Although the Skagit County Superior Court written order has not yet been signed, the SVH is reporting the 12 September 08 ruling denying the CMPD Advisory Committee’s attempt to intervene in the NSC’s lawsuit after it had already been settled on 25 July 08.


Chuckanut Park District at Dead End
Skagit Valley Herald
By RALPH SCHWARTZ
Staff Writer

A Skagit County judge’s ruling Friday ended a two year effort to create a new park district that was intended to preserve open space and provide recreational opportunities on 65 square miles from Bow Hill Road to Bellingham.

Superior Court Judge Dave Needy’s ruling let stand a settlement reached by the Upper Skagit Tribe, the North Sound Conservancy, and Skagit and Whatcom counties. In their lawsuits against the counties, the tribe and the conservancy group claimed the boundaries drawn around the Chuckanut Mountains Park District were flawed.

The counties ended up agreeing, and the auditors in the two counties reversed themselves and revoked their certifications of the ballot petitions for the park district.

This effectively put an end to the park district proposal.

Friday’s hearing was about the Park District Advisory Committee’s effort to intervene in the two lawsuits after the settlements had already been reached. Judge Needy ruled that the committee did not meet the high standards required to intervene in a case that has already been settled, because the committee had ample time to intervene before the settlement.

The park district committee has one option left — to challenge the boundary review boards in the two counties, which both rejected the park district proposal.

Because the auditors declared the committee’s petitions ineligible for the ballot, the park district committee will not pursue those appeals, committee member Frank Eventoff said.

“It looks like the park district is over for now,” he said.

Eventoff said he and some of his fellow members are willing to renew the effort to create a park district, which would have the authority to collect a tax from property owners within the district’s boundaries. The money would pay for land acquisition and recreation projects.

“I know the campaign is valid and needs attention, and we need to protect this fragile environment that we live in,” Eventoff said.

The park district plan faced opposition from a broad base of local agencies and property owners on both sides of the county line. They opposed a new property tax and feared the park district’s legal right to take over their land under the eminent domain law.

Skagit County Superior Court signs agreed order finding petition to form Chuckanut Mountains Park District is insufficient as a matter of law


PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: July 30, 2008

Skagit County Superior Court signs agreed order finding petition to form Chuckanut Mountains Park District is insufficient as a matter of law

SKAGIT COUNTY - On Friday, July 25, 2008, the Skagit County Superior Court signed an agreed order finding that the petition to form the Chuckanut Mountains Park District in Whatcom and Skagit Counties is insufficient as a matter of law.

The ruling comes as the result of similar, separate lawsuits filed by the North Sound Conservancy and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe. The order holds that the petition, which was prepared by the Chuckanut Mountains Park Advisory Committee, provided three conflicting descriptions of the proposed park district and included federal trust land belonging to the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe in the proposed park district. Such land is not eligible for inclusion in a metropolitan park district under Washington law. The discrepancies are such that a court could not conclude what boundary the signee of the petition had intended, nor could a legal initiative be drafted for the election ballot therefore the petition is insufficient as a matter of law.

The court remanded the matter back to the Skagit County and Whatcom County Auditors for further action consistent with the order. Given the decision that the Advisory Committee failed to include an accurate legal description in the petition, the Skagit County and Whatcom County Auditors have withdrawn their determination of sufficiency.

The order follows on the heels of the unanimous decisions by the boundary review boards in Skagit and Whatcom Counties to deny the Chuckanut Mountains Park District proposal.

After the Auditors had certified the petitions based on valid registered voters signatures, the North Sound Conservancy brought to the Auditors’ attention complaints about the sufficiency of the petitions which raised issues of significant public interest. Skagit County Auditor Jeanne Youngquist says, “I am in complete agreement with the court order.” Roger Mitchell, President of The North Sound Conservancy says, “The North Sound Conservancy is pleased with the Court’s decision and that voters have been protected from a legally incorrect petition reaching a ballot.”

Whatcom BRB Rejects the CMPD Proposal by Unanimous Vote. May 15, 2008. More details available soon.

The Sunday, 4 May 08 editorial states, “...we recommend that citizens and community leaders reject the plan.”

May, 4, 2008,
OUR VIEW
BELLINGHAM HERALD EDITORIAL:

Chuckanut Park district plan is too broad, unclear

About three years ago, then Bellingham Mayor Mark Asmundson told opponents of Fairhaven Highlands that if they wanted to stop the development that they should form a special taxing district and raise the money to buy the property.

Several residents took him up on the challenge and in 2006 proposed the Chuckanut Mountain Park District.

Unfortunately, the group has come up with a plan that goes well beyond the original idea of raising money for Fairhaven Highlands. They propose a park district that stretches over 60 square miles and has the potential to include many taxpayers with no geographical interest in another Fairhaven park.

The proposal has lost its way. Backers can’t say how much new taxes homeowners in the area would pay and what exactly the money would be used for. Given that, we recommend citizens and community leaders reject the plan.

NEW BUREUCRACY

There are many people in our community who favor spending money to preserve the Fairhaven Highlands property, an island of trees across the street from the Edgemoor neighborhood.

But the proposed park district won’t raise nearly enough money for that purchase. On the other hand, it will create another level of bureaucracy and more taxes for thousands of residents of southern Bellingham and rural areas south of the city.

That prospect has already raised concerns. Members of the Samish Neighborhood Association, for example, are on record opposing the district. But supporters drew the boundaries of the district so that Samish residents would have to take part and pay taxes anyway.

The proposed district also stretches well into Skagit County. But the Skagit County Boundary Review Board eliminated that possibility when legal reasons and the lobbying of upset Skagit residents forced board members to deny the district’s establishment there. It’s possible district supporters may appeal that ruling through a lawsuit.

We support the protection of the wonderful recreational areas on and around Chuckanut Mountain. Where zoning is already appropriate, we are glad to have that area to use for hikes and other outdoors excursions. Thankfully, much of the area is already protected, including more than 2,600 acres in Larrabee State Park and a roadless area in state forests on nearby Blanchard Mountain set aside last year.

We are not sure how creating a new government, with the ability to tax up to 75 cents for each $1,000 of home value, is the right way to approach more protection. On the contrary, we believe that the protection of areas in the Chuckanuts are the responsibility of the Whatcom and Skagit county councils. Those councils must guarantee they never allow increased development in these hills. As our board has stated on many occasions, we believe new development should come within cities, such as at Fairhaven Highlands, and not on our rural, agricultural and forest lands outside of cities.

TAX QUESTIONS

We believe now is not a good time for creation of any new taxes or taxing authorities. The economy is tight and county residents are already rebelling by voting down needed school bonds. Despite some critical needs, schools are paying for a tax burden that, to many, already seems too high. Fire districts in the proposed park district area have come out opposed to the plan, concerned about competition for limited tax dollars.

Proponents say in their literature, and on their Web site at www.chuckanutmpd.org/, that they only support a new tax of some 25 cents per $1,000 of property value. Yet they know that once a park board is elected, that board could choose a much higher rate, and can increase it annually, as other governments do. Meanwhile, the same proponents admit that 25 cents per $1,000 of property value would only raise about $625,000 a year, well short of the $15 million or more price tag on Fairhaven Highlands. With limits on the amount governments can raise by issuing bonds, they would be short of the money needed.

The park district could be created by a littleknown law passed in Olympia. Opponents of the plan argue that the law was meant to help neighborhoods create taxing districts to support their local, existing parks, not to stretch well outside of cities and allow taxation of rural residents. Those opponents say they don’t feel they should be taxed because some Bellingham residents want to save Fairhaven Highlands. But the park district boundaries have been set up in a way that those residents would be easily outvoted by city residents should a new district come to a vote.

And that is where the process stands today. Proponents of the park are arguing in front of the Whatcom County Boundary Review Board for their plan. If it is accepted, the plan would likely come to a vote, though lawsuits are sure to be filed before that.

We hope and expect, based on what happened in Skagit County, that the proposal will be rejected. Then maybe organizers can refocus their efforts on their own neighborhoods and not a too big district and a potentially too expensive new government body.

Friday, 2 May 08 – Whatcom Superior Court Judge, Ira Uhrig, ruled on two motions brought by the CMPD Advisory Committee. Phil Buri represented the CMPD Advisory Committee, the plaintiff. On our side, the defense, Phil Sharpe represented the NSC; Royce Buckingham, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Whatcom County represented the Whatcom Boundary Review Board; Arne Denny, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Skagit County, represented the Skagit County Boundary Review Board; and Todd Wyatt represented the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe.

Motion # 1 - Writ of Mandamus. This was a request from The CMPD Advisory Committee asking the Court to order the Whatcom County Boundary Review Board, in its capacity as SEPA Lead Agency, to complete the SEPA threshold determination by 3 June 08. As you may know, the Whatcom BRB has been trying to get this study done and, in March, sent out a request for proposal for a consultant to perform this work. They received zero responses ie. no one wanted to do this study.

After listening to arguments by all attorneys, Judge Uhrig ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the CMPD Advisory Committee. That means the Court has now ordered the Whatcom BRB to complete the SEPA threshold determination by 3 June 08. Given that the Whatcom BRB already has been diligently trying to do this, the ruling in favor of the Writ of Mandamus is, essentially, a hollow victory.

Motion # 2 - Request for Injunction. Far more important was the CMPD-Advisory Committee’s request asking the Court to preclude the Whatcom BRB from making any decision on the CMPD proposal, at least until the SEPA threshold determination is completed. Our argument, essentially, was that it may be necessary to have a completed SEPA threshold determination to approve the proposal but it is not required for other possible BRB decisions, particularly a decision to deny the CMPD proposal based on review of the nine required criteria (the merits) or on a procedural issue. Judge Uhrig ruled in our favor, denying the injunction. This is a very, very big victory for the NSC because the Judge’s ruling preserves the Whatcom BRB’s full authority, if they so decide, to deny the CMPD proposal for procedural reasons or on the merits, just as the Skagit BRB did in March of this year. Today’s ruling on the request for injunction was extremely important and beneficial to us.