Magrath Road vacations recently resolved, was that we could talk about the alternatives and it was done one step at a time. Roehl said that the question is whether the road was legally vacated. There was discussion about what the Kermens wished to see happen. They reiterated that they wanted the same as they had stated at the last meeting, vehicular circulation and sewer and water access to the Cordata project. 2. REQUEST FROM COUNCIL OF GOVERNEMENTS TO BE CONSIDERED AS LEAD AGENCY FOR THE DRAYTON HARBOR WATERSHED Mark Challender presented the application for Council of Governments (COG) to be lead agency for the Drayton Harbor Watershed. Challender was approached by the City of Blaine shortly after he started with COG to submit an application for funding from the Department of Ecology under the Centennial clean Water Non - point Program. (See attached letter.) The Department of Ecology has put conditions on the monies until they receive proof that the County has designated COG as lead agency in the Drayton Harbor Watershed. The other condition is that an interlocal agreement must be signed by all local agencies involved (City of Blaine, Lummi and Nooksack Indian Tribes, Whatcom.County Cooperative Extension Service, Semiahmoo Resort and Neptune Aquaf arms) . These seven agencies or corporations would need to provide about $15,000 in matching funds per year. The purpose of this grant would be to develop a watershed management plan which among other issues would investigate why there are such high levels of coliform and cadmium in Drayton Harbor, and devise a plan to correct this situation. Taylor said it would have been better administratively if the County had done the work itself. He acknowledged that COG is staffed up to do it, but was concerned with implementation. As over 90 percent of the area is in unincorporated Whatcom County, Planning & Development Minutes, 9- 18 -89, page 4 the County should be lead or have a very strong role because the County will inherit the job of implementing the recommendations and needs to be fully behind them. He said the final issue is implementation. Jackson stated that she had served on the ranking committee and Drayton Harbor had been the clear winner by the full committee. She said she was pleased that COG has found matching funds and she does not see any detriment in them being the lead agency as long as there is a member of the County staff who is part of the process so the County does not lose control. Challender stated he is committed to keeping the Council informed and said he has learned from his earlier mistake. JACKSON MOVED THAT WE RECOMMEND TO THE COUNCIL THAT COG BE DESIGNATED AS THE LEAD AGENCY PROVIDED ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IS A COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER. Roehl said he will vote against this motion as he thinks the County should be more directly involved. Motion carried. 3. Portage Island Attorney Cottingham was not present to discuss this issue so it will be discussed at the next meeting. Meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Ct�.. Cfi Barbara Maher, Clerk Tom Burton, Member F WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS 1 CCOG 4 September 8, 1989 Mr. Don Hansey, Chairman Whatcom County Council 310 Grand Avenue Bellingham, WA 96225 Dear Don, At the September 6, 1989 meeting of the Whatcom County Council of Governments Executive Board a motion was unanimously approved requesting the Whatcom County Council to designate the Council of Governments as lead agency in the Drayton Harbor Management Plan. As you may know, the Whatcom County Council had a presentation from betty Kiner and Kathy Creahan in December, 1988 on the Watershed Ranking Project by the Council of Governments. Drayton Harbor was ranked the number one watershed in the county. This ranking was indicative of the problems with Drayton Harbor. Two months after my appointment as executive director of the Council of Governments I was asked by the City of Blaine to apply for funding from the Department of Ecology under the Centennial clean Water Non -point Program. This was approximately the first week of May. The applications were due at the end of May. Shortly after receiving the request from the City of Blaine my staff and I spoke with other concerned agencies to find out what kind of support there was for conducting this project. We found broad support from public and private agencies and corporations. .My next step was to inform the chairman of the Council of Governments' Executive Board, Tim Douglas, of my findings and to seek counsel. It was decided that my staff could go ahead and begin preparing the application. It was also decided that the Executive board would be informed of the filing of the application and that the board would have several options: directing we to request the Department of Ecology to withdraw our application, accepting the application and putting conditions on the acceptance of the funding, or doing nothing. The Executive Board passed motion #8906 -4 which read: "Roberts moved, Zuanich seconded that the application for the Drayton Harbor Management Plan be endorsed as submitted with the provision that the Executive Board has discretion on final acceptance of the scope of work and final budget." This was the third week of May. The application was prepared and filed with the Department of Ecology. After the application was mailed I met with County Executive Shirley Van Zanten at the request of Tim Douglas. I 1203 CORNWALL #104 BELLINGHAM, WA 98225 676-6974 SCAN 644 -6974 .:asked Shirley for the County's support and was told that the County ,Council was to have acted on this subject sometime this fall with ,the result being a decision to act on the filing of an application sometime in 1990. I was not aware nor was I informed of any of this until my meeting with Shirley. I realize this request may put the County in a position of supporting a project when the county was not fully involved with the decisions leading up to the filing of the application. `I sincerely.apologize for this oversight. It is important to recognize that the Council of Governments has'verbal. support from the Lummi and Nooksack Indian Tribes, the Whatcom County Cooperative Extension Service and written support from the City of Blaine, the Soil Conservation Service, Semiahmoo ,...Resort and Neptune Aquafarms, an international corporation. Each of these agencies or corporations has consented to be involved in the project and to contribute services or cash towards the local match.. It is not necessary for the County to contribute any local mat ch for this project. <t' The Executive Board has`�expressed interest, however, in having e':County. involved as much as possible. In: summary,' please schedule this matter in front of the County ';-�'Council-as.. soon .as possible so that the Whatcom County Council of Governmertits' can ._begin preparing a scope of work and getting on with ;. ;`,the writing-of a management plan for this watershed. The deadline :for designating a lead agency in this project is September 22, 1989• . Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact me directly,if I may answer any questions. r y Sincerely, Y; t Mark Challender. .� Executive Director enclosure cc: Shirley Van Zanten, County Executive 0. I' r