Planner: proposed Sumas UGA expansion proceeds after four owners agree to floodplain covenants

City Planner Carson Cortez told the council on July 27 that the proposed urban growth area (UGA) expansion south and west of Sumas covers roughly 520 acres across 23 properties and faces floodplain constraints that affected several parcels.

"The proposed expansion area was roughly five hundred and twenty acres on twenty-three different properties," Cortez said. He reported that about 108 acres of the proposed expansion lie within the FEMA-regulated floodplain. Under the Growth Management Act (GMA), the city may not expand a UGA into mapped floodplain areas except in limited cases when property owners sign irrevocable restrictive covenants extinguishing development rights in the floodplain portion of their parcels.

Cortez said six property owners fell into that exception; four agreed to sign the covenant, allowing those parcels to remain in the proposed expansion. The two properties that did not agree will be placed in the UGA Reserve instead. Cortez told the council the County Council meets the next night to consider its comprehensive plan, which could affect the timing of the city's action.

No final legislative action on the UGA expansion was recorded at the July 27 council meeting; the planner's report described the current status and next steps in the county process.