The most recently assigned hearing examiner for a controversial gravel mine in a rural area north of Sedro-Woolley failed to produce a valid decision due to procedural errors, according to public documents filed in Skagit County on Friday, Dec. 20.
Arizona-based William H. Nielsen was paid $35,000 to issue a new decision following a decision in February that critics called “semi-incoherent and absurd.” He became the second hearing examiner for the county to fall short in what has become a more than six-year saga.
“The parties agree it was flawed and have requested that the Board of County Commissioners send it back to a third hearing examiner,” said Kyle Loring, the attorney for Central Samish Valley Neighbors (CSVN), which opposes the mine.
The Grip Road Gravel Mine, proposed in 2016, is slated to place a 51-acre gravel mine on a 77-acre forested property near Old Highway 99 in Skagit County. Miles Sand and Gravel Company plans to log about 68 acres to make room for the mine before hauling about 23 loaded trucks off the property each day for gravel management at other facilities, according to proposal documents.
Opponents of the decision have raised concerns about road safety, truck traffic and potential environmental impacts of the mine.
A document signed by all parties and sent to the county commissioners states that “the Nielsen Decision was clearly erroneous based on procedural flaws.”
It goes on to ask the board to vacate Nielsen’s decision to approve the mine and add additional procedural safeguards to ensure a third hearing examiner reviews all relevant materials and issues a full-fledged decision.
Loring said that the parties had expected Nielsen, who was hired specifically for this case, to “review all the records and provide a thoughtful decision.”
“Remarkably, the decision fails to identify the many concerns and claims raised by the public and CSVN, or to acknowledge the abundance of testimony and vast majority of exhibits that the parties painstakingly adduced during a seven-day hearing,” stated an appeal to Nielsen’s decision filed on behalf of CSVN on June 25.
It was later determined that Nielsen did not review the entirety of the seven days of testimony and thousands of pages of documents submitted to the previous hearing examiner as required by law.
At least two expert testimonials on traffic and transportation were not recorded and transcribed by the county during the 2022 hearing.
The parties have agreed that a new hearing examiner should, “at a minimum, hear supplemental traffic and transportation testimony, because traffic and transportation were significant issues at the 2022 hearing…”
“Miles has been part of lengthy discussions on a fair and transparent process to clean up the record,” said Dan Cox, general manager at Miles Sand and Gravel. “The project has been extensively reviewed and found to meet all applicable codes, and we look forward to a favorable final decision in 2025.”
There is no set timeline for when the county commissioners will take action on the request for the Nielsen decision to be vacated and a new examiner hired. However, Loring said he expects that because all parties are in agreement, it should move quickly.
“It’s frustrating that we got a second flawed decision, and we’re hoping to get a result this next time — third time is the charm, I suppose,” Loring said.
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
