PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners extended interim zoning for the Carlsborg Urban Growth Area on Tuesday.
The move buys the county six more months to work on a double-track response to an April 2008 state Growth Management Hearings Board ruling that invalidated the urban growth area west of Sequim because it doesn’t have a sewer system.
With appeals still pending in court, Clallam County and the Clallam County Public Utility District are developing a plan to build a $15 million to $17 million Class A sewer and wastewater treatment facility on Carlsborg Road.
Local businesses need the hearings board to lift its ruling of invalidity — or have the ruling overturned in court — in order to expand.
Oppose sewer
Meanwhile, a significant number of Carlsborg property owners are opposed to the sewer because of the costs. Many oppose the urban growth area itself.
Interim zoning, which has been extended several times since 2008, allows limited development in Carlsborg.
It also lets the county apply for state grants and loans to fund a sewer to achieve compliance with the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board.
The state Legislature in May approved the funding of a $10 million Public Works Trust Fund loan to pay for the sewer.
If a sewer is built, the loan would be repaid by the residents and businesses that use it over 30 years.
Cost has been a central point of contention over the sewer proposal. Specific costs have yet to be determined, which is part of the reason why interim zoning was extended.
In March, the county and the PUD approved an agreement for a sewer facilities plan and for the formation of a local utility district.
The agreement includes a benefit analysis and preliminary assessment that will determine how much property owners would pay to hook up to the sewer and use it.
The county has already committed $4 million toward the project. The PUD would operate the sewer if it is built.
Urged to rezone
Bryan Frazier, director of Citizens for the Preservation of Carlsborg, urged the commissioners to rezone Carlsborg as rural and abandon plans for the sewer.
Already-developed pockets of the hamlet could be zoned as commercial-industrial limited areas of more intensive rural development, or rural neighborhood conservation zones.
“Businesses could expand, and residents that moved to Carlsborg for the peace and quiet of a rural surrounding could once again have that,” said Frazier, who opposes the urban growth area designation.
“The projected growth is not coming,” he said.
“The housing market is flat, and mortgages are upside-down.”
He described the urban growth area and sewer proposal as “financial burdens” to the citizens of Carlsborg.
“We say no again and again, and you refuse to listen,” Frazier said.
“Why? There’s no mandate from the state to keep the UGA designation. Re-examine this issue and come up with acceptable rural designations.”
The Carlsborg Urban Growth Area was born in 2000.
Frazier said the need for a sewer system in Carlsborg is a “farce.” He blasted the county and PUD’s claims that on-site septic systems are contributing to groundwater pollution.
Stacie Hopkins, who lives in Carlsborg and runs a business there, said the sewer would burden the community, especially in a bad economy.
“To burden the homeowners with the cost of putting the sewer in when we don’t even want it is just ludicrous to me,” Hopkins said.
“Like Bryan said, there’s really no proof that our septic systems are failing and polluting the groundwater.
“I’m not for it [the sewer]. I think it’s wrong, and I don’t think that we should be saddled with those costs.”
Hopkins said she and others were never asked if they wanted a sewer in the first place.
“I just feel like this plan is being shoved down my throat, and I don’t appreciate it,” she said.
Seven out of nine citizens who spoke during the 90-minute hearing said they oppose the interim zoning and the proposed sewer.
One urged the county and the PUD to expedite the assessment study to arrive at specific costs for rate payers.
Want to expand
Pam Schneider said Carlsborg business owners want to expand but can’t and that the community supports high-paying manufacturing jobs.
“Hundreds of families in Clallam County rely on Carlsborg for their livelihood,” Schneider said.
Ultimately, the commissioners extended interim zoning so they could arrive at a final decision on the sewer.
“There is not a definitive financing package, for instance, yet in front of the partnership between the county and the PUD, but to get to the point of having something more definitive, we need some more time,” Commissioner Mike Doherty said.
“That’s the purpose of today’s hearing to extend these interim controls, so there would be more and more information on the infrastructure plan, the cost, the financing package and some information on environmental risk of doing or not doing this.
“So stay tuned.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
