Lukewarm reception for Eastsound drainage plan

Its multi-million dollar price tag and reliance on conventional remedies may have undercut the enthusiasm for the long-awaited drainage plan for the Eastsound urban growth area.

But San Juan County took another step toward gaining state approval on the UGA boundaries nonetheless as the County Council on July 29 unanimously endorsed the so-called Rasmussen Plan. The lack of a comprehensive drainage plan was one of the missing pieces cited by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board two years ago when it withheld its approval of the UGA boundaries.

The plan will go back to the Hearings Board for consideration.

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In its earlier decision, the Hearings Board, Administrator Pete Rose noted, took issue not with the plan itself but rather that the county had at that time failed to adopt it into its comprehensive plan.

“Basically, what the board said is that if you believe in it, adopt it,” Rose said.

Crafted by a consultant three years ago, the hotly-debated plan targets priorities and offers a long list of remedies for improving stormwater management and drainage in the village. It also includes an assortment of non-traditional methods of improving the conveyance of stormwater, such as promoting low-impact development techniques, water-quality monitoring, relying on wetlands to buffer run-off and allowing less development of impermeable surfaces.

Though unanimous, support for the plan among the Eastsound Planning Review Committee would be most accurately described as lukewarm. EPRC Vice Chairman Gulliver Rankin said members of the committee fear the long list of conventional projects, typified by concrete construction, might overshadow alternative methods of conveyance and benefits of low-impact development cited in the plan as well.

Earlier, the council approved loaning the stormwater utility $2 million of future Road Fund revenue to pay for six years of countywide stormwater improvement projects, of which Eastsound would receive the bulk. However, the council expects that a set of stormwater fees will be in place by the end of the year to cover construction costs and to avoid draining money away from roads. Voters last year rejected a previous ordinance which established a set of fees in the county’s first-ever referendum.

The EPRC’s Rankin said county officials would likely to generate more support for any new fee or tax, at least in the Eastsound area, if alternative methods included in the Rasmussen plan, such as low-impact development techniques, are emphasized. In addition, he said, islanders are more likely to “buy in” on any proposed stormwater fees if strong efforts are made at securing state funding for local projects.

Contact Islands Sounder Scott Rasmussen at srasmussen@sanjuanjournal.com or (360) 378-5696.

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