Our Human Footprint: Growing Out of Boundsby Jolene Unsoeld There is an increasing recognition by us humans — everywhere — that we have not yet learned to tread lightly on our planet. Our efforts here in Thurston County are echoed around the world. Last spring I visited the sparsely populated mountain kingdom of Bhutan and they, too, were struggling with growth management. They had a "growth management boundary" around their national capital, outside of which construction was prohibited. They also made it illegal to destroy a rice paddy. And as part of their sustained harvest policy, trees and shrubs for fuel and livestock were pruned, not destroyed, resulting in hillsides covered with "Dr. Seuss trees." They are struggling not to make the same mistakes made by other countries, particularly the United States. This Thanksgiving holiday, we had family and friends including some from Nepal. One of them expressed amazement to see art work I had brought back with me from Nepal almost forty years ago showing isolated temples on distant hill tops where now one sees a carpet of houses, shops, and polluted air. No one of us is going to reverse mankind’s destructive hand, but each of us must endeavor to make improvements within the boundaries of our own influence. And so it was that I joined a dedicated group of individuals, supported by the League of Women Voters of Thurston County and the Cooper Point Association, who decided last February to challenge a decision made by the County Commissioners to amend their Comprehensive Plan to extend a sewer line about five miles beyond the urban growth boundary on Cooper Point. In our view this was a clear violation of the Growth Management Act. In an early ’70s example of serving the needs of developers, Thurston County did not prevent the environmental degradation of Silver Spit and a salt water lagoon located on Cooper Point. The U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife said, among other things (Nov. 16, 1972): Land-filling on and adjacent to Silver Spit has resulted in subsequent erosion into Budd Inlet. . . . Land-filling from the mainland to the Spit has closed off a salt water lagoon except for some water movement via an installed culvert. Placement of the fill material and artificial water transport system has served to completely alter the ecological make-up of the small lagoon. . . . Before the project was installed, the lagoon provided a sanctuary for wildfowl. Waterfowl, shorebirds, and marshbirds used the lagoon and mudflats for feeding and as a resting area. The area’s value in this respect has been virtually eliminated by the project. As though that were not enough, the February 6, 1973, Olympian reported: By a vote of two-to-one Monday Thurston County Commissioners approved a shoreline substantial development permit for Tamoshan, Inc., and granted Developer Dick Swanson a one-year extension. . . . In granting the shoreline permit the board acted against the advice of the County Department of Public Works, the County Planning Commission, the planning department, including Director George Volker, and a representative of the Department of Ecology. In giving this ill-advised project the go-ahead, the County ignored requests of the Cooper Point Association, the League of Women Voters and others to require an environmental assessment. In the same time-frame the County Review Board permitted Tamoshan to proceed with a second-hand "private sewage treatment plant that would serve as many as twenty years." The developer turned the system over to the residents and skipped off with his profits. After the passage of only a few years, the plant was such a mess that the County took it over. Now, fast forward to the 1990s. Eager to get out from under the mess they have created, the County creates a pseudo-advisory process. One community member quoted a County staffperson who described the proposed project as being done "under the radar" of the rest of the residents on Cooper Point. With a stealth EIS, only made visible after a complaint that the public had never been notified, and amidst complaints from some of the same 1972-73 citizen groups, the County adopted an amendment to their Comprehensive Plan to construct the sewer line. The Growth Management Act states: In general, it is not appropriate that urban governmental services be extended to or expanded in rural areas except in those limited circumstances shown to be necessary to protect basic public health and safety and the environment... We were mindful that growth inevitably follows sewer lines and that The Evergreen State College sewer line was originally "a tight line" guaranteed to prohibit any other hookups before it was pried open by developers. Convinced that the proposed sewer extension was a violation of the Growth Management Act and fearful that once again, growth would be invited to follow the extension of a sewer line, some of us filed an appeal of the County’s decision to the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board. The Board issued a Final Decision and Order on July 26, 2000, in which it said: The Legislature has recognized that intrusion or extension of urban services to rural areas inevitably creates pressure to urbanize. That is the reason that the strict "necessary to protect" test was adopted rather than a "betterment of health or environment" standard. The County was then ordered within 120 days to remove authorization to extend sewer into Cooper Point. The County is appealing this decision, and because it is "an issue of first impression," it is likely to end up in the State Supreme Court. We can be sympathetic with the plight of current County Commissioners. Because of bad decisions by their predecessors, they have inherited a mess. But one cannot look kindly on their refusal to take a serious look at environmentally sound alternatives that would not be a threat to growth management. Instead, they seem to believe that centralized utilities are the only solution and that this project is entitled to tax-subsidized financing. For comments on the state program for water quality financial assistance, see "Water Quality Financial Assistance," on page 10. Jolene Unsoeld is a former Congressperson, former state legislator, citizen and environmental activist. This article reflects her own views which are not necessarily endorsed nor approved by any other party.
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