For months, a small group of Islanders has been engaged in heady discussions about the future look of Vashon’s rural town, examining issues from parks to traffic patterns as part of a larger effort to update the Island’s 14-year-old town plan.
But underneath it have been larger questions about growth, development and the Island’s resources to support greater density in its rural town — an issue that will likely garner a larger audience when two motions come before the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council on Monday night.
At issue is something that usually doesn’t garner controversy — sewer lines. More specifically, Ed Murphy, a commissioner with the Vashon Sewer District, wants to see, as he put it, the “sewer district made whole.”
The sewer district was created in 1946. But when the boundaries for Vashon town were established as part of the town plan in 1996, the sewer district — which extended beyond the town’s new boundaries — was constricted to fit within the new town designation.
Dozens of properties that were in the sewer district were suddenly out of the district, Murphy said; other properties were bisected by the designation — half in the sewer district, half out. “We want the sewer district to be … restored to what it was always set up to be,” Murphy said.
Others, though, say sewers are a proxy for growth: Expand the sewer district, and a whole host of other demands for services follows, they note — demands the town can ill afford at a time when water continues to be scarce and traffic sometimes thick.
“Every move that creates pressure for more growth … detracts from the quality of life here, from the reason people move to Vashon,” said Evan Simmons, a member of the community council’s town plan committee, where the issue has been vetted over the last couple of months.
Vashon town is a “rural town” under King County land-use code, Simmons said, adding, “I would like people to consider what that means. It means fewer houses, fewer roads, fewer cars and fewer people.”
Last month, the town plan committee defeated Murphy’s two motions, 13 to one, with Murphy being the one lone vote in support. At the request of Jean Bosch, who chairs the community council, the two motions will now come before the entire council, a body where all Islanders age 18 and over have a vote.
Bosch said she asked Murphy to come to the council with his requests because of their potential implications. “These are pretty big policies decisions. Those have to be made by the council as a whole,” she said.
Simmons agreed but added a note of concern that others have often voiced about the free-wheeling nature of the community council, where one side or the other can sometimes stack the house. In this instance, he added, “Everybody who has an economic interest in the issue could show up for the first time in three years.”
Murphy’s motions, supported by the other two members of the sewer district, would do two things: One would require the town boundary to expand to take in the 16 or so properties that are currently bisected by the town boundary. The other would allow those who own property in the original sewer district to hook up to the sewer system if their septic systems are failing. About 60 parcels are within the swath, which extends from Cove Road north to S.W. 160th Street.
According to Murphy, some of the homeowners in the area north of town have approached the sewer district over the years, saying their properties have been flagged because of inadequate drainfields. “These postage-stamp lots are the ones with difficulties,” he said.
At the same time, he said, the district’s $12 million sewer treatment plant, which opened three years ago, is only at about one-third capacity. “Let’s use it,” he added.
Some property owners agree, noting that it’s been difficult to have their property straddle the town border and wish those parcels that were bisected by the town boundaries years ago could be fully brought into the town. Dick Bianchi, owner of the Windermere office in Vashon, said his property is one of the 16 that straddles the boundary. When he decided to develop the site several years ago, the parcel’s complicated status forced him to hire a land-use lawyer to get him through a complex, three-year permitting process.
“I haven’t heard arguments from both sides of the table, but I think I would be in favor of Ed’s motions,” Bianchi said.
Members of the committee, however, noted that under county rules, a property owner could hook up to the sewer system if he or she could prove that the property’s septic system were failing and a sewer pipe ran past the property. What’s more, some said, extending the boundaries of the town or adding more properties to the sewer system may not be wise over the long haul.
“If the town were fully built at present codes, the demand on the new sewer plant would exceed its capacity,” Barbara Roberts, the acting chair of the town plan committee, said in an e-mail to The Beachcomber.
Bob Powell, another member of the town plan committee, said he believes Islanders need to fully understand the implications of Murphy’s motions before voting on them — something that’s not clear, in part because the town plan committee is not getting the kind of technical and legal advice Islanders received 15 years ago, when they were working to craft Vashon’s first town plan.
“The committee needs some legal education,” he said.
VMICC meeting
The community council’s meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 17, at McMurray Middle School. Also on the agenda will be a presentation about overflight noise from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Stan Shepherd, manager of airport noise programs, will attend the meeting to discuss the issue and answer questions.
