Bids to allow hundreds of acres of housing near Little Bear Creek were turned down in a flurry of votes by the Snohomish County Council on Wednesday.
The council’s Democratic majority won a 3-2 vote to reject the largest housing proposal, 213 acres of development in the Little Bear Creek basin east of Mill Creek and Bothell.
That silenced any effort to endorse 13 subsequent proposals.
Instead, only about 62 rural acres in the creek basin will be considered for housing after a detailed review later this year.
Those and other properties were named to the county’s docket of development changes, allowed once a year by state law.
In all, 17 of 48 proposals won a majority vote of the council.
Many of the properties were rejected in a controversial 3-2 vote in December by the County Council when it approved 20-year plans for housing, population and job growth.
As a consolation, the council voted to let builders have a second chance, but under stricter growth management standards.
Council Chairman Kirke Sievers said the list adopted Wednesday can be reviewed and considered before the year-end deadline.
Sievers called it a “long, tedious process. I wish we could make it easier for citizens.”
The council agreed that:
* A mobile home park near Highway 99 and 156th Street SW could be considered for redevelopment.
* More housing might be allowed on 168 acres of land already within the county’s urban areas.
* An urban center should be allowed at the I-5 interchange at 128th Street SE. That proposal failed in December.
* The University of Washington’s 125-acre Wellington Hills Golf Course won’t become an industrial park.
* 43 square miles should not be urbanized to create the city of Maltby.
* A Fred Meyer store shouldn’t be allowed on 19 acres of rural land in Lake Stevens.
County staff will review the proposals that made the grade. Planning commission hearings are expected this fall before the council takes a final vote by the end of the year.
Most properties will be left behind. Technical state rules limit how much rural land the county can designate for urban housing in the Little Bear Creek area.
Only a few dozen acres can qualify unless elected officials provide strong justifications for a change by year’s end.
Karie Tarte lingered after the meeting, upset that her 10 rural acres on the edge of Stanwood was rejected again.
“It’s not a rural property anymore,” she said.
She is surrounded by subdivisions and traffic, but can’t win support from Stanwood or the county, she said.
“It’s politics as usual. How do you win?”
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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