“Steve Erickson, left, and Jerry Hill, right, consult with environmental attorney David Bricklin at the Island County Courthouse over strategy to block the construction of a proposed gas station and car wash complex in Freeland.Matt Johnson/staff photoAt what several observers said was one of the most crowded public hearing in the last two decades, more than 150 people crammed themselves into the commissioners’ meeting room at the Island County Courthouse Thursday morning to find out whether developers will be able to build a new gas station complex in Freeland.The crowd, which was composed primarily of opponents to the Exxon gas station, mini-mart and carwash proposed by Freeland’s A-OOK development group, probably spent more time waiting and listening than any other that has gathered for a land-use hearing in recent memory. They kept it up for five hours as expert witnesses and attorneys argued before Island County Hearing Examiner Michael Bobbink. And they will have to do it again Monday, when the hearing moves into a second session at the Coupeville Rec Hall.The basis of the hearing is a disagreement over whether the Exxon project is being built on a wetland. Four weeks ago, Island County issued a stop work order to A-OOK just hours after partner Mick Olsen began permitted earth work on the property, located at Fish Road and Highway 525. The stop work order came in response to an appeal filed that morning by Jerry Hill, a member of People for Responsible, Organized Urban Development (PROUD).PROUD stated in its appeal that it believes the property is a wetland. Wetland consultants working for A-OOK said it is not. The argument is crucial, as the land is zoned for commercial use.At the hearing, attorneys and witnesses hired by PROUD tried to prove their case. After waiting through a 45-minute delay to the start of the proceedings, environmental attorney David Brickin brought Dr. Sara Cooke to the stand in the quasi-judicial hearing. Cooke, who is recognized as one of the Northwest’s most prominent wetland experts, testified that the A-OOK property has almost all the characteristics of a wetland. Although she had never seen the wetland until the morning of the hearing, Cooke testified that she has spent numerous hours going through wetland studies of the property created by the Washington state Department of Transportation and Island County.At present, Cooke said, the property does not look like a wild wetland because it has been plowed, seeded, and drained numerous times in the past 50 years. Although she did not receive permission to walk on the property, Cooke said she could see from the road that wetland plants are on the property.I saw plants there today that were definitely wetland plants, Cooke said.Cooke also testified that the A-OOK property is connected via a culvert to a wild wetland on the east side of Fish Road. Developing the A-OOK property could damage the water quality and wildlife in that wetland, she said.Cooke’s conclusions came under fire from Elaine Spencer, an attorney working for A-OOK. Cross examining Cooke, Spencer attempted to get Cooke to testify that the plants she saw on the A-OOK property are actually upland plants. Cooke stood by her assertion that the plants are wetland varieties.Although the discourse between Spencer and Cooke was tense, it did inspire a short burst of laughter from the gallery and Hearings Examiner Bobbink. At one point Spencer tried to get Cooke to acknowledge that the wetlands firm hired by A-OOK to study its property was considered to be expert in the wetlands field. Cooke dodged Spencer’s assertion and labeled the firm as a group of consultants.Bobbink and the gallery apparently found the dodge funny.Sorry, Bobbink said after trying to hid a giggle behind his sleeve.Larry Kwarsick, the county’s Public Works director, also questioned Cooke. He noted that the county has worked with Cooke in the past to identify wetlands and that his department respects her work. He then showed Cooke a circa 1958 aerial photo of the A-OOK property and asked her if she could discern whether it was a wetland at that time. The photo showed the land under agricultural use. Cooke said the land was a wetland at the time and noted several drainage features she said indicated that the land was wet. However, she noted, because the photo was taken during the summer in 1958, it was at its driest point of the year.Bricklin also called Charles Plummer, a wetlands expert with WSDOT. Plummer testified about the procedure he used to assess the A-OOK property in a 1998 study.After the meeting, PROUD member Alethea Schinneman — who was one of only a few dozen people who were able to stay for the entire hearing — said having so many members of the public there was important. I think it’s turning out to be a bigger deal than we thought, Schinneman said.The hearing will continue at 1 p.m. on Monday at the Coupeville Rec Hall. The hall is located at 901 NW Alexander Street. During the hearing, the attorneys working for the appellants are expected to call several more witnesses, including Susan Meyer of the state Department of Ecology, traffic consultant Rob Bernstein, and several PROUD members. Attorneys working for A-OOK are reserving their witness list until they have heard the testimony of PROUD’s witnesses. “