ACME — An electronicsassembly company can nearly double the size of its operation, despite complaints from neighbors who say the expansion doesn’t belong in a quiet, residential area.
The County Council on Tuesday voted 6-0 to let Sensor Link add 9,800 square feet to its facility for office, research and design space.
New council member Bob Kelly abstained from voting because he doesn’t have experience with the case, he said.
The case originally landed on the council’s agenda after Acme resident Rob Merhaut appealed the county hearing examiner’s January 2007 decision to OK the permit.
“It’s industrial use in a residential neighborhood. That goes against any sensible development,” Merhaut said Tuesday night when told about the decision. “The project is in the middle of a residential village, a quaint village that’s quaint no more.”
Sensor Link, owned by Gary and Karen Roth, currently has a 9,800-square-foot assembly building and 1,500-square-foot pole building on about five acres. The property is west of Valley Highway and just south of Galbraith Road.
The Roths couldn’t be reached by The Herald for comment Tuesday night, but Gary Roth previously wrote to the county that he’ll work to ensure the new building fits in, giving it a low-profile with house-like siding and a front porch, among other things.
The company plans to hire as many as 10 new employees after construction. Hiring more than that would require county approval, the hearing examiner’s decision states.
The County Council has heard the proposal once before. On April 10, council members returned the case to the hearing examiner after then-council member Dan McShane voiced concern that county staff hadn’t studied the fact that the area is subject to flooding and debris flows.
On Dec. 19, the hearing examiner OK’d the permit on the condition the new building sits higher than the surrounding elevation and is built to withstand flows.
Merhaut said he is evaluating his options after the ruling. The case would have to be appealed to Whatcom County Superior Court.
“I can’t live with a factory next to me,” he said. “I’m selling my house. I hope (project contractor) Faber Brothers and Sensor Link are happy.”