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Oct. 10, 2005
 Ron Sims announces Brightwater settlement, with County Council Chair Larry Phillips (left) and John Powers, president of enterpriseSeattle (far left). |
The proposed agreement will mitigate the impact of building and operating Brightwater facilities in south Snohomish County. The proposed agreement includes a permitting process, money to pay for community mitigation, and seismic and odor-control measures at the future Brightwater treatment plant.
"Brightwater provides a bright future for both north King County and south Snohomish County," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "This settlement agreement is a win-win that will not just keep the economy of Snohomish County humming. It will also provide a legacy of parks and trails for all future generations.
"After seven long years, Brightwater is a reality," Sims said. "This settlement will allow the project to move ahead on schedule while protecting ratepayers and residents. It's another part of our guarantee that Brightwater will meet cutting-edge environmental standards. We will deliver a wide range of community amenities to the people most affected by the plant and it protects local residents by ensuring a fair permitting process that provides public review of our permit and site-plan applications."
As a regional wastewater service provider, King County now provides sewage treatment for south Snohomish County at its treatment plants in Renton and Seattle. Brightwater is needed by 2010 to meet projected population growth in south Snohomish and north King counties. Without it, both counties face a building moratorium.
"This is a great milestone for the region and for neighbors living near the future site of Brightwater," said King County Council Chair Larry Phillips. "Reaching a mitigation agreement means we can move forward on building the infrastructure our region needs to meet the demands of our growing population and economy while preserving water quality for future generations. Brightwater will be a model facility that sets new standards for blending into the community, controlling odor and protecting water quality."
The agreement also settles three pending lawsuits between the counties and Snohomish County's appeal of King County's final supplemental environmental impact statement for the Brightwater project.
"Moving forward with the Brightwater wastewater treatment plant is essential to retaining and attracting jobs in King and Snohomish counties," said John Powers, president and chief executive officer of enterpriseSeattle. "It is vital to our regional economic development efforts. I applaud the elected officials in both counties for working together to ensure this critically important public works project becomes a reality. And, I commend King County Executive Ron Sims for his strong and unwavering leadership on this project."
"Brightwater is good for the environment and for business," said Sam Anderson, executive officer for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. "There are 100,000 people in these two counties who wake up every day to design and build structures. Sewer capacity is essential to keeping those people employed."
"We always said Brightwater would be a good neighbor," Sims said. "This agreement is part of that promise. It protects our ratepayers by setting our mitigation costs in place so they won't increase further. It also allows all communities affected by Brightwater to get mitigation early, instead of waiting until the project is complete."
The agreement with Snohomish County is the latest in a series of agreements King County is making with local jurisdictions that will be affected by construction and operation of Brightwater facilities, including its system of pipes, tunnel construction portals and Puget Sound outfall.
"We have developed mitigation agreements with other jurisdictions where most completed facilities will be underground," Sims said. "The county wants its Brightwater mitigation program to be fair to affected host jurisdictions, nearby residents and sewer ratepayers throughout the service area"
To mitigate short-term and long-term impacts of Brightwater facilities in Snohomish County, King County agreed to pay Snohomish County up to $70 million. Snohomish County would use that money for specific projects including new parks with ball fields and enhancing existing parks for $30.4 million; pedestrian and bicycle paths for $25.85 million; and habitat mitigation and conservation in the Little Bear Creek watershed for $10.8 million.
King County also agreed to provide free use of an educational and community center at the treatment plant for Snohomish County government and nonprofit agencies if they provide services at the center that benefit the public. The total value of this part of the agreement is $2.95 million.
"While the agreement increases our overall mitigation budget, we will be taking a careful look at overall project costs before finishing the design," Sims said. "This mitigation agreement is part of our total investment in Snohomish County, including our work with communities developing and using design guidelines, the education center, landscaping and open space at the treatment plant."
In an earlier King County Council ordinance, the council committed to spending at least 10 percent of the total Brightwater cost on mitigating the impacts of building and operating wastewater facilities on surrounding communities.
Besides the plant construction, four construction access points, called portals, will be needed to build a 13-mile tunnel for wastewater pipelines. Neighborhoods around the portals will be busy during construction. However, after work is done, only the portal in Bothell will have a pump station above ground. Others will have small structures or just a manhole cover. The pipes underground will be so deep that most people won't be aware of them.
"Because of its size, the treatment plant will be both a major construction project and a significant part of its community landscape after it is built," Sims said. "We want to be sure it fits in with the neighborhood."
During negotiations, the two counties agreed that King County would submit an application for the treatment plant through a modified binding site plan process. This process would lead to a recommendation by the Snohomish County director of planning and development services – and a decision by a hearing examiner.
The hearing examiner would be selected jointly by King County and Snohomish County.
Before approving the site plan, the hearing examiner would hold a public hearing to get comments on the proposed application from the public, agencies and tribes.
The two counties also agreed that the existing environmental documents for the Brightwater project and other mitigation in the new agreement comply with the State Environmental Policy Act.
King County is designing the Brightwater plant to meet the most stringent odor-control requirements in the nation and operate without producing any offensive off-site odors. The new agreement says King County will provide odor prevention systems using technologies acceptable to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency – so no detectable odors are present at the property line of the plant and related facilities.
All Brightwater facilities will be designed to use odor prevention systems that remove odorous compounds at peak operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The agreement sets various design criteria to meet the odor objective, including the following:
The agreement also includes creation of a Brightwater Air Quality Board. If needed, the board would recommend actions to King County's Wastewater Treatment Division to reach compliance with odor emissions criteria.
The board would include members with wastewater, odor, science and engineering expertise and representatives of the Metropolitan Water Pollution Abatement Advisory Committee (local sewer agencies that contract with King County for wastewater treatment), as well as the City of Woodinville, Puget Sound Air Quality Authority, local fire departments, and nearby communities in Snohomish County.
In addition, King County has committed to place $3 million in its annual capital facilities budget as an Odor Reserve Fund to be used for odor-control facilities and improvements for the Brightwater project, if needed. The Brightwater Air Quality Board would recommend suitable uses of this fund.
As a voluntary condition of settlement, King County also agreed to conduct another seismic study near the plant's two chemical storage buildings before beginning construction. Earlier investigations at the plant site did not identify potential seismic features in that area.
Planning, design and construction of Brightwater will create 20,000 jobs both direct and indirect and add tens of millions of new dollars in economic benefit.
When Brightwater begins operating in 2010, it will serve Bothell, Brier, Kenmore, Mill Creek, Redmond, Sammamish and Woodinville. It will also serve unincorporated areas of Snohomish and King counties in the Alderwood, Cross Valley, Northeast Sammamish, Northshore, Silver Lake and Woodinville sewer districts.
King County's Wastewater Treatment Division protects public health and water quality by serving 17 cities, 17 local sewer agencies and more than 1.4 million residents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Formerly called Metro, the regional public utility has been preventing water pollution for 40 years.
More information about Brightwater
Updated: Oct. 10, 2005
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