A Bothell ordinance to allow increased residential development in the environmentally sensitive North Creek watershed has been rejected by a state Growth Management Hearings Board.
The case has reignited divisions between the council’s pro-development majority led by Mayor Joshua Freed and his real-estate attorney and Councilmember Mark Lamb and those members who say the pro-growth forces have too strong a hand in the city’s land-use decisions.
Longtime environmental activists in the city challenged the council’s approval of a November 2014 ordinance that reduced standards for preserving forest cover, eliminated limits on impervious surfaces and allowed for more extensive site excavation.