Opinion ID: 1225292
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: phase iii zoning an area of guemes island industrial

Text: There then took place in quick sequence a series of events which gave rise to this suit. The Northwest Aluminum Company of New York, in a document dated September 14, 1966, designated as an Application and Petition for Reclassification of Zoning District submitted to the Skagit County Commissioners a request to rezone from residential to industrial a large tract of waterfront land fronting on the south shore of Guemes Island. The application showed that the company had options to purchase the land, and according to the application, if a rezoning were accomplished, the company intended to construct a large aluminum reduction plant on the south shore of the island. The application recited that the company needed a 700-acre site and that its plant would consist of four main potline buildings, other structures for supporting activities, and a ship dock. It would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but the site was large enough to allow a buffer zone between the plant buildings and adjoining property. An outline of technological steps and procedures to curtail air, water and soil pollution was set forth in the document. From the exhibits and descriptions in the application, we would estimate that the site would occupy more than 7,000 feet of waterfront land and in excess of 1 1/2 miles of beach line along the south shore of Guemes. The Skagit County planning commission, pursuant to statute, gave public notice of and then, on October 24, 1966, held a public meeting to consider the aluminum company's application, scheduling the program so that proponents of the rezoning should speak first and opponents later in the session. Just before the noon recess, Mr. Ehrlichman, attorney for a group of persons opposing the aluminum company's proposal, briefly commented that he was appearing on their behalf. The tenor of his remarks apparently related to matters known to most everyone present and suggested an understanding that counsel would be allowed ample time and opportunity later  all within contemplation of a court order then on file. The hearing of October 24 before the planning commission was continued to and resumed November 7. According to the record, the announced purpose of the meeting was to decide whether the planning commission should amend the comprehensive plan, land use map, interim zoning map and interim zoning ordinance No. 4081 so as to allow a heavy industry on Guemes Island. Mr. Kite, the director of the Skagit County planning department, spoke in favor of the proposed changes. Following a review of the reasons for the rezoning by its advocates, Mr. Ehrlichman was given the floor to present argument and evidence in opposition. Marshaling some of the more cogent arguments against rezoning, Mr. Ehrlichman pointed out that less than 1 month earlier the planning commission had authorized one of the owners of the tract adjacent to the aluminum company's proposed site to build a number of single-family residences there; that the comprehensive plan and interim zoning ordinance already provided great areas for industrial expansion in the Anacortes area, at March Point and east of March Point; that other areas already available for industry and its expansion had been reserved on the Swinomish Indian Reservation and the Bayview Airport area. Mr. Ehrlichman referred to a letter from Mr. Poole, of M.G. Poole & Associates who prepared the comprehensive plan for the area, which said that Guemes Island does not meet the criteria for an industrial area. He showed pictures of an industrial development in the March Point industrial zone with a pier running to deep water and urged that nothing in the comprehensive plan and interim zoning ordinance prevented the Northwest Aluminum Company, except the costs of development, from locating its reduction plant on land already zoned for heavy industry. On this point, Mr. Ehrlichman referred to expert opinion that the preservation of good residential and recreational areas means that industry must develop for its use  even at added costs  available areas not suited for other land uses, because areas of natural beauty or those best suited for residential or recreational purposes, once taken by industry, will not, within the foreseeable future, ever be restored, whereas industry through modern engineering and technology can utilize the areas already zoned for it. From a reading of a stenographic transcript of this public meeting which was attended by between 400 and 500 persons, it appears that the following points were advanced in favor of rezoning Guemes Island to allow the aluminum company to build a reduction plant there: 1. Technological and social changes warrant rezoning from residential to industrial. 2. Adequate controls can be enforced by the county and state to prevent air, water and soil pollution. The company will remove at least 99 per cent of all fluorides and hydrogen fluoride from the air fallout. 3. A labor surplus exists in Skagit County; the county needs jobs. 4. The proposed site is large enough to and will avoid harm to adjoining and nearby residential and recreational uses. 5. The new site will provide deep-water facilities capable of handling the largest ships afloat. 6. The plant buildings will occupy only 50 of the proposed 700 acres (later cut to 400 acres). There will be ample space for a green belt buffer around the perimeter. 7. The plant will represent a large capital investment  probably more than $150,000 per employee  thereby giving a good economic boost to the area. 8. Other aluminum reduction plants using a similar process such as Aluminum Smelter at Badin, North Carolina; ALCOA plant at Warwick, Indiana; ALCOA plant at Point Comfort, Texas; ALCOA plant at Geelong, Australia; Aluminas Mexicana plant at Vera Cruz, Mexico; and Alcan plant at Arvida, Canada, operate with no deleterious air, water and soil pollution. 9. Construction employment alone will provide jobs for several years. 10. This large new industry will enlarge the tax base in support of public schools in Skagit County, and will permit a reduction in annual school levies and general taxes while providing revenue for an increase in students and an improvement in education. 11. The Shell Oil Company, 10 years earlier, in locating its refinery on the March Point industrial area, faced many of the same objections, but now pays $535,000 annually in county taxes and represents a great civic asset. 12. The beaches on Guemes are mostly privately owned, and the public is, therefore, unable to enjoy them. 13. The building and operation of the Texaco Oil Refinery at March Point has likewise proved to be a community asset. Opponents of the aluminum company's application to rezone Guemes Island urged: 1. They do not oppose but welcome industry to Skagit County, provided it locates on sites suitable for the purpose; there now exists under the comprehensive plan and interim zoning maps and ordinance many fine industrial sites already zoned and available for industrial expansion. 2. When the time comes, and existing industrial zones are inadequate for new or expanding industries, the logical and natural course is to provide them by rezoning adjacent and contiguous areas. 3. The standards and controls to preclude air, water and soil pollution are so loosely drawn as to be unenforceable; they are illusory and ineffectual, as evidenced by noxious smells emanating from industries in Tacoma and Everett. 4. If effective and enforceable antipollution controls were enacted before Northwest Aluminum began construction, there is no assurance it would complete the project. 5. Once a large industry has commenced operations, its promises cannot be enforced, and it cannot be closed down because the community becomes dependent upon it for tax revenues, jobs, and as a local customer and civic benefactor. 6. Advance publicity concerning the location of a Shell refinery in Anacortes claimed the company would employ 1,500 persons, whereas its actual employment is about 450 persons. Texaco employs not more than 260. 7. The two oil companies which promised that their refineries would not pollute the air have failed to keep these promises, and a heavy pall of smog now frequently hangs over Anacortes which was not there before the arrival of the two refineries. 8. Northwest Aluminum Company would not be limited as to the height of buildings it could erect on Guemes Island. 9. There now exist on Guemes Island publicly owned beaches and a public waterfront park which are very busy in the summertime and are owned by the city of Anacortes. 10. There is in operation on the island a privately owned recreational resort which brings tourist money and commerce to Anacortes and vicinity. 11. There are other publicly owned areas on the island available for future expansion of recreational facilities. 12. Less than 1 month earlier, the Skagit County planning commission had confirmed its long-held position that no industry be allowed on Guemes by authorizing owners of property adjoining the Northwest Aluminum Company's proposed site to develop their land for the construction and sale of single-family residences. 13. Included in the proposed industrial zone are a community center, a schoolhouse and a church  all in active use. 14. The comprehensive plan, interim zoning maps and ordinance, adopted in April, 1966, after years of public hearings, discussion and studies, could not become obsolete so quickly; the only change shown was not a change in condition but merely the aluminum company's desire to build a plant there. 15. The expected reduction in taxes with the arrival of two oil refineries never materialized, and for some unknown reason taxes have trebled in 10 years. 16. The Northwest Aluminum Company has impliedly threatened that, unless the county rezones Guemes Island to suit its purposes, the company will not locate in Skagit County because no other site will be acceptable. If this be the basis for rezoning, every comprehensive plan could readily be destroyed by such threats from any large corporation. 17. Skagit County has an abundance of deep water sites already zoned for industrial purposes, and piers are already planned for construction on the existing March Point site. 18. Mislocating heavy industry reduces other land values, and the long-term damage will outweigh the temporary benefits derived from a large, heavy industrial operation. Converting one-fifth of Guemes Island to heavy industry as planned will ultimately change most of the island from a residential-recreational area to an industrial zone. 19. No matter how carefully planned and operated, heavy industry will inevitably disturb the surrounding scenic, recreational and residential attributes of the district. 20. Under existing zoning regulations now acceptable to the company, its largest structure could legally be located within 200 feet of adjoining residential property, and there are no controls in effect against noise, lights, glare, vibration and dust during a contemplated night-and-day operation. 21. The proposed plant will operate gigantic blowers and railroad locomotives night and day on the proposed 700-acre site. 22. The blower systems will discharge into the air 53.96 pounds of fluoride per day and 19,695 pounds per year, plus 52,597 pounds of hydrogen fluoride per year  even if the air pollution control systems operate at an efficiency of 99 per cent. 23. The concentration of people in a large industrial plant will require the construction and operation of a large sewage treatment plant on Guemes. 24. Answering the proponents' arguments that other companies had located aluminum reduction plants elsewhere without harmful effects upon the adjoining areas, opponents said: (A) A similarly operated plant at Warwick, Indiana, is located on a 6,000-acre tract  a site larger than all of Guemes Island. (B) A plant in Quebec, Canada, is situated on a company-owned tract having a 3 1/2 mile radius. (C) Alcan has bought up easements to radii of 4 to 10 miles from one of its plants to obviate damage claims. (D) The opponents need more time to check on plants operated elsewhere. (E) With fluctuations in the demand for aluminum, the plant may be closed for long periods, leaving widespread unemployment, increased welfare costs and attendant social problems. 25. When an area becomes industrial, taxes on all adjoining property rise, forcing sale of the land for industrial purposes, and, thus, the whole area becomes industrial. We have summarized the arguments and contentions of those supporting and those opposing the rezoning to demonstrate that the public hearing prescribed by statute is not a mere matter of form but is rather an integral part of the legislative process required by statute of planning commissions and county commissioners in considering zoning regulations. The public hearings, therefore, must not only be fairly undertaken in a genuine effort to ascertain the wiser legislative course to pursue, but must also appear to be done for that purpose. In short, when the law which calls for public hearings gives the public not only the right to attend but the right to be heard as well, the hearings must not only be fair but must appear to be so. It is a situation where appearances are quite as important as substance. Toward the end of the hearing, Mr. Ehrlichman, in speaking against the rezoning, said: They have told you that they must have deep water, and you know from the maps, from the pictures, from what you know of your own county, that there are deep-water sites. I might ask, has this Commission had the benefit of an examination of the Bonneville Power Administration industrial site study that Mr. Rooks referred to? Are any of you familiar with it? Let the record show that there is no answer. Therefore, as Exhibit 5, I would like to file it. to which the chairman of the planning commission replied: MR. JOHNSON: Let the record show that the Planning Commission is not answering any questions today of you or anyone else. Now, the question thus put was in no sense merely rhetorical or propounded in an effort to bedevil or confound the commission, but a relevant query concerning the steps the Bonneville Power Administration would take to effectively enforce a pollution control procedure as a condition to furnishing uninterrupted power to Northwest Aluminum. The public was entitled to know the extent to which a powerful agency of the United States would intervene in the prevention of air and water pollution. On this point, it will later be seen that representatives of Bonneville and the Northwest Aluminum met in closed session with the planning commission at which the public and opponents of the plan were excluded. Before adjournment, on a different subject, the chief executive officer of Northwest Aluminum Company, answering assertions that deterioration of the aluminum market might cause the company to close down, said this would not occur in the foreseeable future because the company has a firm contract for the sale of its aluminum output. For the first time, he publicly identified the company as follows: The parent company of Northwest Aluminum is Bell Intercontinental, which in turn is controlled approximately 51% by the Equity Corporation, which in turn is controlled by American Export Isbrandtsen Lines, which operate quite a few freighters, and we think we are getting reasonably good advice on docks and sites, boats, etc. The combined net worth of these companies is something over $200 million. We have a pay contract on the output of the plant, so the concern the plant might not operate if the aluminum industry as a whole suffers competitively would not be a concern for this particular facility.