Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 9, September 2003

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Creeks initiative off ballot, but streams stay in the news

By JAMES BUSH

Welcome to Creeks Month in North Seattle.

Well, the designation may be unofficial, but the label certainly fit as the city of Seattle piled on the creek-related projects even as it successfully fought the Save Seattle Creeks Initiative (Initiative 80) in court.

King County Judge James Doerty threw I-80 off the primary election ballot on July 30, accepting the arguments of city attorneys that the initiative was an improper effort to snatch away the City Council's land use policy-setting duties. Initiative 80, proposed by the environmental group Yes For Seattle, would have required builders to "daylight" buried or culverted creeks on properties they develop. It would also have required that buildings be set back from creeks and banned pesticide use on parcels which drain into streams.

One day before the court hearing, Mayor Greg Nickels was at the Jackson Park Golf Course for ceremonies marking the completion of a $10 million project to divert peak flows from Thornton Creek in detention ponds within the park. While the ceremony's timing may have been suspicious, the project was actually finished a year ahead of schedule. Project Engineer Eleanor A. Jackson of Seattle Public Utilities credits the early finish to two factors. "We had a contractor (Robison Construction Inc.) come up with ideas to get the job done faster plus we had great weather."

The city's creek theme continued throughout the first part of August. Nickels also attended a Thornton Creek Cleanup on August 16, while the city announced the purchase of another half-acre of creekside property. Meanwhile, the Ravenna Creek daylighting project was the topic of a mid-August open house.

While they've lost the battle to get I-80 on the September ballot, Yes For Seattle hasn't conceded, says Knoll Lowney, who argued the case along with former state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge. Lowney says his group will appeal the ruling and seek direct review by the state high court, in hopes of seeing I-80 on a future ballot. "The law should protect the rights of citizens to protect their own environment," he says. "[I-80] is not going to be on the ballot in September, but we're optimistic that the appeal will be successful."

Marianne Bichsel, the mayor's spokesperson, says Nickels applauds the judge's ruling. She notes that the mayor is still interested in implementing his own creek restoration proposal, which focuses on water quality improvements and was proposed as a possible ballot alternative to I-80.

Lowney replies that the mayor's sudden interest in creeks was mostly a political ploy to torpedo I-80. "Had we gone to the ballot, I think their message is that they're already doing [creek restoration]," he says, "But they're not doing enough." b