Ban reinstated on dense housing in Snohomish County rural areas

By Lynn Thompson
Seattle Times

The Snohomish County Council on Tuesday reinstated a ban on dense residential developments in rural areas, voting 4-1 to override a veto of that ban by County Executive Aaron Reardon.

Councilman Dave Somers, long an opponent of planned developments known as fully contained communities, said the option has led to sprawl and bad traffic in King and Pierce counties and that zoning in Snohomish County for such developments was weaker than in those counties.

An audience of about 40 people applauded the council's vote. Many were from the Lake Roesiger area, where a development of up to 6,000 houses has been proposed.

In these developments, in exchange for the county permitting dense residential construction, the developer is required to set aside open space, build affordable housing and include land for commercial development with the idea that residents will be able to work close to home and reduce commutes.

But the Puget Sound Regional Council last year recommended counties avoid creating new fully contained communities "because of their potential to create sprawl and undermine state and regional growth management goals."

County Councilman Dave Gossett reversed an earlier vote in support of the planned rural developments to join the Democratic majority in overriding the veto.

Gossett said he had been reassured by colleagues that his district in the southeast portion of the county would not receive a disproportionate share of future growth, since it has had rapid development in the last decade.

The council vote capped a week of political finger-pointing over reviving the development option. Reardon wrote in a memo that he vetoed the ban in part because of requests by Gossett and Republican Councilman John Koster.

Both of those council members initially voted against the ban on fully contained communities.

Koster and Gossett denied they had asked Reardon to veto the measure. Reardon then said he would rescind his veto. The council questioned whether that was permitted under county charter and moved Tuesday to override.

In casting the lone no vote, Koster said, "I do not determine my vote because of phone calls from other elected officials nor do I try to blame them for votes I take to avoid criticism."

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com