PORT ANGELES — An appeal filed last month against the city’s monumental sewage overflow project may be killed by the City Council.
Last Tuesday, staff proposed the council adopt a new policy that would eliminate the local-level appeal of conditional-use permits granted for development along the shoreline.
The move would mean that the council would not hear the appeal of the shoreline permit granted by the city’s Planning Commission for City Hall’s $40 million project to get control of its sewage overflows.
Instead, the Olympic Environmental Council, which filed the appeal, would have to appeal to the state Shoreline Hearings Board after the state Department of Ecology gives its approval of the permit.
‘Out of bounds’
The proposed change prompted a protest from Darlene Schanfald of the environmental council.
“Trying to pass a law this Tuesday to retroactively change this appeal process is out of bounds and perhaps illegal,” she told the council during the public comment period.
Schanfald also said it’s more costly and time-consuming for appellants to take an issue before the state board rather than the City Council.
Removing the local appeal process for the conditional-use shoreline permits would make it more difficult for permits to be challenged, she said.
Staff had recommended the council waive the second reading of the ordinance and adopt it at the meeting. The council voted to continue the matter at its next meeting, March 1.
Nathan West, city economic and community development director, told the council the proposed change is not meant to target the environmental council’s appeal.
“They are not intended to reflect any appeal,” he said.
West and City Attorney Bill Bloor said the proposed change is meant to follow the council’s desire to not handle appeals.
“This ordinance tonight is one step in that process,” Bloor said.
As a solution, the council has discussed hiring a hearings examiner. Bloor said that is still under consideration.
He said the city is looking at eliminating the local-level appeal of conditional-use shoreline permits because, unlike other permits, the council’s decision has little weight.
Even if the council sided with the appellants, the state Department of Ecology can still approve the permit, Bloor and Planning Manager Sue Roberds said. Roberds said that is unique to conditional-use permits.
Little process change
Bloor said the city isn’t waiting for the environmental council’s appeal to be heard by the council before proposing the change because it doesn’t significantly change the process for appellants.
“Because the decision-maker here is really the Department of Ecology, people have more than ample process available in the shoreline hearings,” he said. “It doesn’t really start until we get to the final decision, which is the Department of Ecology. It would be an unnecessary delay.”
The environmental council filed the appeal on the basis that the city’s plan to use a large tank to temporarily store untreated sewage and stormwater doesn’t adequately fix the problem. The appeal challenges the permit and the “determination of nonsignificance,” which meant an environmental impact statement was not needed.
The city expects slightly more than one overflow a year on average with the use of the nearly 5-million-gallon storage tank it purchased from Rayonier Inc. last November.
Untreated effluent would travel to the tank along new sewer lines that would be placed through the industrial waterline. That will require construction along the shoreline, which is why a shoreline permit is needed.
The environmental council has said the city should eliminate the problem at the source, which would involve separating stormwater from the city’s sewers.
The city has said that would be too expensive.
Roberds said an environmental statement was not needed because public works staff had provided all of the necessary information during the environmental checklist process.
Staying on schedule
Glenn Cutler, city public works and utilities director, said an appeal would have to be resolved before the summer so the city can seek bids for construction and stay on schedule.
He said he did not seek to have the policy changed in order to dismiss the appeal, noting that an appeal to the Shoreline Hearings Board would also affect the project.
Cutler said he was “not part of the discussions” regarding the proposed change.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
