| New land rules could raise cost of building schools 2004-10-20 King County, WA - School officials warn that if the controversial update of the county's critical areas ordinances is not changed this week, it could significantly increase the cost of building schools. Large tracts of land are already scarce in unincorporated areas for new schools, but restricting what wetlands a school district can alter will eliminate even more land. Land values could increase as large developers compete with school districts for the remaining buildable land. Even larger pieces of land would be needed to carve out space for buildings and playfields among the wetlands. Steve Crawford, director of capital projects for the Issaquah School District, said it's usually possible to move a house on a piece of land to avoid a wetland or its buffer. ``But you can't put a jog in the track,'' he said. ``You can't cut a corner out of a football field.'' The new regulations before the King County Council would prohibit school districts from altering Class 2 wetlands, which are a step below the highest-quality Class 1 wetlands and are more common than the top class. Schools can alter lower-quality Class 3 and Class 4 wetlands under the proposal with an exemption from the director of the county's Department of Development and Environmental Services. The county would adopt the state's definitions of wetlands. The state defines a Class 2 wetland as one that would be ``difficult, though not impossible to replace'' and it needs ``a relatively high level of protection.'' Had the rules been in place several years ago, the Auburn School District could have built either Rainier Middle School or Hazelwood Elementary School, but not both, on adjoining properties on Lea Hill because of interconnected wetlands, according to deputy superintendent Mike Newman. The Kent School District would have found it ``very difficult'' to build its newest junior high school, Northwood, according to a joint letter sent to the County Council from Kent superintendent Barbara Grohe and Auburn superintendent Linda Cowan. The inability to alter Class 2 wetlands ``could limit our ability to build schools and playfields, and in all likelihood, will increase the cost of school construction,'' they wrote. Auburn is building a third high school on 40 acres on Lea Hill. Under existing rules, it consolidated Class 3 and Class 4 wetlands onto six acres on the property, according to Newman. The Auburn District is now looking for about 25 acres for a new middle school. Ten potential sites were reduced to four, in part because of wetland issues. Three parcels are left because one wouldn't pass muster under the proposed wetland rules. The worst case scenario is a school district that buys land with wetlands that over the years -- either through natural processes or man's regulatory hands -- evolves from Class 3 wetland to a Class 2 wetland, for example, said Crawford, with the Issaquah district. Now with the state's four wetland classifications, rather than the county's three, it's possible that more Class 3 wetlands could be redefined as Class 2, according to Grace Yuen, an attorney for the King County Schools Coalition. The coalition is asking for the right to seek the exemption to alter a Class 2 wetland that's available for a Class 3 or Class 4 wetland, she said. The coalition, she said, is ``optimistic the council will be sensitive'' to the needs of schools. Dow Constantine, the chief architect of the council's proposal, said the school districts have a ``legitimate issue.'' ``I am looking very hard at how we can accommodate the legitimate needs of the school districts as well as protect the environment,'' he said. What he doesn't want to do is create ``an inventory of sensitive lands that can't be destroyed by anyone, with the sole exception of school districts,'' he said. Constantine said the entire critical areas package is on track to go before the full council on Monday. He expects to have the seven votes to adopt it. Dean Radford covers King County. He can be reached at dean.radford@kingcountyjournal.com
or 253-872-6719.
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