SEDRO-WOOLLEY — A 51-acre gravel mine proposal in rural Skagit County has neighbors concerned about the potential environmental impact it may have on their community.
Concrete Nor’west, a Washington-based gravel company managed by Miles Sand & Gravel, proposed in 2016 the mine, deep in the woods off Grip Road, a rural commuter route near Old Highway 99. The company owns about 77 acres of property in the woods and has plans to log about 68 acres for the 51-acre mine.
The group intends to haul around 23 loaded trucks off the property each day for gravel management at other facilities, meaning around 46 in-and-out trips each day for the next 25 years, according to proposal documents.
Since 2016, the company has gone back and forth with county officials, scientists, environmental experts and the Central Samish Valley Neighbors (CSVN) group while trying to get it approved.
CSVN, a neighborhood group that formed in opposition to the gravel mine, hired experts and lawyers, enlisted friends, wrote letters and attended meetings to speak out against the mine. Traffic and road issues, endangered species habitat and public safety are chief among their long list of concerns.
After six years of filing reports, studying the site and sending notices and public comments, developers are frustrated with the process and neighbors are tired of fighting back.
Neighbor concerns
Linda Walsh, one of the CSVN organizers, said road conditions and visibility in the area are incredibly poor, and gravel truck drivers, traversing the roads in and out of the mine more than 40 times per day, would be essentially driving blind. The roads, which cut through hills and forested areas, are chip sealed and Walsh is concerned they won’t last under the stress of 100,000-pound trucks.
“We’re just hoping to avoid a fatality,” she said. “It took us four and a half years to get the county and their experts to recognize that trucks and trailers cannot navigate these corners.”
The proposed mine property shares a border with Walsh’s home, where she’s lived for more than two decades.
“They’re saying this project won’t be disruptive, and trucks and trailers won’t disturb houses near the road,” she said. “They say my property won’t experience any undue noise, vibration or dust, but you can hear the traffic going by, and they’re going to be tumbling rock and gravel into idling trucks.”
Dan Cox, general manager at Miles Sand and Gravel, said the traffic conditions and environmental reports have been reviewed by several independent consultants and meet county requirements.
“The public comments to the contrary are not supported by the science and the record for this project,” Cox wrote in an email to Cascadia Daily News. “To date, we have met every application requirement, provided every response to requests for information, submitted all additional studies and complied with all other requests for information that have been asked of us by Skagit County.”
CSVN members also share concerns about the environment in the area, which saw severe flooding last November.
“The haul road not only crosses Swede Creek, but it passes close to several wetlands and smaller tributary streams, some of which are considered by [the Department of Natural Resources] to be fish-bearing,” said John Day, a volunteer steward for the Skagit Land Trust. “This is a high-value wetland that has the characteristics to make it qualify as habitat for the Oregon spotted frog.”
The Oregon spotted frog, an endangered species in Washington, is rare as a result of “human stressors causing loss or degradation of” habitats, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
More than 32 wetlands and 21 streams have been identified within 300 feet of the haul route, many of which are ideal habitats for the Oregon spotted frog, CSVN group member Martha Bray said, referencing a Skagit County Planners document.
“This incredibly sensitive, diverse, rich ecological landscape is going to just get hammered by this,” Bray said. “It’s just this incredible effort that we’ve had to make just to keep an eye on this, and it’s exhausting.”
Cox said the group has conducted significant environmental studies and is ready to move forward.
“[We have] been engaged in this application process since 2015 on property that is designated as a Mineral Resource Land and protected from other incompatible land uses with the intent to be mined,” Cox said. “We have selected and pursued permitting on this site due to the fact that it is appropriately zoned and designated for this purpose and is able to meet all other criteria for special use.”
Project timeline
Most proposals do not require six years of preparation and review.
“It’s an embarrassment how long this has taken,” said Brandon Black, planning manager at Skagit County Planning and Development Services. “It’s unacceptable, in my opinion. It’s really just been a comedy of errors to get to this point.”
Black’s team is the third to take on the mine proposal, which has passed through several hands over the years. Several of the employees initially charged with managing the proposal no longer work for the county, and others made mistakes, including failing to notify neighboring property owners of the proposal and misidentifying the number of truck trips the mine intends each day.
Now, Black is ready to hand the proposal off to a county hearing commissioner, who will decide if the project can be approved during a three-day hearing later this month.
“When this hit my desk, my goal was to just package up everything we have and then get it to the hearing examiner,” he said. “Let the public argue their case. Let the applicant argue their case. Let us present what we have, and let’s give it to a judge.”
But neighbors say that’s not enough.
Serious concerns about the validity of studies, environmental impact statements and community safety remain, said CSVN representatives, who have encouraged others to submit public testimony and letters for the upcoming hearing.
“We’re doing the county’s work for them, essentially, because they’re not doing it,” Bray said. “We’ve literally spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal consultation on our own, hired our own expert witnesses and experts to do our own studies. It’s really wrong that we have to do this.”
Over the last six years, CSVN has invested more than $30,000 to study and fight the mine proposal.
“You may think it’s just another NIMBY issue — a ‘not in my backyard’ thing — but it’s so much bigger than just the neighbors complaining about something,” Bray said. “This has huge public safety implications.”
Despite CSVN and neighbor challenges, Cox is looking forward to the public hearing, slated to begin Aug. 26.
“We hope to clarify all aspects of the application and answer any remaining questions the County or public may have,” he said. “We hope the public will have a better understanding of the project and the mitigations that have been put in place to reduce impacts. After that, we hope to receive approval for this mining permit and be allowed to move forward, developing this important natural resource to meet the needs of Skagit County into the future.”