Yellow Pages
ANACORTES — A proposal to build 13 homes north of the intersection of Anaco Beach Road and North Marine Heights Way will renew the debate over whether Anaco Bourn is merely a ditch fed by a stormwater collection facility or a stream with headwaters in the Anacortes Community Forest Lands.
The planning commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday to resume its public hearing on the proposed Hidden Shores development and the request by developer Jerod Barth of Creek Investments to replace a portion of the wetland with fill.
Barth plans to build bungalow-style homes one at a time on the 3.25-acre site, according to his application. He also wants to install low-impact development features, such as rain gardens, to remove contaminants from stormwater before it flows to Puget Sound.
To build as many homes as Barth has proposed, the city must grant a conditional-use permit for him to fill a portion of the wetland on the site. In return, the developer would mitigate the impact to the environment by restoring wetlands elsewhere.
Barth obtained a letter from a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife that downgraded the classification of Anaco Bourn. Bourn is the Scottish word for stream.
With the change in stream classification, the city could allow the developer to reroute the flow of Anaco Bourn to accommodate the home sites. Without that reclassification, the developer would have to build around the stream, keeping 50-foot buffers between the buildings and streambed.
Evergreen Islands, a Fidalgo Island-based environmental group, has concerns about the proposed development. The nonprofit says the wetland is part of a wetlands corridor in the Marine Heights area that improves the water quality and provides wildlife habitat, according to minutes from the Feb. 25, 2009 planning commission meeting.
The reclassification of the stream runs counter to classifications the city made in recent years regarding Anaco Bourn, when the former owner of the land challenged the designation of the stream, said Tom Glade, a board member of Evergreen Islands, in an interview Friday.
The state biologist didn’t realize that the headwaters of the Anaco Bourn are in the community forest, and she may reconsider her decision, Glade said.
• Marta Murvosh can be reached at 360-416-2149 or .
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