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Questions and Answers about Protecting Lake Whatcom Resevoir

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Mission Statement

Like most of us, Whatcom County builders are responsible people who want to do the right thing. I don't think they, or the general public, have been well-served by Building Industry Association spokesman Richard Emerson in his Aug. 20 column, "Interim downzone ordinance unmerited." Further development around the Lake Whatcom reservoir, which Emerson advocates, endangers our drinking water and is neither responsible nor right. His flawed arguments must be addressed.

Contrary to Emerson's statement, the Whatcom County Council did not pass an "emergency" measure. They passed an interim downzone ordinance in order to protect the watershed while permanent zoning designations are considered. This was not, as Emerson implies, to hide it from public scrutiny, but a logical approach to prevent a rush for building permits. We saw this sort of thing happen when the County Council failed to enact an emergency subdivision moratorium last year. There was a stampede for permit applications that thwarted the intent of the ordinance, which did pass at a later time.

Councilman Dan McShane first suggested this current interim downzone in an April 30 memo to the council. In the following six weeks, discussions were held with Whatcom County planning staff, and McShane received both staff and citizen input. This was hardly a rushed proposal, and has ample opportunity for further scrutiny. The interim ordinance will be reviewed by the Planning Commission, and cannot become permanent without a public hearing.

Emerson next quotes Oliver Wendell Holmes on the subject of just compensation for the taking of private property, but seems confused on the difference between a taking and a downzone - they are not the same thing. Legal precedents over many years have allowed jurisdictions to downzone. Such action is especially appropriate where the public good is endangered by further development in an already overbuilt watershed. A constructive use of the Building Industry Association's time would be to unite with groups like People for Lake Whatcom and work with the city and county to develop a program for the transfer of development rights out of the watershed.

The suggestion that there is no problem with the quality of Lake Whatcom water is, of course, absurd. The water is safe to drink, but deterioration in its quality has been observed over many years. The Department of Ecology's 303(d) designation of Lake Whatcom as an impaired water body is the culmination of years of study, and more studies continue (see Whatcom Watch, February and March 2002 for an overview). It is impossible to discuss all the scientific data in this short space, but anyone perusing the 15 years of research by professor Robin Matthews and her associates at Western Washington University should understand the problem and see the negative effects of residential development in the watershed.

We cannot "build" ourselves out of the situation. The new Lake Louise sewer line that Emerson touts only encourages more development. Moreover, according to the project engineer for Whatcom County Water District No. 10, it will address only 5 percent of the inflow/infiltration problems caused by the current antiquated system.

I was dismayed that Emerson attacks city/county land acquisition in the watershed, a win-win program for property owners and the public (all of us who drink the water). The suggestion that this money should be spent fixing old storm water systems seems self-serving.

More dismaying is the simplistic allegation at the end of Emerson's column that problems are being created by "those who oppose home building." I have never heard anyone say that we shouldn't build houses, but there is growing concern about building them around our reservoir. Newcomers to Whatcom County from cities where watersheds are fenced and surrounded by forested buffers are shocked when they see what has happened and continues to happen around the Lake Whatcom reservoir.

Above all, it's our drinking water.

Alan Rhodes is a retired schoolteacher and a member of the Outreach and Education Committee of People for Lake Whatcom.

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