Developer doesn't want heron plan to fly

Monday, August 16, 2004

By JEFFREY M. BARKER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

RENTON -- Advocates of the great blue heron had called the decision a victory for the bird, but a developer plans to appeal a city hearing examiner's ruling halting the construction of a 65-home neighborhood near the Black River Riparian Forest.

The 60-acre forest is home to the Seattle area's largest colony of blue herons, with about 130 nests. Over the past 15 years, parts of the forest, which is surrounded by 20 acres of marsh, have been bought with $8 million of public money, mostly from King County grants and sewer impact fees.

Suzanne Krom, who heads an organization called Herons Forever, plans to protect the nesting area.

"This place and these grand birds are just the kind of thing that make the Northwest special," Krom said. "It would be such a waste to let unrestrained development destroy this beautiful spot after we've invested so much in it."

Noise and humans often cause the sensitive birds to abandon their nests.

And Krom fears that single-family homes nearby -- with children and pets playing and pesticide and fertilizer runoff -- will do just that.

The city's Planning Commission had given the housing project the go-ahead. But earlier this month, Hearing Examiner Fred Kaufman overturned that decision and said an environmental impact survey is needed before construction can begin.

"We disagree with that," said David Halinen, an attorney for Donald Merlino, who owns the adjacent property. "We don't think (a survey) is warranted. There's a vast distance between the development and the heron colony -- and an existing railroad line in between."

The development is planned for 1,100 feet -- almost three football field lengths -- away.

An office park, which was approved and built in recent years, lies just 500 feet away.

Merlino has until tomorrow afternoon to appeal the hearing examiner's ruling.

Kaufman wrote in his decision that the city Planning Commission had erred, and called the planned single-family home development "a major action that will have more than a moderate impact on the quality of environment. ... Too many questions on environmental issues are still unanswered."