Olympic View Water and Sewer will be the provider for future Point Wells development

By Jamie Holter

The long battle over who provides sewer services to a future Point Wells development ended in the Washington State Supreme Court last week. The Court ruled that Olympic View Water and Sewer District, which services primarily Snohomish County, can provide sewer (and water) services to Point Wells if and when it is built.

Shoreline-based Ronald Wastewater had been in a legal battle with Olympic View for more than four years to try to place the area inside the Ronald Sewer District. At issue were future fees to provide services for up to 3,000 households.

Currently Olympic View provides water services to the area, a service Ronald does not provide. Olympic View contracts with the City of Edmonds to manage wastewater. Olympic View looks at providing both water and sewer as an efficiency issue.

The disagreement dates back to the mid-80’s when King County transferred the Richmond Beach Sewer District System to Ronald. However, follow-up legal action has demonstrated that this “transfer order” which affected property in Snohomish County, including Point Wells, into Ronald, was void because Snohomish County and Olympic View were never brought into the process.

What does this mean to Shoreline residents? It means future sewer fees for this possible project will go to Olympic View and not Ronald Wastewater, which is now part of the City of Shoreline. 

The City of Edmonds will receive from Olympic View additional revenue for treating this new flow from Point Wells. That will help all customers in Olympic View, Mountlake Terrace, Point Wells, and Edmonds keep sewer rates lower in the future.