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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008 Big brawl over a mini-city still looms By Jerry Cornfield Herald Columnist Had you been at Everett's Flying Pig on Friday morning you'd have seen Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers sharing a booth with developer Dave Barnett. This was the first-ever meeting of the chief protagonists in what may be the county's biggest land-use brawl this fall. As I wasn't there, I can only imagine how the conversation began: Dave Somers: Nice to finally meet you. Dave Barnett: Likewise Somers: Really? Doesn't seem like you think much of me from the mail you've sent to me and my neighbors? Barnett: Nothing personal. Somers: Got a good laugh out of it. An enviro like me for sprawl? For global warming? What's next? I'll be for increasing congestion and freeing sex offenders? Barnett: Are you? I'll stop if I get what I want today. Somers: What's that? Barnett: Your blessing of my dream, my legacy, my mini-city near Lake Roesiger. By the time they finished their coffees, that didn't happen. They did agree, though, to keep talking and stop sniping at one another for a couple days. So Barnett's consultant, Strategies 360, won't mail more literature into Somers' district dressing him down for not embracing the "fully contained community" near the lake as the next utopia. Somers is to spend the time mulling over whether to revise or withdraw his proposal for a moratorium on accepting applications for these fully contained communities. His resolution is due for a vote Oct. 22. Somers and Barnett found common ground around one point: Rules adopted by the county in 2005 for creating a mini-city could be improved. The question is whether Somers would use the time during a moratorium to rewrite the guidelines or bide his time until he can pursue his true desire to eliminate any reference to fully contained communities in the county land-use plan. My guess is Somers will go for the moratorium and then the whole caboodle. Politically, he may not be able to muster three votes to achieve either goal. County Council members Dave Gossett and John Koster voted for those rules in 2005 and are expressing no remorse. Earlier this year, Koster opposed Somers' bid to impose the moratorium as an emergency action. Gossett was absent but would have dissented, too. Council members Mike Cooper and Brian Sullivan, who both arrived this year, voted for the moratorium. Sullivan may now be wavering. He likes people to get along and looks for compromise in the midst of conflict. Supporting a moratorium may mean facing the wrath of well-heeled developers later. Somers, who faces re-­election next year, knows such wrath. He's in his second tour of duty on the County Council. His first ended in 2001 in part because pro-development forces made his environmentalism a negative in the minds of voters. He knows their capabilities. He feels mini-cities are fundamentally wrong. When the time comes to call Barnett this week, I suspect Somers will probably tell him to buy more stamps. Political reporter Jerry Cornfield also writes the blog, The Petri Dish. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out Why do Democrats always have to compromise??? We compromise on the environment, and the well-heeled developers hit us again a few months later for the same thing they wanted the first time... Just like North Korea! They have a tendency to act like a petulent tenager instead of a responsible member of the community. Mr. Barnett will be the first to say that the jobs and development he brings benefits the community thru paychecks and future tax revenue. But he will also be the first one to shout that he is running a business, not a charity; that is why he wants the County Council to meet his demands (and he's not afraid to use any tactic he can to make them acquiesce. Building his 'dream/legacy' development will not create enough revenue in the near-term to justify the long-term debts that the community will be saddled with to create his vision. Hold the line, Mr. Somers! The change from single-family detatched housing to multi-level mixed use will be as challenging as the change from the internal-combustion engine to the hydrogen-fuel-cell hybrid automobile. But, with great challenges come great rewards! Jeff Craig | Sep 21, 2008 2:11 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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