Methow Valley Citizens' Council
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MVCC APPEALS ARROWLEAF
The Methow Valley Citizens Council has appealed the County Commissioners' decision to grant a Planned Development Resort (PDR) rezone to the Merrill Corporation for its proposed Arrowleaf development in Mazama. This action by MVCC is based on our determination that: 1) The Arrowleaf development as it is now planned, with a build-out of 690 large 'dwelling units' along with a central shopping village, lodge and golf course, will do irreparable harm to both the ecological and social integrity of the Methow, and that 2) The scale of the development, more closely resembling a large housing development than an environmentally sensitive resort, does not meet the standards of the PDR zoning code, which states that such resorts will "complement the natural and cultural attractiveness of the area without significant adverse effects to environmental and natural features...." The appeal will be heard November 1. David Bricklin and Chris Moore are our lawyers. We are fortunate to have their highly skilled help.FINANCIAL SUPPORT
We can only carry the legal appeal process forward with generous financial assistance from those who feel strongly about protecting the Methow Valley from the negative impacts from such an enormous subdivision. The MVCC board and others give their time at no charge, but the first step of the legal process, appealing to the commissioners, incurred $10,000 in legal fees. Costs will at least double as we continue the appeal. The future of the legal process is in your hands. With adequate donations the board will pursue the appeal; without such financial support we will be obliged to drop it. In either case, our opposition to the development will continue in less financially draining ways. We need your financial support now! (big time)Please send contributions to: MVCC PO Box 774, Twisp, WA 98856MVCC POSITION ON PROPOSED MERRILL DEVELOPMENT
As part of continuing negotiations between MVCC the RD Merrill Co., the MVCC Board of Directors has developed a position statement for the proposed development. The full text of this statement is printed below. Briefly, it recommends that the most environmentally sensitive course of action is to preserve the land in a conservancy. Alternatively, MVCC would agree to discontinue any opposition to the resort if it were downscaled to a size that would minimize damage to the ecological and social fabric of the upper valley.MVCC SUPPORTS CORPORATE DOWNSIZING
A large corporate development such as the housing development/resort planned by the Merrill Corpora-tion in Mazama will bring many changes to the Methow. MVCC believes that the large scale of the proposed Arrowleaf development will do far more harm than good. Negative impacts include: 1. An increase in the cost of living in the Methow. Land prices, taxes, electrical rates, and public services such as law enforcement and education will all increase. In this regard, the current residents of the Methow will be subsidizing the Merrill development. 2. The qualities of rural living will diminish as the suburbanization of the valley accelerates. There will be more cars on the roads, more planes in the air, more discharge of pollutants into the air and water, more houses in the fields and meadows, more crime, more accidents on the highways. 3. The sense of community that is so cherished here in the Methow, and that can only develop when people live, work, talk and play together will be diminished as the population enters a period of rapid growth. The demographic composition of the valley will shift towards those with access to greater financial resources than current residents. 4. It is a near certainty that the quality of our air and water will be degraded as a direct result of the Merrill development. Thousands of additional automobiles will discharge pollutants into the atmosphere. Human effluent and golf course chemicals will threaten the water table. And if Merrill gets its way, residents of the development will warm their toes by 239 open fireplaces on cool evenings, adding a considerable burden of noxious particulates to the upper valley airshed. 5. The Merrill development will very likely have a negative impact on the following wildlife species, among others: spring and summer Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout (all due to a reduction of instream flows), mule deer (blocked migration routes, habitat loss), cougar, lynx, black bears, gray wolves, martens, fishers, spotted owls, numerous songbirds, harlequin ducks, and several species of reptiles and amphibians (all due to habitat loss). Downsizing the development would maintain all of the potential benefits of the current plan while considerably diminishing these negative impacts. Such an action would show a serious concern for the lives of those people who already inhabit this valley, and for the integrity and value of wild creatures and the natural environment.WHAT IS OPEN SPACE?
Much has been said about the 1000 acres of "open space" at the proposed Arrowleaf PDR. Under current legal definitions any land that is outside the 'building envelope' (i.e. the ground covered by a building) is open space. Under this definition the golf course, all roads, parking lots, and all of the bits and pieces of land between the buildings are included as open space. This gives a misleading impression of the quantity of land left open. Look at a site plan map of Arrowleaf to get a true idea of the impact of the development on the site.DENSITY
If the Merrill property were subdivided into the smallest allowable lot size, which is five acres on the valley floor, the maximum number of houses would be 250. Under the Arrowleaf PDR proposal for an 'environmentally sensitive resort' the number of dwelling units is 690, nearly 3 times more than the worst subdivision scenario. This has been accomplished with relatively little of the clustering that is supposed to characterize a planned destination resort.AIR QUALITY
Air quality is seriously threatened in the upper Methow Valley. The Arrowleaf Air Study shows that the particulates emitted by wood stoves in the Lost River area probably already violate the "prevention of significant deterioration" (PSD) component of the Clean Air Act. (PSD means that the law tries to keep areas with very clean air from degrading to the limits set as acceptable by the EPA). MVCC is concerned that the current high quality of the air will be lost.FIREPLACES: To Burn or not to Burn ...
The RD Merrill Co. has received preliminary permitting for 239 wood-burning fireplaces at Arrowleaf. The Wilson Ranch portion of the PDR already has 27 fireplaces permitted. The RD Merrill Co. is steadfast in its insistence upon wood-burning fireplaces, despite strenuous objection from MVCC, the Mazama Advisory Committee, and many others. MVCC is asking that the developers avoid the risk of polluting our air in the first place by limiting their resort to four fireplaces in the main lodges. Rather than a smoke-free resort, Merrill proposed inadequate mitigations such as curtailment. This would allow the air to become fouled to an as yet undecided level, and then require woodburning devises to be shut down periodically at the resort, and eventually valley-wide.THE GOLF COURSE
The Merrill Co. has expressed the good intentions of utilizing 'integrated pest management ' (IPM) to avoid the many toxic chemicals usually associated with golf courses, and to avoid the concomitant pollution of surface and ground water. As it is worded in the Arrowleaf DEIS and development plan, the management of the golf course is up to the discretion of the golf course manager, who may choose to do whatever is most "cost-effective." There is no written guarantee that toxic chemical pollutants will be avoided. MVCC has requested that Merrill commit to using only chemicals that are biodegradable and without toxic byproducts.ELECTRICAL POWER UPDATE
The PUD has just announced that their power transmission line from Okanogan to Twisp is operating at 90% of capacity and that they must build a second line from Pateros to Twisp for a cost of $4.3 million dollars. The PUD, in other words - the public, will pay for this multi-million dollar expansion. The Arrowleaf EIS stated that the cost of upgrading power lines in the valley to accommodate growth would be $1 million. The total cost for upgrades has now risen to $5.3 million dollars.MVCC's POSITION STATEMENT ON THE ARROWLEAF RESORT
The Arrowleaf PDR as planned does not comply with the Okanogan County Zoning Ordinance which states: "The purpose of the PDR zone is to enhance and diversify the recreational opportunities in Okanogan County through the development of destination resorts that complement the natural and cultural attractiveness of the area without significant adverse effects to environmental and natural features, cultural or historic resources and their settings, and other significant resources." (17.20.010: Zoning 92) The fundamental position of the MVCC regarding the future of the Arrowleaf PDR property in Mazama is that the most environmentally sensitive and socially responsible course of action is to place the land into a conservancy status which would preserve and protect wildlife, air quality, water quality and quantity, and the rural values in the upper Methow Valley. MVCC requests the following amendments to the current Arrowleaf PDR which would bring the development into compliance with the letter and the intent of the PDR zoning laws. Should Merrill agree to these amendments and the additional existing conditions already set by the County Commissioners, the MVCC cease opposition to the development.l. DENSITY: A maximum of 250 actual dwelling units (the maximum allowable if the property were subdivided) should be constructed. This would be a more truly "environmentally sensitive" model for other resorts. More dwelling units equates directly to more pollution and environmental degradation. Reducing the units, reduces the impacts.
2. CLUSTERING and OPEN SPACE: Maximum clustering of all dwelling units into smaller areas preserves Open Space for wildlife habitat. At least 70% Open Space should be achieved based on a meaningful open space definition as follows:
* To qualify, the Open Space must be at least 300 feet away from any structure.
* Qualifying patches must be at least 20 acres in size.
* The golf course would qualify as Open Space.
* Except for golf course fairways, all Open Space must be left as natural vegetation.
* Roads, parking lots, and other areas devoid of vegetation do not qualify as Open Space.
3. GOLF COURSE: All chemicals used on the golf course must be biodegradable and without toxic byproducts.
4. WILDLIFE HABITAT CORRIDOR: There must be a continuous 600 foot wide wildlife habitat corridor with no development permitted along the Methow River. Limited access on a few specific trails through riparian areas will be allowed in this buffer strip.
5. WETLANDS/ RIPARIAN AREA: All activities and structures must be set back at least 300 feet from all wetlands and riparian areas in addition to meeting the standards of the Shorelines Act. A Washington State DOE, USDOE and USFWS approved wetlands survey must be performed by a competent wetlands ecologist.
6. SEWAGE: A legally binding agreement must guarantee that off-site sewage will never be treated at the Resort sewage plant.
7. AIR QUALITY: A smoke-free resort is essential to preserving air quality. A total of four fireplaces should be permitted in the main lobbies of the lodge at Arrowleaf. Other than these four fireplaces, no wood burning fireplaces or wood burning stoves should be permitted.
8. MONITORING FOR PROTECTION: An independent entity to monitor: air quality, water quality and water quantity, and wildlife populations must be established to guarantee protection of the Arrowleaf environment. This entity must identify current conditions of environmental quality, and then set standards so that no "adverse effects to environmental and natural features" will occur.
9. WATER QUANTITY: Water use and allocation at the resort should be limited to that which can be sustained during periods of severe, prolonged drought without diminishment of in-stream flows or water availability to downstream users. The large quantity of water that Arrowleaf Resort developers are requesting will reduce in-stream flows and water availability for down-stream users.
