Sam Low's eNewsletter
 Snohomish County Council
3000 Rockefeller Ave., M/S 609
Everett, Washington 98201
8th floor, Robert J. Drewel Building
Phone: 425-388-3494
E-Mail: Sam.low@snoco.org
Darcy Cheesman, Legislative Aide darcy.cheesman@snoco.org
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Greetings from the 5th District! It has been a busy few weeks so I thought I
would take the time to update everyone on what we have accomplished recently.
Singletary Sale
Some
of you may be aware of the Singletary sale that was to take place this month.
For those of you who are not, I will give you a background. The Department of Natural Resources manages
this trust land for Snohomish County and the timber sale provide monies for
local junior taxing districts, (school, library and fire districts to name a
few). This sale has been controversial
due to its proximity to Wallace State Falls Park and the trail system in this
area.
On January 26th we met
with a group of concerned citizens and worked on a compromise to this
sale. With this information I drove to
Olympia the next day and met with our new Lands Commissioner Hillary
Franz. We discussed this innovative
proposal and last week my office worked with Executive Somers and Council to
put forward a resolution to hold off on 25 acres of this sale for four years to
safe guard the trail system. I am happy
to say it passed 5 – 0!
This week I went
down to Olympia to testify at the DNR Board of Natural Resources meeting to see
if they would be willing to postpone the sale one month to preserve these 25
acres. I testified for about an hour and for an unknown reason the board voted
4 -2 against our resolution. All I can
say is I am very disappointed. Executive
Somers released this statement about the vote, “Snohomish County is
disappointed in today’s decision by the DNR Board of Natural Resources. For ten
years, efforts have been made to find a compromise that balances good
stewardship of our natural resources with appropriate land management. It took
Snohomish County Councilmember Sam Low, the City of Sultan, the environmental
community, and many concerned citizens years of work to craft a reasonable
compromise. The Board of Natural Resources ignored both the needs of a local
community and a sensible solution.”
So
many people worked on a bi-partisan solution to this situation and we were all
disappointed. Even so, I will continue to work for the people of my district on
the issues that matter to them.
Maltby Area Open House
We
have been working with the Executive’s office to bring Snohomish County out to
the Maltby Community. The meeting is
scheduled for February 21st at 6:30pm at The Church in Maltby at
9322 Paradise Lake Road. Topics included are transportation, public safety,
land use, schools, and parks. I will
be there along with Executive Somers and Sheriff Ty Trenary. We hope you can come out and join us. You will have the opportunity to talk with us
and staff and share any questions or concerns you may have. The informational flyer is below, please
feel free to share it with your neighbors and friends.
I will be following up later this month with additional
information regarding the work we are doing regarding US
2 and 522. I also will discuss the work
the county and our local cities are doing to address the homelessness issues we
are facing.
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