Dave Somers Meets with Maltby Group June 22

A group of Maltby neighbors meet with Snohomish County Council member Dave Somers Monday evening, June 22, 2009. The group from Maltby were mostly volunteers from the April 2, 2009 meeting. With Mr. Somers were two members of his staff. The agenda for the meeting was:

• Recap concerns raised at the April 2, 2009 meeting
• Modify the list of concerns if needed
• Recap possible solutions from April 2 and add/modify as needed
• Approach to future meetings

The issues identified on April 2 and by the group were:

• Cement pumper truck site (razor wire, grading, traffic)
• Noise generated by industrial equipment
• Cement walls
• Large trucks taking shortcuts on residential streets
• Speeding traffic
• Waste Management site (traffic, plans)
• Lack of Sheriff’s presence
• Vandalism
• Clarity of communications (changes, permits, process)
• Tow yard permit request
• Brightwater smell mitigation if needed

The group talked about their concerns over these issues. Some of the information shared includes:

• Cement pumper truck site is currently in a permitting process to cover what they already did
• County biologist review is not favorable at this point
• Waste Management telling employees that they are not moving to Maltby (but planning is still going on)
• Waste Management has put the Maltby move on hold due to economics (not verified)
• Being a party of record to a permitting process only alerts you to when a hearing will be held, not status updates
• Next major update to the Urban Growth Area (UGA) will be in 2015, but action is starting now
• The County is primarily a COMPLAINT driven organization. If nobody complains, not much is done
• County staff are instructed not to site non-compliant activity if nobody complains

Dave Somers’ staff briefly explained three levels of the permitting process

1. Big changes (like changing the UGA) are legislative
2. Medium changes that ask for an exception to permitted use go through a hearing examiner (helps to be a part of record on this kind)
3. Small “Admin” changes are permitted uses that MUST be approved if all the conditions are met. These can be commented on and appealed but there is no requirement for a hearing.

Mr. Somers also shared that as a County Council member, he has no authority of the actions of the County staff. The Council sets policy and direction. Think of it as the legislature to the County Executive. Mr. Somers also noted how the Planning Development Services (PDS) staff has been cut over the years and is, in his opinion, understaffed.

The group then decided that there were five main categories of concern

1. Aesthetics for industry
2. Growth planning
3. Traffic
4. Law enforcement
5. Education on permit process

Dave Somers advised that it would be wise to focus community efforts on one issue at a time. The group decided that the cement pumper truck site would be good to focus on first. They are currently in a permit process to get a permit to do the grading that they completed some time ago. Mr. Somers suggested that

• Petitions with multiple signatures do NOT get much attention. Signing a name does not show much thought
• Form letters also do NOT get much attention. Again, not much thought
• An email with three sentences does show thought. The more the better
• Emails sent to the county staff planner should be cc’d to the Council Rep and the Executive offices

Dave Somers then offered to meet with the Maltby group again in about a month. The group itself decided to meet again prior to the next meeting with Mr. Somers to talk about how to get the Maltby community more engaged in the “complaint” process that drives County decisions.

Feel free to comment your concerns or corrections to this posting.