Whatcom County Council remands GSX back to Hearing Examiner

The Whatcom County Council has spoken (for now)--unanimously! In a nutshell, a 7-0 vote to remand GSX back to the Hearing Examiner, pending an application for a "major development permit" on the part of GSX.

A reporter at the meeting offers the following account:

I attended tonight’s Council Meeting covering the disposition of the GSX project following the recommendation by the Planning and Development Subcommitte to remand the project back to the Hearing Examiner. Their finding was that the project application and all ancillary permits require application as a major development.

This will go back to the Hearing Examiner and will be held until such an application is made. He will again review the application and provide a recommendation, but the County Council will again make the decision whether to approve or deny the permit.

There was a little grumbling about “fairness” to Williams by Sam Crawford who alleged that Williams had been told by none other than the Director of Planning (Roland Middleton) at some point in the past that a major development permit was not required.

Seth Fleetwood stated that the requirements had changed and somehow implied that Roland was off the hook. The Council voted to remand this back to the Hearing Examiner to await the additional information necessary to make application for a major development.

Steve Snarr, GSX's attorney, is reported to have looked like he had eaten a bad oyster.

---