(Pat) Pepper and (Brian) Weber want Black Diamond to remain a small rural town even though the city is an urban zone, as defined by the Growth Management Act.

Should they get elected, I look forward to how they will attempt to deny property owners their vested rights to develop their own property. Deny their development rights? Delay permits? Or try to change the development agreements? This would bring lawsuits by the property owners against the city. These will definitely slow development, stop it, I don’t know.

One thing that all of us can count on is if there is litigation and the property owners would likely win, all of us will lose. My guess is the property owners will want damages. All of us will have to pay. Should this be the case, the most expensive homes, like those around Lake Sawyer, would pay the most since their property values are much higher than the rest of the city.

Declare bankruptcy for the city? This will make things more complicated, and the city would most likely be merged into Maple Valley – who would then control all development. Maple Valley understands the need to get revenue from development so it may be that a 6,000 dwelling unit development could turn into 8,000 or 10,000 dwelling unit development because the revenue would have to support infrastructure in Maple Valley as well as the merged Black Diamond.

I think it is time to finalize the issues with development so let’s vote for Pepper and Weber.

Mario Sorci

Former Black Diamond City Council member