Recycling plan stinks

After following the articles in the local papers regarding Deluxe Recyling’s plan to create a transfer station across from the high school in Sedro-Woolley, I am flummoxed. While I respect the opinions of our town leaders, how can they possibly allow a garbage dump in city limits? Where is their sense of civic pride? Where is their sense of responsibility to the adjacent property owners who will see their property values immediately diminish? Where is their sense of duty to the students of Sedro-Woolley High School who will now play tennis, football and run track across the street from the dump? Where is their vision for the future of Sedro-Woolley? Do they think that having hundreds of garbage trucks driving through town every day is going to improve our quality of life?

Sarah Rutherford
Sedro-Woolley

Wetland mitigation banks don’t work

Both of the proposed wetland mitigation banks located in Skagit County are bad for our community. They destroy the things we believe in. Here’s why.

We lose prime Skagit farmland and our natural wetlands. For bank owners, making money is more important than the loss of our farmland or natural wetlands.

Worse than this, wetland mitigation banks don’t work. So we lose farmland, our natural wetlands and get artificial wetlands that don’t work. Such a deal!

Let’s not do it. Our county commissioners and Mount Vernon’s Mayor Norris and City Council can help us (not just the bankers) by not signing the approvals. Please send them a copy of this letter. Tell them you agree with it, and ask them to help us all by not signing approvals.
Our Skagit farmland is the best in the world and is our future.

Ask any farmer. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a city — it’s still lost farmland.

If we must have wetland mitigation banks that don’t work, put them on unproductive land or industrial sites that we need to fix anyway.

Ellen Bynum
Mount Vernon

Traffic enforcement wanted at busy intersection

Why can’t we have a little law enforcement out on the intersections of State Route 20 and Highway 9, and State Route 20 and Cook and Ferry streets. During peak traffic this area is ridiculous and dangerous as drivers continue to block the intersections. All you would have to do is get out there and start writing a few traffic citations and this dangerous situation would start to be eliminated. Once the traffic enforcement presence is known you could probably help alleviate the traffic congestion in this area of town before it continues to get worse. It is a very annoying problem that needs to be addressed and only traffic enforcement can help with it. This is a critical traffic area with the aid vehicles being dispatched from this area, and a blocked intersection could possibly cost a life, so why don’t we get this problem solved before it is too late for someone?

I am also interested in how long the city is going to charge the fuel surcharge on the city services billings? We all have to pay higher fuel bills, but this should have been budgeted in long ago. This is what most businesses do. Don’t we run the city as a business also? That’s right, we can do it as long as no one looks at the fuel expenditures and observes that we are probably charging more than we spend on fuel for the sanitation depts.

Maybe someone needs to do some research in the public records about this fuel surcharge as it has been going on for about two years now? Maybe we should write a better budget so we can hide this somewhere?

Just a couple of the items we should look at.

Eric Chandler
Sedro-Woolley

No positives to recycling facility

Please note the Mission Statement of the Sedro-Woolley City Council:
“The mission of the Sedro-Woolley city government is to provide selected services that are not traditionally offered by the private sector. This will be achieved through providing the highest quality services we can within the resources with which we’re provided; involving residents in all aspects of planning and operations; serving as a clearinghouse for public information; and operating facilities which meet the legitimate, identified concerns of the residents of and visitors to our community. We believe in being community-centered, consistently contributing to the quality of life in our area and as fully deserving of the public’s trust through the consistent expression of positive values and acceptance of accountability for producing meaningful results.”

To test the points of that Mission against Deluxe Recycling and Disposal’s scheme for our quaint little town, let’s list all of the community-centered services to be contributed to the quality of life and positive values of all deserving and trusting residents of Sedro-Woolley, as well as their visitors during festivals and such. We’ll include everything that compliments the attractive, peaceful tranquility of the downtown area, the high school and local neighborhoods if Deluxe begins operating as a legitimate clearinghouse for all the garbage provided to them from meaningful outside resources, specifically, from people living far away from Skagit County who don’t want their garbage living with them in their own wonderful little communities:

(Sorry, couldn’t find anything beneficial to list.)

Meanwhile, after the town has been dubbed Deluxe-Woolley, how does all this work with the efforts being made to create a cooperative system between the county and all the cities to address our own garbage? It doesn’t.

Marilyn Pineda
Sedro-Woolley

Property value in jeopardy

How can the mayor and Sedro-Woolley City Council give weight to one citizen’s approval of the dump (this person lives several miles away in Clear Lake), and then disregard the objections of more than 18 families that live next door.

This facility will immediately lower the value of their property. It is wrong for the City Council to ignore them and let this happen. In fact, I believe it is wrong for all of us in Sedro-Woolley to harm them by allowing Deluxe to operate next to their homes. The facility in Ferndale is several blocks away from homes. Just because in years past there was noise and dust in the Jameson Street area, does not mean it should be allowed again.

Do any of you know what revenue will come to Sedro-Woolley from Deluxe? Is it property tax, B&O;tax or some other tax? Is it based on volume? Was any part of your approval based on financial benefit to the city? If yes, as you have previously stated, please explain what we can expect in revenue. How many trucks carrying waste are we willing to take for more and more revenue at the sacrifice of our beautiful city?

What criteria did the city use to conclude the facility will not have a “probable significant adverse impact on the environment.” At the Ferndale plant, just the beeping of the trucks backing up has an adverse impact on the environment. The purpose of the noise is for safety, so cannot be muffled. The homes and school will constantly be affected by that annoying noise.

I believe the garbage and recycling business will benefit from competition from private companies. And no doubt Deluxe is a capable and efficient company. This location is wrong and the industrial zoning should be changed. If this facility is allowed, we will never be able to correct this. We, the citizens of Sedro Woolley, and the elected officials can make this happen.

Annie Janicki
Sedro-Woolley