MALTBY — Ceding to citizen concerns, the Snohomish County Hearing Examiner is reconsidering his initial approval of a multifamily complex near Maltby Road and state Route 522.
A Dec. 12 reconsideration hearing will determine if Hearing Examiner Peter Camp’s initial decision was based on “possible errors of law or fact” presented to him.
The most important question is whether an incorrect land parcel was analyzed to grant its approval. The project, called Moray Village, places 85 townhouses on undeveloped acreage generally located behind the Maltby Cafe.
The land was once one of the Nardone family’s many landholdings in the region.
Residents protesting the project view the new hearing as a big win.
“We have rarely, if ever, had a hearing examiner grant a request for reconsideration,” said Debbie Wetzel, a Clearview activist. “It gives people a little bit of hope.”
Residents allege that an adjacent parcel of land south of the main project site should have been included in the analysis. Instead, they assert the developers’ master application erroneously included an adjacent land parcel north of the project.
Decisions based on analyzing the north parcel cascaded through other aspects of the project, like an addition mistake that skews the answer to a long division problem.
Of 15 questions Camp listed to justify granting the reconsideration hearing, the first four deal with whether the south site should have been included in the master application instead of the north.
Several other questions deal with whether roads, driveways, and future access points to Moray Village comply with engineering design standards.
Other questions ask to reassess how much impact the new development would have on traffic, specifically a planned roundabout at the intersection of Maltby Road and State Route 522 as part of the interchange at Paradise Lake Road and Maltby Road .
David Irwin, a former Snohomish County transportation engineer, petitioned for the reconsideration hearing on behalf of concerned citizens.
Irwin claimed in submitted comments that “aspects” of the Moray Village application provide “misleading and inaccurate information” that will result in noncompliance with county and state regulations.
He also cited broader “ethical and regulatory capture concerns occurring within Snohomish County, specifically with the (County Planning and Development Services) Department and the County Executive’s office.”
Examiner Camp has made it clear, however, that the reconsideration hearing will deal only with specific issues relating to the Moray Village project.
The hearing begins at 10 a.m. Dec. 12 in Room 2 of the Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., in Everett, and is also available on Zoom.
