Tulalips Challenge Monroe Growth -- Tribes Say Salmon At Risk

The Tulalip Tribes have taken up the fight against Monroe's growth plan for the Milwaukee Hill area above the city, filing a complaint with a state growth-management board.

"We're trying to deal with rapid development and its impacts on salmon, water quality and water quantity," said Terry Williams, the Tulalips' fisheries director. That growth has been "fairly horrendous in its impacts to the Snohomish River basin," he said.

Monroe lies on the edge of the Skykomish River, which flows into the Snohomish. The Tulalips claim treaty fishing rights in the entire drainage basin.

The Tulalips recently filed a petition with the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, asking whether Monroe's plans for a 600-acre upland area north of Highway 2 would protect salmon streams, wetlands and steep slopes.

Monroe expects 1,100 to 1,200 homes eventually to be built in that 600-acre area, under zoning rules that allow four units per acre, excluding sensitive lands.

In March, the city annexed 350 acres. The rest of the land will eventually be annexed because it lies within the city's growth boundaries as defined under the state Growth Management Act.

Citizen activists long have fought high-density development of the Milwaukee Hill and Chain Lake Road areas above the city, saying Monroe's schools and roads are already overburdened. The area is mostly undeveloped, with a mix of hills, ravines and plateaus.

First a `no,' then a `yes'

In 1996 a group of property owners won a big battle when the state Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County ruled against the city's plan to annex the first 350 acres.

But the city eventually won. In 1997, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ruled the state board had overstepped its authority and ordered it to reconsider the annexation. This spring the board reversed itself, approving the annexation on a 2-2 vote. Under state statutes, a tie vote amounts to approval.

When the Monroe City Council completed the annexation in March, it also approved a development plan for the entire 600 acres.

Tribes fear for salmon

The Tulalip Tribes have criticized the city's environmental-impact statement for that plan, complaining that it doesn't directly address the listing of chinook salmon as a threatened species. In addition, Monroe's salmon-protection rules are less strict than Snohomish County's, the tribes noted.

The annexed area lies just above Woods Creek, which is salmon habitat. Some feeder streams run though the area but it's not clear whether they, too, are home to chinook. Salmon also may be affected by changes to wetlands and storm-water runoff.

Nichoel Baird, a Monroe planner, yesterday stressed that future salmon-protection rules expected to be imposed by the federal government will apply to the annexation area.

About 70 percent of the 600 acres can be developed, she said. About 20 percent is wetlands, and 10 percent consists of steep slopes.

The state growth-management board has scheduled an Aug. 27 conference between the city of Monroe and the Tulalips. The board must rule on the tribes' complaint by Jan. 10.

Diane Brooks' phone message number is 425-745-7802. Her e-mail address is dbrooks@seattletimes.com