January 12, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Congressional districts split county
By NATALIE JOHNSON
After the Washington
State Redistricting Commis-
sion approved new congres-
sional voting districts that
excise the City of Shelton
out of the 6th Congressional
District, Shelton and Mason
County are finding ways to
deal with the situation.
"We're very sad to lose will for us,"
Shelton as part of Norm's This arm of 10th District
(Dicks') district - he loves jutting into Mason County
representing Shelton," said has also disrupted several
Sara Crumb, deputy district voting precincts in the coun,
director for Congressmanty, said Mason County Elec,
Norm Dicks. tions Superintendent Am-
The new boundary be- ber Cervantes.
tween the 6th and 10th Mason County officials
Congressional districts in also expressed concern
Mason County travels up about the new district lines.
U.S. Highway 101 until "It presents our county
it connects with Shelton's with an interesting chal-
city limits west of Olympic lenge," Mason County Com-
Highway North. The line missioner Lynda Ring Er-
then follows the city limits ickson said on Tuesday. "We
exactly until reaching Oak- have only one city.., our one
land Bay. city is going to be in a differ-
The line follows Ham- entdistrict."
mersley Inlet down belowRing Erickson expressed
Hope, Squaxin and Harst-concern that splitting Ma,
ine Islands and then crosses son County between two
into Thurston County. Arca- districts would negatively
din and Kamilche Point will influence the county's abil-
also be in 10th District. ity to attract attention from
The new congressional federal lawmakers.
district lines put the City "We're going to have a
of Shelton and its urbanchallenge ahead of us," she
growth area (UGA) in differ- said.
ent districts. According to state law,
"We're concerned," Shel-congressional and legisla-
ton City Administrator rive district lines can't cut
Dave O'Leary said. "W~ through votingprecincts.
have a very strong relationt "Those have to be new
ship with Norm Dicks andprecincts," Cervantes said.
Norm Dicks' staff." ; Mason County asked the
Formerly part of a fairly redistricting commission
rural district, Shelton ig to consider following the
now included with large cit; Shelton city limits for the
ies in Pierce and Thurston entire city, so the new plan
Counties. i
wouldn't cut through the
"I think it's going to work precincts, she said.
out better for them than it The auditor's office re-
O'Leary said. numbered all of the pre-
cincts in the new proposed
county map, and added two
new precincts, the 3rd Pre-
cinct, near the Shelton city
limits and 7th Precinct, on
Kamilche point.
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Port struggles to sign fairgrounds lease
By NATALIE JOHNSON
The Port of Shelton Commission voted
during its meeting on Jan. 3 to send a letter
to Mason County asking for a Memorandum
of Understanding, or MOU, on how county
permitting processes affect the port.
According to port Executive Director
John Dobson, those processes have delayed
a lease agreement for the port's fairgrounds
with Northwest Event Organizers by six
weeks already.
Although Port of Shelton Commissioner
Jay Hupp at first spoke out against reading
Part of the problem, Dobson said, is the
buildings on the fairgrounds are in rough
shape.
"It is what it is... you're not going to spend
$1.8milliontobringthosebnildingsuptocode",
he said.
While the buildings are not in great
shape, they only need to be safe for the next
two years. After 2013, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) has ruled that the
port must revert the land to airport use be-
cause it is so close to an active runway.
Dobson said the next two years are a trial
run. If the fair proves to be successful, the
the letter during the public meeting, Dob- port may consider using land behind its in,
son read the letter ..... active runway for a more permanent county
L This lett~r'~i~.t0 encourage discussibns: fairgr0unds'.' ......
between Mason County and the Port of Now, Dobson is' t@ng to conwnce the
Shelton with the intent of producing an county that the buildings are safe for events
MOU concerning facilities permitting and in the next two years.
inspection processes. The objective of which "I'm trying to get the county out here
would be to improve the regulatory atmo- sooner or later to do a walk through," he
sphere under which businesses operate and said.
grow at the port," the draft letter reads. A 2009 study showed that several of the
While the port is subject to the author- buildings at the site suffered from deficien-
ity of Mason County, the port has its own cies in their ability to deal with heavy wind
policies and procedures with regards to or snow, which Dobson said the port has
new tenants and building on port property taken steps to correct.
which Dobson believes are very similar to Also, the port has had to make several
county practices, thousands of dollars of modifications to elec-
Dobson said that completing both the trical systems in the buildings over the last
port's and the county's procedures for a new year.
tenant effectively do the same work twice. "We're just trying to get through the next
"Businesses seek locations where they're couple of years," Dobson said. "We're trying
wanted," Dobson said. "what we want to do to get a clear understanding."
is find ways to simplify the process without Dobson said in the summer of 2011 when
compromising the process." the port was close to a similar contract with
Dobson said that the port is working to Northwest Event Organizers, the county
finalize a lease for the Port of Shelton fair- didn't mention anything about a change in
grounds with John and Rachel Hansen of tenant application.
Northwest Event Organizers, but are hav- "None of this was an issue last year," he
ing trouble with Mason County's change of said.
tenant application. Barbara Adkins, Mason County's direc-
"We were supposed to have a contract tor of planning and community develop-
by Dec. 6," Rachel Hansen said. "We were ment said she forwarded the letter request-
hoping to have the property before the new ing the MOU: to the Mason County prosecu-
year." tor's office.
PUD 3 move to Johns Prairie coming soon
By NATALIE JOHNSON which should happen soon, "We're getting a lot of
Brown said. feedback from people," she
As Mason County PUD Buildings B and E shouldsaid.
3's move-in date for its new be complete in late January, The landscaping, done
Johns Prairie site is loom- Brown said. Both warehouse by the Mason Conservation
ing large on the horizon, the buildings are waiting for ad- District, is also moving along
PUD 3 commission got one of ditional equipment. Build- on schedule, Brown said.
its last updates on the prog- ing B also needs an exterior "It looks amazing," she
ress of construction, anti-graffiti treatment to its said. "It all of a sudden pulls
Nicole Brown of OAC Ser- masonry, but that can't be everything together."
vices, which helps manage applied until the weather Two ponds in front of the
construction for the PUD, gets warmer and drier, complex have been c0mplet-
said the new facility should Building A, which con- ed, and a bridge over one
be ready for occupancy by tains the new offices for the of those ponds is also done,
March. PUD, is the last building Brown said.
Since PUD 3 began con- scheduled for completion. Fencing around the com-
struction on the $34.5 mil- After flooring is installed, plex has also been installed,
lion project in late 2010, the the building is projected to: Brown said.
utility has eagerly awaited be completed in February. Rushforth made, it
its move to the much larger The general contractor, : through the majority of the
and more up to date loca- Rushforth, Inc. plans to have project without a time-loss
tion on the Port of Shelton's furniture delivered in mid- incident, Brown said. How-
Johns PrairieIndustrialFebruary, with a tentative ever, about two and a half
Park. move-indate in March. months ago there were a
All of the buildings on the PUD 3 Commission Chair couple of minor incidents at
site are done or nearly done, Linda Gott said members of the site, she said.
Brown said. the public have also shown i "They were minor, nobody
Buidlings C and D are interest in the new build-was hurt in a major way,"
done except for clean-up, ings. she said.
Come see why e eryone is smiling/
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Shelton-Mason County Jou real-Thursday, Nov. 18, 2012 - Page A-3