Hearings Board to Review Campbell's Housing Element Petition Today in Eastsound

The Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board will hear arguments on behalf of and in response to a petition filed by John Campbell today, December 16 at 10 a.m. in the Eastsound Fire Hall.

Petitioner John Campbell, who filed the document on Nov. 11, 2009,  said this month, “The Issues are the questions that the Board has agreed to hear argued and must be framed for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. It is all very legal: did the county do what the law required or not; what, given the Record, is adequate provision for affordable housing; and did the County meet that standard?”

In the petition, Cambell asks “the WWGMHB to find that the County’s Housing Element is inconsistent with Needs Assessment, find the County not compliant with the requirements of RCW 36.70A.070(2)(d) which require adequate provision for the (housing) needs of all economic segments of the community, and direct the County to complete the work necessary to comply.”

The petition reviews the County’s Housing Needs Assessment (Exhibit 1, Record 001118-001152), which states that:

•    By 2025, approximately 2969 housing units will be needed of which 1095 affordable units will be needed to house the projected population increase (Exhibit 1, Record 001119)
•    Currently there are 2,146 cost burdened households in the county (Exhibit 1, Record 001119)
•    By 2025, the projected population will not include enough working age people to fill the expected jobs. The shortage of working age adults may mean the need for an additional 1594 affordable units in addition to the 1095 needed for population growth (Exhibit 1, Record 001119).
•    Housing in San Juan County is the least affordable in the state; (Exhibit 1, Record 001120)
•    The market is not capable of meeting the housing needs of many of the very low, low, moderate and middle income residents. (Exhibit 1, Record 001153)
•    Over 20% of the county’s territory is held for conservation purposes (Exhibit 1, Record 001129)

The petition goes on to state that “Prior to Growth Management, affordable housing was not necessarily a responsibility of local government. Growth management changed that. RCW 36.70A.070(2)(d) requires local government to  “make adequate provisions for existing and projected (housing) needs of all economic segments of the community.”

Campbell’s petition recognizes that the County has:
•    In 1997 created a Housing Advisory Board;
•    Obtained rental assistance for 24 handicapped persons;
•    Obtained $500,000 for down payment assistance for first-time, low-income home buyers;
•    Created a non-profit housing developer, Homes for Islanders;
•    Permitted a vote on a housing real estate excise tax (failed);
•    Adopted Rural Residential Cluster provisions to permit limited, rural affordable housing;
•    Adopted regulations for a density bonus in Eastsound for affordable housing;
•    In 2005, performed a Land Supply Analysis for Eastsound
•    In 2007, performed a population growth analysis for San Juan Island and allocation for the Friday Harbor UGA.

The petition asks the Growth Management Hearings Board to consider nine issues county-wide.

Campbell argues in the petition that “a county with the second highest per capita income in the state and wherein the average annual wage ranked 35th out of 39 counties.. that has the lowest tax rate in the state… and can find $2-3 million/ year for conservation purposes but nothing for its blue collar workers is not trying [to analyze and provide for housing needs].”

“Further, as this Board said in 95-2-0067 FDO @ pg.1147, ‘f it is in the plan, it must be implemented.’ Plans that are not implemented cannot qualify as adequate provision.”

Campbell is an architect by profession and a member of Homes for Islanders, a non-profit organization which helps obtain financing and construction assistance for low-income islanders to build their own homes. He says, “The effect of [County policy] on low and moderate income housing in San Juan County, however, is that there will not be any, without government intervention in zoning, financing and production. That intervention is missing.

“I suspect that the difficulty for affordable housing is political.  The environmental lobby is organized and funded. The property rights lobby is less organized but loud and numerous. A blue collar lobby does not exist. It shows. The Housing Needs analysis makes it clear: for the blue collar workers in San Juan County the choice is to get organized or start packing,” Campbell said recently.

The Hearings Board will hear from the Campbell and the County respondants today, and will deliberate and ask questions. They expect to have a decision by mid-February 2010, Campbell said.

An article on the County’s response to Campbell’s petition will follow.