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| Let them drink Coke! |
The mayor's political opponents, old and new, have, since his election, discounted and criticized most every effort he's made to curb development in the reservoir's watershed, in the hope, apparently, that denying him success, by frustrating and trivializing his efforts, just might help deny him reelection.
One of the generals in this little war apparently turns out to be City Council chairman Stan Snapp.
Recently, when the mayor announced Bellingham finally petitioned Ecology to close the lands around the lake to new water withdrawals, as a consequence forestalling any further build out there, Snapp's public reaction was strange.
With feint praise he applauded the mayor for taking this step, but went on, ingenuously, lamenting the confrontation with the county, and criticizing the lack of transparent public process.
The fact seems to be the council chairman, a devoted supporter of the loser in the last mayoral election and de facto campaign consultant to the mayor's current opponent, just can't stand Pike getting even a little credit for trying to protect the lake.
Given this great concern for "public" process, then explain the secret council session where Snapp recently led the opposition to Bellingham appealing the Whatcom County Hearing Examiner decision to allow new roads in the watershed on Squalicum Mountain.
Vineyard Development wants to put a road up from Academy to the site of their project. Keep in mind, in the fall of 2005, county executive Kremen cleverly got the Whatcom county council to approve an agreement that allows Lake Whatcom Water & Sewer District to run water and other utilities along any roads within its boundaries; and even beyond its boundaries if the roads originate within the district boundaries or abut such a road.
Hello, so it seems the water district would be pre-approved to run water lines up to Vineyard Development, and maybe even beyond to Kremen's property if someone would just put in a road for him.
And of course we already know, in Kremen County, water lines capable of delivering service to development at the same scale we find in the city are "rural levels of service."
Screw the GMA! We got land to develop.
Bellingham opposed creation of the road. The city was faced with the usual preliminary skirmishes county ordinances put in the way of bringing their land use decisions to court; the county Hearing Examiner (sort of a running joke in legal circles) and the further delay of an appeal of his rubber stamping developers' plans to that esteemed body of legal experts, the Whatcom County Council.
It goes without further discussion, you must go through these delaying steps to get to a court where real laws are applied by real judges. And Bellingham, as would be expected, was rebuffed by the Hearing Examiner.
But now it seems Bellingham will simply give up, back down, and watch the road go forward, the water lines go in, and allow the water district to continue its expansion along Northshore Drive and up Squalicum Mtn. The city's right to appeal will quietly be allowed to lapse.
So, if, as it should be, the city's petition to Ecology prompts the state to follow the law, or if subsequently the courts reverse Ecology, should they decline to follow the law on their own, Vineyard development will have the water to build. A ban on new wells will not stop LWW&SD without a huge legal battle; the kind of battle the city council seems unwilling to fight.
Hey boys. Can't you find enough in Pike's record to defeat him without sacrificing Lake Whatcom?
So who are the other heroes on the city council too cheap to fight on? The vote's a secret. That's understandable. What a loo-loo.
Extra credit reading:
http://www.nwcitizen.com/entry/the-significance-of-insignificance
http://www.nwcitizen.com/entry/2008/06
