Chelan County’s Standoff Over Land Use May Be Costly

Gov. Mike Lowry is prepared to make history Monday by imposing economic sanctions against Chelan County, which continues to defy a 1990 state law regulating land use.

The governor has given Chelan County commissioners until today to submit a plan to protect the county’s valuable agricultural lands from suburban sprawl.

If they refuse, as expected, Lowry has said he will withhold portions of the county’s tax revenues that pay for road maintenance and repair and provide matching money for federal projects. Those accounts amounted to nearly $1.6 million in 1995.

Lowry said the road money is the least punitive option available to him. It would be the first occasion that sanctions have been imposed under the law.

Chelan County officials believe the Growth Management Act violates their constitutional rights by giving the state control of their land, and they aren’t budging.

“The line is drawn in the sand,” Earl Marcellus, one of two county commissioners who’s leading the defiant stand, said in a recent interview. “My heels are so dug in I haven’t seen them in a year.”

The county plans to sue Lowry in the state Supreme Court after he imposes the economic penalties, although it has had no luck so far in local, state and federal courts.

The Legislature wrote the GMA six years ago in an effort to tame suburban sprawl while protecting farms, wilderness and recreation areas. The act requires cities and counties to develop comprehensive growth-planning strategies for future land use, based on state guidelines.

Most eligible county and city governments in Washington, including the Chelan County seat of Wenatchee, have submitted appropriate plans to three quasi-judicial growth-management boards appointed by the governor.

But Chelan County, Washington’s third largest at 2,926 square miles, has resisted, even though it could be the poster child of the GMA.

The region is best known for its lucrative fruit crops, which were first planted in the 1880s and have blossomed into thousands of acres of apples, pears and cherries.

But the last 20 years also have seen tremendous population growth, with nearly 20,000 new residents moving in and boosting the population to about 60,000.

As a result, new residential developments are bumping against farms and orchards, sparking debates over property rights, development and environmental protection.

Despite the growth, Chelan County has openly defied the Growth Management Act by submitting partial plans without producing the comprehensive package required by law, according to the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.

For Marcellus, a student of history, the battle is rooted in the beginnings of this country. He often defends the county’s position by citing passages from the federal and state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence and the writings of Thomas Jefferson.

He fears that the GMA, specifically the three state boards that oversee compliance, will usurp the county government’s authority and create a regional government.

“This isn’t just a bunch of rogue county commissioners who are militia members or something like that. We’ve got a very serious problem,” said Bob Rowley, an Everett attorney hired by the county.

Hal Hart, a state growth management coordinator for seven Eastern Washington counties, said the county is reading too much into an effort to protect lands that boast some of the nation’s best growing conditions for fruit trees.

“The act does not prohibit you from developing them sometime in the future,” Hart said. “But when you develop them, you should have good criteria. You don’t want to leapfrog development through your orchard lands.”

Hart said he is in weekly contact with Chelan planners, and he hears daily from concerned residents and others around the country. He said that the state offered Chelan County planners a draft proposal that would comply with the law, to no avail. “They ignored it,” he said.

David Olson, a political science professor at the University of Washington who specializes in state politics, said the law’s opponents are gaining strength.

Their case is bolstered by the backing of the Washington State Farm Bureau, House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee, and House Minority Leader Dale Foreman, a Wenatchee Republican and orchardist who’s running for governor.

But the county’s method risks all that they have gained, Olson said, because breaking the law is counterproductive to building a majority.

“My guess about the future is that the governor is going to prevail on this one. If they’re not in compliance after the least punitive measure, the ante can always be upped,” Olson said.

In a May 21 letter to the Chelan County commissioners, Lowry described their defiance as “extraordinary,” especially since most of the state’s local governments are complying with the law.

“You cannot expect the governor or the people of this state to apply the law fairly to all, save those who refuse to comply,” Lowry wrote.

Lowry said he would lift the economic sanctions if the county submits a proper plan for the protection of agricultural lands. However, the county faces another deadline July 31 for a plan dealing with wetlands, flood zones and other “critical areas.”

Marcellus said the county is in good financial shape and can withstand the economic sanctions.