“It’s paramount that government keeps its promises to citizens,” said King County Council Chair Larry Phillips, chair of the Council’s Regional Water Quality Committee and a Magnolia resident. “We made a commitment to the communities neighboring the West Point treatment plant that the most advanced technology would be used to reduce negative impacts from the plant such as loss of beach acreage, and if that was not possible, we would provide funding to make up for those impacts. Today the Council acted on the promise made to residents near West Point and Discovery Park in 1991.”

The ordinance approved by the Council declares that the County Executive should enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the expenditure of funds associated with the presence of sludge digesters at the West Point Treatment Plant, funds that are part of the 1991 West Point Settlement Agreement. The agreement said that if the technology was available, the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (known as “Metro”--since succeeded by King County) would remove sludge digesters from the treatment plant. If removing the digesters did not occur by December 2005, then Metro would compensate the community for the impact the digesters have on access to Discovery Park. The compensation would be in the form of $1 million per acre affected or a total of $3 million. Those funds were deposited in an interest-bearing account, so the amount available has grown to $5.3 million.

In 2001, King County—recognizing that no alternative technology would be available to process solids at the West Point plant in a way that would allow for the removal of the digesters—established the West Point Citizens Advisory Committee, chaired by Councilmember Phillips. The Committee developed a list of projects—ranging from the demolition of structures on park grounds to the renovation and restoration of the West Point Lighthouse and the Capehart Site—that would use the mitigation funding. The Committee’s recommendations will be included in the MOA.

“These funds show the commitment that King County has toward minimizing the impact of these facilities,” said Phillips. “Whether it’s West Point or Brightwater, we will use the best technology available. If that technology doesn’t go far enough, we are responsible for seeing what else can be done to ensure that these plants are good neighbors.”