Dear Friends of Big Lake,

We write with good news and a request.

Thanks to your support, our effort to hold the Overlook Crest project to the County’s own rules — and to protect Big Lake from pollution and degradation — has moved forward on three fronts this summer. Here is where things stand.

Our original appeal is back on track, with a hearing set for October 9.  In 2025, the County’s Planning Director approved aredesigned Overlook Crest project behind closed doors, through a “no-notice” procedure that did not give the public a chance to be heard or even a public notice that the approval occurred.  That decision sidestepped the very stormwater review the County Commissioners ordered in November 2024. The Hearing Examiner dismissed our appeal of the 2025 redesign— but the Superior Court reversed that dismissal and sent the case back. The Hearing Examiner will now hear our appeal on the merits on October 9, 2026.

The State Growth Board agreed with us on a key point. On July 20, 2026, the State Growth Management Hearings Board found that the County’s Critical Areas Ordinance does not limit review of a project’s off-site impacts to 200 feet. When the facts show a critical area farther away may be harmed, the County can — and should — look. That matters because Big Lake, sits downhill from the Overlook project and receives its stormwater. We will press this point at the October hearing.

We are also challenging the “no-notice” shortcut itself. We have filed an action in Superior Court that asks a judge to declare the County’s use of this no-public-notice procedure for applications like the Overlook 2025 redesign is contrary to WA State law. Every neighborhood where the County misuses the no-notice procedure would benefit from a decision to require public notice. 

The County Code requires the Overlook project’s stormwater system to cause “no pollution or degradation to Big Lake.” SCC 14.16.310(7)(b)(iv). We intend to hold the County and the project to that standard.

Please act today. Litigation costs money — expert analysis, court filings, and preparation for the October hearing. A generous donor has offered a new match for every dollar we raise, up to $5,000, so your gift right now counts twice.

Please send your donation, in any amount, to Friends of Skagit County, PO Box 2632, Mount Vernon, WA 98273-2632, or give online at www.networkforgood.org. Please mark it “Protect Big Lake Fund.” To learn more about the effort, visit www.biglakeinformed.org.

Thank you for standing with us. We can’t do this work without your help. Big Lake is worth protecting— for the salmon, neighbors, and families who use it. 

With gratitude,

Jan M. Edelstein, Big Lake resident

Ellen Bynum, Executive Director, Friends of Skagit County