Annie Janicki filed an appeal Thursday to take a Sedro-Woolley hearing examiner’s decision regarding Deluxe Recycling and Disposal to Skagit County Superior Court.
The appeal comes three months after Janicki filed the original appeal in protest to a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS). The MDNS was issued in March by the city’s planning department for a building permit filed by Deluxe owner Larry McCarter. 

What a waste of money especially the taxpayers. The lawyers are loving it. People have to separate their emotions from legally and Woolley got it right. Hearing Examiner ruled correctly and I’m sure a judge will unless local politics get involved and then it will cost taxpayers more. Interesting to watch. Karma could change for Janicki family from this.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  Is the Janicki effort sincerely in the interest of the community ? Hmmm…

I really think there’s a simple solution here at this point with the limited knowledge available to me at this time:

1) Impose an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Deluxe Recycling
2) Require a hearing at the end of that EIS process as per the Janickis’ request.

There.  Problem solved.

Oh and one other thing - where is the school district in all of this?!?

If Annie Janicki wants to control what happens with this property, she should put her money where her mouth is and just buy it.  And is Janicki Industries so deferential to neighbors when they build a new facility?  Welcoming some new jobs and some new development would be good for the people of the town, as well as the city because it would broaden their tax base.  Annie Janicki doesn’t think so but she already has what she needs--why should she stand in the way of someone else having a job? 

I know I’m in the minority but I support Deluxe’s plan.  The people who own that piece of property should be able to use it how they see fit, so long as it is legal and approved by the city.  For the people complaining that we can’t have a recycling center next to the high school, was it so much better to have a working sawmill next to a school?  People in Sedro Woolley need to wake up and understand that Sedro Woolley can’t survive on bars, pawn shops and its “historical significance” alone.

IMS

Perhaps you should take your “limited knowledge” down to City Hall and take a look at all the existing documentation before you suggest a “simple solution” that will only cost the taxpayers even more money.  In his decison, the Hearing Examiner stated: “In as much as the courts have routinely defined SEPA as primarily a disclosure process, one must ask how requiring an EIS woul provide; i.e. disclosure; information beyound what has been provided int eh studies and reports that have already been prepared?”

Remember knowledge is power.

TTFN

Hot-n-Tots - 16 June 2008 09:42 PM

IMS

Perhaps you should take your “limited knowledge” down to City Hall and take a look at all the existing documentation before you suggest a “simple solution” that will only cost the taxpayers even more money.  In his decison, the Hearing Examiner stated: “In as much as the courts have routinely defined SEPA as primarily a disclosure process, one must ask how requiring an EIS woul provide; i.e. disclosure; information beyound what has been provided int eh studies and reports that have already been prepared?”

Remember knowledge is power.

TTFN

I intend to do just that soon.  I do though support at this time a formal EIS by an independent firm and a hearing - no real harm considering the long-term strategic consequences of this decision - both in favor and in opposition.

One should also remember that the Mayor of Sedro-Woolley may have overextended himself by openly lobbying for Deluxe Recycling in front of the county commission.

IMS So you don’t think a mayor should recruit business to his community and have ideas? Our Mayor Norris always is coming up with ideas about flood walls, economic development and he worked real hard to keep Super Walmart in Mount Vernon, that’s not right? I thought one of city government’s job is to keep taxes low and have nice streets and parks and a vibrant business and industrial sector that helps a city achieve this. All Woolley has now is bars and Janicki. You don’t think the City fast tracked some of Janicki’s projects? I guess you’re damm if you do and dammed if you don’t.

dan litton - 17 June 2008 03:44 AM

IMS So you don’t think a mayor should recruit business to his community and have ideas? Our Mayor Norris always is coming up with ideas about flood walls, economic development and he worked real hard to keep Super Walmart in Mount Vernon, that’s not right? I thought one of city government’s job is to keep taxes low and have nice streets and parks and a vibrant business and industrial sector that helps a city achieve this. All Woolley has now is bars and Janicki. You don’t think the City fast tracked some of Janicki’s projects? I guess you’re damm if you do and dammed if you don’t.

Mount Vernon City Gov’t happens to be one of my clients on business unrelated to this matter and I am supportive of the city’s downtown efforts.  These efforts have included an environmental impact statement.

That said, I think making allegations about organizations without proof is a smear.  Whether that’s the Janicki businesses or Sedro-Woolley City Gov’t, I don’t approve of that.  I also think Sedro-Woolley could use some serious economic development help.

I also believe it’s not okay to “fast track” or grease the rails for a project, even one with great economic growth & environmental potential, without an environmental impact statement when tons of solid waste is going to be processed right next to the high school.  Especially since Mayor Norris and his Economic Development Department Head Jana Hanson had and are continuing a public process and did an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the downtown improvements.  [Disclaimer: Skagit IMS has contributed to that process.]

What I wonder is why not an EIS (which requires public comment - see WAC 197-11-455 (6)), why not a hearing, and where is the school district on this?

Now, if an EIS proves that the facility can be ran safely, a hearing assauges the community and the educational professionals’ concerns (quite a few teachers are speaking out against this thing while their administration is possibly quite silent) and the county waste agreements can accomodate this thing - then let’s bring Deluxe in, preferably at a better site!!!

Oh and FYI - guess who is Sedro-Woolley’s normally standing hearing examiner, except when he’s prosecuting cases against the city?  Tom Moser, the Janicki’s attorney!!!!  Now, I give him a whole lot more credibility than some first timer parachuted in by City Gov’t based on what I know and have heard.

Now, you mind telling me what your opposition is to an EIS?  Is it just the money, because in actuality I’ve heard Deluxe would have to pay for it?  Or that you think that the opinion of the normal S-W Hearing Examiner, a family that’s made many contributions to Sedro-Woolley, oh and a sizable portion of Sedro-Woolley High School community members + the county health department (YouTube link is to the King5 video) don’t matter?

I am very interested in your reply and encourage you to check out the links.

If anyone is a tax monies waster, it is the deluxe McCarter… in the freedom of information request posted on the Sedro-Woolley City site, McCarter sends City Supervisor/City Attorney Eron Berg an email message about dragon slaying, referring to his bout with Whatcom County and Ferndale for his first dump and the dolla’s spent.

Speaking of dragons… anyone up for a game of Dungeons and Dragons? What are we, nerdy thirteen year-old boys?

Oh… and the Environmental Impact Statement is well within the rules of engagement SEPA has given cities to use in order to protect its residents… it is a fair tool and one sorely needed in this deluxe debacle.

dan litton - 17 June 2008 03:44 AM

“he worked real hard to keep Super Walmart in Mount Vernon”

What a real winner of a deal… Wal-Mart and Super Wal-Mart… all thumbs down for the health and vitality of Mount Vernon. Tax revenue is moot when Wal-mart is the biggest drain to our social service dollars… did you know that a Wal-mart store that employs 200 cost us over $420k annually in said social services… Wal-mart employs the working poor, not the upwardly mobile.

See the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor report on Wal-Mart:

http://edlabor.house.gov/publications/WALMARTREPORT.pdf