East Monroe rezone decision looms

The Monroe City Council will determine by this fall whether Heritage Baptist Church will receive its East Monroe rezone off U.S. Highway 2.

A decision has been stalled for almost two years, while the state reviewed a 2015 environmental study and city ordinances adopted in 2016 that would have changed the 43 acres from limited open space into general commercial.

That same year the state’s Growth Management Hearing Board ruled the study and ordinances were not in compliance with state regulations. The church immediately appealed the decision, and in March the Washington Court of Appeals announced it would uphold the board’s ruling.

The case became a source of contention shortly after it was proposed.  Resolving the issue was one reason Councilmember Jim Kamp decided to run against incumbent Geoffrey Thomas for the mayor’s seat during last fall’s election.

Another factor recently came to light that has further complicated the process in the short term.

The council’s upcoming action is expeditious, but Monroe’s Community Development director Ben Swanson said $1.3 million for an unrelated project is on the line. The Washington grant is to update the city’s stormwater facilities, but is at risk of being revoked because of the court’s March ruling.

Swanson said he has until about September to see if he can bring the city into compliance. The only way to do so would be to keep the property limited open space. Even then, he said he might not make the deadline.

Heritage Baptist pastor Thomas Minnick asked the council for more time, so both groups could work together and come up with a plan for the property. He said he doesn’t want the city to risk losing a sizable grant.

“With all due respect, this action threatens to take far more away from us,” he said.

The Washington State Department of Ecology had awarded the city the grant for the Madison Street stormwater project in February, according to council documents. After the Court of Appeals ruling, the agency gave Monroe until Sept. 30 to meet its legal requirements.

“Due to the legislative process necessarily involved, staff will need to act immediately to meet the deadline,” according to council documents.

Heritage Baptist submitted an application for a rezone in 2010. Resident Lowell Anderson first contested a related environmental study in 2012, and again the following year. About a half dozen other residents joined Anderson in petitioning the rezone efforts that same year.

Part of the issue is that 1999 Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance maps list the property as sitting in a 500-year flood plain, while preliminary 2007 maps show it is in a 100-year flood plain, according to court documents. The land is also surrounded by steep slopes the United States Department of Agriculture has classified as having severe erosion danger, and protected areas also exist on the property.

The Growth Management Hearing Board in 2014 determined the city study and joint church and city impact study did not meet regulation standards, according to court documents, and again in 2016. The case then went to state court for review.

The appellate court denied Heritage Baptist’s motion to reconsider in April.

If the council decides to try to rezone East Monroe to general commercial in the coming months, then the grant would be impossible to hold on to, Swanson said. Neither decision would necessarily be better than the other, and the group may even want to go after alternatives, he said.

No other type of zoning for the property has been reviewed at length, according to council documents. It would take about nine months for the city to conduct the proper analysis needed for a general commercial rezone, and about three for limited open space. The costs of the latter would also likely be significantly less.

Right now the city is waiting for more information from the Growth Management Hearings Board, according to council documents. Swanson said the city will be given a new timeline for when it will need to be in compliance within the next few weeks.

Swanson has already begun to move forward with the compliance process, which he brought to the council for input during a June meeting. He said to have any shot at the grant money he would need to get started before receiving the compliance schedule, even if the council decides to go another direction.

The council will take action during an upcoming meeting. Swanson said he would know closer to September if he will be able to meet the deadline.