EVERETT, SEPT. 22: In January, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties filed a complaint against a City of Everett law giving the Snohomish River Watershed legal rights.
Earlier this month an Everett city attorney submitted a response on behalf of the city in anticipation of the hearing in October. His statement supports revoking the law.
“While the City fully supports efforts to protect the Snohomish River Watershed, the City recognizes that existing federal and state law, along with the City’s own rules, regulations and ordinances, are already in place to protect the Watershed and other related bodies of water,” Deputy City Attorney Ramsey Ramerman wrote.
The law, passed with a 57% voter approval in November 2024, gives Everett residents the power to take anyone negatively impacting the watershed’s health to court. This includes the Port Gardner Bay, Union Slough and other contributors to the Snohomish River watershed within city limits.
Anyone who violates the law could be subject to damages paid to the city to use exclusively to restore the watershed and repair any damages.
The Master Builders claim that the law “falls outside of the legal parameters set for local initiatives in Washington State.”
They maintain that the law is too vague and could harm business owners and developers. In the complaint they cite a Washington Supreme Court case where a similar initiative in Spokane was ruled invalid.
“The Initiative disrupts that balance by adopting a zero-impacts requirement that undermines all of the efforts of the City to protect the environment without shutting down all development and industry within the City,” Ramerman wrote.
A petition created by the initiative creators and Standing for Nature calls on Mayor Cassie Franklin and the city council to “uphold the will of the voters and defend the watershed law in court by hiring outside legal counsel.”
“This case is not only about one watershed — it is about whether citizens truly have the right to make democratic decisions about protecting our future,” the petition said.
The hearing is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24.
