After watching our local governments in action recently, I’m convinced that the spirit of the Wild West is still among us. Only nowadays, we’re using lawyers instead of guns. The saloon poker games have been replaced by conference calls and depositions, and peace treaties with neighboring tribes are now called interlocal agreements.
If you listen closely, you can almost hear the familiar click-click sound of the hammer being pulled back on a six shooter, as all sides are reaching for their guns first (well, their lawyers anyway).
I think my favorite gunfight so far has been between Maple Valley Fire District 43 and the City of Maple Valley. It started over a land dispute, like all good Westerns do, and the fire district wanting some more cash ($183,000) before the new Fred Meyer development goes in.
Currently, fire districts are not permitted to assess impact fees, which would help pay for extra firefighters and equipment if there are new businesses or home developments added to the district. I think we can all agree that if there are more buildings that could possibly catch on fire, or for people to have heart attacks in, we need more firefighters and paramedics to respond.
Seems reasonable, right? Well, that’s not how government works. There is a bill on the governor’s desk to allow fire districts to assess impact fees, but it’s probably too late for this situation.
The fire district has a longstanding plan to get their money, and it’s available online for anyone who wants to read it (Firehouse Lawyer newsletter, November 2007). It involves appeals, mitigation requests and possibly lawsuits to get the money. You would think the rational thing to do would be to explain to the public and governments that these fees are necessary. But instead, the fire district reached for their guns first.
Click-click. Reach for the sky, Maple Valley.
Maple Valley drew their guns too, but in the end, both sides realized that a gunfight would be more expensive than a peace treaty. Besides, they’ll just pass it off to the developer. Three years from now, if you’re wondering why your chicken teriyaki combo costs 50 cents more at the place next to Fred Meyer than anywhere else; now you know.
The second gunfight is between Black Diamond and Maple Valley over their land dispute. Black Diamond is building up on their land, and will likely double or triple in size over the next decade. They’re going to put a lot of cars on the roads in Maple Valley, and someone’s gotta pay for road improvements.
But Maple Valley didn’t file their appeal in time, and now can’t claim the environmental impact argument. Whoops. Maple Valley raised a stink about it, Black Diamond told them where they could stick their appeals, and even Covington jeered at them in a council meeting. Peaceful negotiations and rational discussion of solutions to a common problem seem out of the question now. Now what’ll they do?
Click-click. Reach for the sky, Black Diamond.
Two of the other groups who did file an appeal to Black Diamond’s environmental impact study drew their guns, and are asking Maple Valley to lend them some bullets (consisting of traffic data and an expert witness).
Councilwoman Linda Johnson is all for it, and even wants to pay for the bullets. She is of the school that believes “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. That doesn’t always work out, though. Because of the Iranian hostage crisis, Saddam Hussein became our friend, until he wasn’t.
More importantly, if we give a homeowners’ association our best evidence, we might not have that ammo to defend ourselves for the next gunfight; also know as traffic mitigation. It’s probably too late for good politicking and schmoozing, so we might as well hang on to our loaded guns in case we need them.
The wild west spirit is truly alive this month, but in the end someone’s going to have to pay for all of these lawyers. Can you guess who that will be?
Click-click. Reach for the sky, citizen.
