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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 21, 1999     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 21, 1999
 
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- " Be00lik s birding trip Hood Canal West. ,00rinter's back at Cushman to head along canal IY ORMA JANE CAMERON to be prepared and served by the Hood Canal Fire a District 18 training i Last Friday evening, winter members of the newly forming Friday, January 22 4:30 p.m., PUD 1 Commission, ame back to areas of the Lake ,ushman development. :i; A blizzard covered the yellow ne on State Route 119, Lake saOushman Road. I had to travel al. is route to my home, and it was ;h e llow going to get back home safe-  around Dew Mountain. -. .... There have been slush and ow flurries the past few days, reminding us that winter remains tvith us. : IN THE HOOD Canal West 00ea: ::' * The Hood Canal Community :h 1 .V ub will meet at noon today for its monthly potluck luncheon in e clubhouse in Potlatch. Natsue ansen is bringing her daugh- er's Japanese doll display and dll explain the significance of Ja- anese dolls in a girl's life. All men and women in the Dmmunity are invited to attend hese meetings, which take place he third Thursday of each month the Potlatch clubhouse. " A Kiwanis Builders Club 1, oup is being formed at Hood : anal School. The students have tl vited the local Hood Canal Ki- ng anis Club to lunch at noon to- 6 iay. a The luncheon will take place in ;he home economics room at the n lchool, where a special dessert is 6" d investments help out: '11 '------ club. Kiwanis District 38's lieu- tenant governor Sam Edgin will be guest speaker for the special program. • A COMMUNITY potluck is scheduled after the Hood Canal Community Church 11 a.m. serv- ice Sunday, January 31, in the church fellowship hall. Interested members of the community are invited. • The Skokomish Indian As- sembly of God will host a concert at 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 31, at the church on Highway 101. The concert will feature the group "New Beginnings Trio." All members of the community are welcome. • Hoodsport Timberland Li- brary has added three additional hours to the time it is open to pa- trons. The library will be open 9 a.m., Hoodsport Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) group, Hood Canal Community Hall. 7:30 p.m., Alcoholics Anony- mous, meeting room, Hoodsport Library. Tuesday, January 26 10 a.m., Lake Cushman Fire from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays ...... Wednesdays and Saturdays.  .... Thursday hours from 1 to 8 p.m. will remain the same. Thursday, January 21 Noon, Hood Canal Kiwanis Club, Hood Canal School Home Economics Room. Noon, Hood Canal Community Club potluck and meeting, club- house in Potlatch. 7 p.m., Hood Canal Lions Club, : ..... • Potlatch office building. Wednesday, January 27 7 p.m., Hoodsport firemen, Hoodsport Fire Hall. Thursday, January 28 Noon, Hood Canal Kiwanis Club, Tidewater Restaurant, Highway 101. (i HOOD CANAL KIWANIS added candy and gifts to the Hood Canal Food Bank giveaways before Christmas. Joining food bank co.director Marlene Boutwell (center) are Eileen Bambans and Chuck Winne, com- munity services chairman for the canal club. Freasurer Dore:ne Rae says county's in black taxing districts, not just the county. The percentage of 1998 taxes collected was "better than it's ever been," she said quoting a 95.6 percentage rate. THE PERCENTAGE of delin- quent taxes collected was also the best, she continued. The treasur- er's office sent out two notices of delinquency, one in July and one in December, Rae reported, "so that brought the collection up." Commissioner John Bolender commended Rae's of- With just over a million dol- ars in Mason County's current xpense fund ending balance for .998, Mason County Treasurer )orene Rae says the economic }utlook for county operations is 'pretty good." Rae presented the 1998 year- end report to the county commis- ,oners at Tuesday's board meet- ing. [ The treasurer, citing collec- tion figures for taxes, cautioned [the COmmission by noting that tax funds collected are for all Moriah center site for county prayers tercede for Shelton and the vi- cinity," said Rita LeBresh, as- sociate pastor at Moriah Christian Center. Meetings, she added, will rotate through various churches in the com- munity each month through- out the year. A prayer meeting for Mason County is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. February 4 at Moriah Christian Center at 910 East Dearborn in Shelton. "B " ehevers are invited to gather together monthly to in- Retiree Gedde is honored by ELCA The Reverend Palmer L. that have helped many people rice for its "aggressive efforts to remind people of their obliga- tions." The total dollar amount col- lected for all funds last year was $36,764,108 and the total amount for delinquent years was $1,539,907, she stated. The current expense fund cash balance on December 31 was $1,279,600 with bills still to be paid amounting to about $216,000. Rae said she was pleased to see the ending fund balance of $1,081,600. "We worked hard on that one," she commented. "I also did pretty good," was Rae's assessment of the treasur- er's daily cash investment earn- ings for 1998. She reported $861,780 in earnings and attrib- uted part of the success to invest- ing "every penny we had." Bolender pointed out that the treasurer also had more cash to invest on a month-to-month ba- sis than in previous years. RAE REPORTED receiving $27,452 in fees for doing invest- Gedde of Shelton was named this month as one of three re- cipients of Luther Seminary's Faithfulness in Ministry Cross for exemplary service to .tha church in the Evangehc Lutheran Church in America. Pastor Gedde received rec- ognition for his unique contri- butions to urban and suburban ministry prior to his retire- ment "He h ' as accomplished much in his 34 years of pastor- tlservice.," a spokesperson for " seminary said. "Gedde's proactive approach to church and community leadership led to the formation of ministries and communities in Washing- ton and parts of Oregon." His ministries, mostly in the Tri-Cities area, provided services such as community- wide counseling and chaplain- cy services to the community in Tri-Cities Chaplaincy; low- income and subsidized housing for the elderly at Lutheran Senior Center; weekly tele- vision church services involved with "Good News Media Minis- try" and financial gifts to neighboring churches and community initiatives with Richland Lutheran Church Foundation. Grocery, Lake Cushman Resort Store will be open daily 8 a.m.-5 p.m. for the convenience of the residents on "the hill." COMING SOON: VIDEOS (By February 1, 1999) The Store will remain in operation off-season as long as business warrants. FOREy:IONS, CALL 877-9630 ments for other districts. Interest and penalty on delinquent taxes generated $583,767. Other points of interest identi- fied by Rae in the report included the treasurer's collection fee on excise tax, 1 percent of the selling price of properties in the county, was $26,503. "This represents $2,650,349.63 in excise tax paid on sales of property," she report- ed. "The city and county both col- lected .25 percent." The county Dr. Andrew Be61ik, a local member of the Black Hills Audu- bon Society, will lead his annual birding trip along Hood Canal on two Saturdays, February 13 and February 27. A few seats remain on the first tour and Dr. Be61ik is now taking reservations for the second as well. Tours are on a wheelchair- accessible Mason County Transit bus. They begin at 8:30 a.m. and return in the late afternoon. "Now is the perfect time to go birdwatching on Hood Canal," Be61ik notes, "because the duck wars have ended. The hunters fired their last shots a few days ago, and peace and quiet have re- turned to the sloughs and marsh- es. "DUCKS, GEESE and other waterfowl are beginning to relax and allow humans once again to approach them close enough for observation," he added. Most of the birds the tour will focus on are winter visitors, Bed- lik noted. "By spring they will be heading north, or into the moun- tains, to nest and raise their young," he said. "In summer our inland waters are quite deserted, visited only by gulls, cormorants and pigeon guillemots. "In the next few weeks, the pic- ture is very different," he en- thused. On a day along the salt- water shores, his tour partici- pants might expect to see 15 or more species of ducks, many in breeding plumage; four to five kinds of grebes; up to three kinds of loons, usually still dressed for winter; alcids, smaller diving birds; geese, particularly brant; and tundra or trumpeter swans. Regular field trips are part of the Audubon Society program, and Be61ik's are among the most popular of the Black Hills group's offerings. Black Hills Audubon Society incorporates Thurston, Mason and Lewis counties. THE TOURS on the two Feb- ruary Saturdays will stop at es- tuaries along Highway 101 and State Route 106, affording view- ers easy access to waterfowl, the raptors that feed on them, and upland birds that feed near the shore. Optional walking, all on the level, won't exceed two miles, Be61ik added. The bus will first load both mornings at Arcadia Chevron on Olympic Highway South and will depart at 8:30 a.m. for Twanoh State Park, where latecomers and canal residents can join the tour. It will leave Twanoh at 9:20 a.m. Cars may be left for the day at either location, Be61ik noted. Stops are planned for the mouths of Lilliwaup Creek and Hamma Hamma and Duckabush rivers and by special permission from Tacoma City Light and the Skokomish Tribe in the delta of the Skokomish River. The bus will return to Twanoh .and then to Shelton between 3 and 4 p.m. RESERVATIONS are re- quired for the popular trip, Bedlik said. They can be made by con- tacting him at 426-6262. Sign-ups will be on a first-come, first- served basis. He is requesting that those who have signed up, if they must cancel, contact him, even if it's as late as the morning of the trip. There is usually a waiting list of participants who would be ready to use any avail- able seat, he explained. "Bring a lunch," Dr. Be61ik ad- vised, "which you can eat in tran- sit while arguing over birds." Participants, he said, should dress for rainy weather and mud- dy trails, and bring binoculars. Telescopes are particularly use- ful, he added. There is no charge for the trip, but free-will offerings that help defray the costs of the event will be welcome. Hearings board flags county EIS and urban growth plans By MARY DUNCAN Once again Mason County's latest revision of its comprehen- sive plan has failed to pass muster with the Western Wash- ington Growth Management Hearings Board. In an order issued January 14, the board continued its previous findings of noncompliance on the part of the county with the state Growth Management Act for the Belfair Urban Growth Area (UGA) and the The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. Both sections have been remanded to the coun- ty for further revision. The hearings board also con- tinued its finding of invalidity regarding population densities and clustering in rural areas and rural activity centers (RAC). "The ordinance contin- ues to allow non-rural densities in rural areas," the order states. A NEW FINDING of invalid- ity was issued in the order. "We find that the range and types of permitted uses in the rural areas and the RACs substantially in- terfere with Goal 1 (encourage development in urban areas where adequate public facilities and services exist or can be pro- vided in an efficient manner), Goal 2 (reduce sprawl) and Goal 8 (natural resource industries) of the act," the hearings board wrote. "The matrix of permitted uses within rural lands, RACs and rural community centers goes far beyond resource-based in- dustries," the board wrote. capital improvement fund re- The size for such businesses ceived $393,788 from this source, was contested by the petitioners, January $peaal$ 3 FREE TANS With any color or perml Cheryl Borden, PEACOCK TANNINO 8YSTF Jackie Burfiend, Marilyn Harris, stylist Owner, stylist Receptionist Now open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Evenings by appointment. A full-service salon serving allyour professional hair needs for men, women and children. Warren Dawes with the Mason County Community Develop- ment Council and John Diehl, a Harstine Island resident. The board agreed with their argu- ments. The order states, "We have a firm and definite convic- tion that the county has erred when it defines businesses with as many as 50 employees as 'small scale.' The act calls for adoption of measures to mini- mize and contain more inten- sive rural development." Because the Belfair Urban Growth Area is not yet in com- pliance with the growth act, the hearings board identified the following pertinent sections of the comprehensive place and de- velopment regulations which the county should address: a capital facilities plan for public sewage system; projected population characterized by urban density; and inclusion of the Union River Valley in the UGA, which the board questioned. The petitioners challenged compliance with the open space and recreation provisions of the act. However, maps providing details for such spaces were not received by the hearings board from the county until December 15. Those maps will be consid- ered at the next compliance hear- ing, the board ruled, since all parties have not had the opportu- nity to review the map and 14 other ones the county submitted as exhibits to the October 21 hear- ing. FOR THE FINDINGS of con- tinued invalidity related to rural lands, the county must revisit the boundaries set for RACs in Al- lyn, Hoodsport, Union and Taylor Towne; must delineate rural maximum residential densities since the county plan allows a density of four dwelling units per acre in RACs and one dwelling unit per acre in rural areas; and must cap clustering in the rural areas to preclude sets of clusters of such magnitude that they demand urban services, the board ruled. The hearings board congratu- lated the county for its progress on efforts to bring the plan and development regulations into compliance. "The county has revisited its population projection. The dis- pute regarding the Shelton UGA has been withdrawn. The county has improved some performance standards, reduced its market factor for UGAs from 50 to 25 per- cent and abandoned the working rural area and resource conser- vation master plan concepts," the board stated in the order. While both Dawes and Diehl expressed satisfaction with the board's rulings supporting their challenges, both were also dis- mayed that this process is drag- ging on. ul CAN'T BE too jubilant though," Diehl told The Journal on Tuesday. "This case should have been resolved. Under the influence of developers, builders and land-speculators, the com- missioners have dragged their feet and taken a series of half measures." An earlier ruling by the hear- ings board found sections of the comprehensive plan and devel- opment were not compliant with the law. "The county had an obli- gation to make repairs to what was inadequate," Diehl ex- plained. Essentially the hear- ings board agreed with the peti- tioners' arguments that adjust- ments which the county had made were still not compliant and this latest ruling is the re- suit, he added. In a statement prepared for the community development coun- cil, Dawes wrote, "The county's plan allows sprawling growth that uses up our natural resourc- es. Growth, controlled or uncon- trolled, inevitably costs more for services - roads, police and fire protection, stormwater, and all the other necessities we require. "UNCONTROLLED growth costs much more because of the greater distances involved to provide those services. The county's plan does not identify how these services will be pro- vided for or paid for. Of course, we know that it's our taxes, but the county is asking us to sign a blank check," Dawes' statement concludes. The county has 180 days to re- spond to the findings. The effect of findings of invalidity is a moratorium on small-lot subdi- visions and new commercial de- velopment, according to Dawes and Diehl. PLEASE VOTE .... ON FEBRUARY 2 "aL._/ Today's Students -- Tomorrow's Hope YES -- For Academics = Basic Education in Reading, Writing and Math YES -- For New Text Books and Library Books ¢YES -- For Needed Student Supplies and Materials For Maintenance [YES -- For Custodial -- For Unfunded Transportation Costs -- For Academic and Athletic Extracurricular Student Activities [YES YES HOOD (;ANAL ALL THIS FOR ONLY ] DOES Grapcvicw $0.71 79 ¢ PER *1,000.00 [THIS Mary M. Knight $1.69 Pioneer $1.27 C Southsidc $2.22 OF ASSESSED VALUE OMPARE? Shelton $3.25 Please remember: This is a replacement levsj, not a new tax. YOUR "YES" EDUCATES STUDENTS! Paid for by Hood Canal School Levy Support Committee * 502 N. Dow Mtn. Dr., Hoodsport, WA 98548. I Thursday, January 21, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 17 - " Be00lik s birding trip Hood Canal West. ,00rinter's back at Cushman to head along canal IY ORMA JANE CAMERON to be prepared and served by the Hood Canal Fire a District 18 training i Last Friday evening, winter members of the newly forming Friday, January 22 4:30 p.m., PUD 1 Commission, ame back to areas of the Lake ,ushman development. :i; A blizzard covered the yellow ne on State Route 119, Lake saOushman Road. I had to travel al. is route to my home, and it was ;h e llow going to get back home safe-  around Dew Mountain. -. .... There have been slush and ow flurries the past few days, reminding us that winter remains tvith us. : IN THE HOOD Canal West 00ea: ::' * The Hood Canal Community :h 1 .V ub will meet at noon today for its monthly potluck luncheon in e clubhouse in Potlatch. Natsue ansen is bringing her daugh- er's Japanese doll display and dll explain the significance of Ja- anese dolls in a girl's life. All men and women in the Dmmunity are invited to attend hese meetings, which take place he third Thursday of each month the Potlatch clubhouse. " A Kiwanis Builders Club 1, oup is being formed at Hood : anal School. The students have tl vited the local Hood Canal Ki- ng anis Club to lunch at noon to- 6 iay. a The luncheon will take place in ;he home economics room at the n lchool, where a special dessert is 6" d investments help out: '11 '------ club. Kiwanis District 38's lieu- tenant governor Sam Edgin will be guest speaker for the special program. • A COMMUNITY potluck is scheduled after the Hood Canal Community Church 11 a.m. serv- ice Sunday, January 31, in the church fellowship hall. Interested members of the community are invited. • The Skokomish Indian As- sembly of God will host a concert at 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 31, at the church on Highway 101. The concert will feature the group "New Beginnings Trio." All members of the community are welcome. • Hoodsport Timberland Li- brary has added three additional hours to the time it is open to pa- trons. The library will be open 9 a.m., Hoodsport Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) group, Hood Canal Community Hall. 7:30 p.m., Alcoholics Anony- mous, meeting room, Hoodsport Library. Tuesday, January 26 10 a.m., Lake Cushman Fire from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays ...... Wednesdays and Saturdays.  .... Thursday hours from 1 to 8 p.m. will remain the same. Thursday, January 21 Noon, Hood Canal Kiwanis Club, Hood Canal School Home Economics Room. Noon, Hood Canal Community Club potluck and meeting, club- house in Potlatch. 7 p.m., Hood Canal Lions Club, : ..... • Potlatch office building. Wednesday, January 27 7 p.m., Hoodsport firemen, Hoodsport Fire Hall. Thursday, January 28 Noon, Hood Canal Kiwanis Club, Tidewater Restaurant, Highway 101. (i HOOD CANAL KIWANIS added candy and gifts to the Hood Canal Food Bank giveaways before Christmas. Joining food bank co.director Marlene Boutwell (center) are Eileen Bambans and Chuck Winne, com- munity services chairman for the canal club. Freasurer Dore:ne Rae says county's in black taxing districts, not just the county. The percentage of 1998 taxes collected was "better than it's ever been," she said quoting a 95.6 percentage rate. THE PERCENTAGE of delin- quent taxes collected was also the best, she continued. The treasur- er's office sent out two notices of delinquency, one in July and one in December, Rae reported, "so that brought the collection up." Commissioner John Bolender commended Rae's of- With just over a million dol- ars in Mason County's current xpense fund ending balance for .998, Mason County Treasurer )orene Rae says the economic }utlook for county operations is 'pretty good." Rae presented the 1998 year- end report to the county commis- ,oners at Tuesday's board meet- ing. [ The treasurer, citing collec- tion figures for taxes, cautioned [the COmmission by noting that tax funds collected are for all Moriah center site for county prayers tercede for Shelton and the vi- cinity," said Rita LeBresh, as- sociate pastor at Moriah Christian Center. Meetings, she added, will rotate through various churches in the com- munity each month through- out the year. A prayer meeting for Mason County is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. February 4 at Moriah Christian Center at 910 East Dearborn in Shelton. "B " ehevers are invited to gather together monthly to in- Retiree Gedde is honored by ELCA The Reverend Palmer L. that have helped many people rice for its "aggressive efforts to remind people of their obliga- tions." The total dollar amount col- lected for all funds last year was $36,764,108 and the total amount for delinquent years was $1,539,907, she stated. The current expense fund cash balance on December 31 was $1,279,600 with bills still to be paid amounting to about $216,000. Rae said she was pleased to see the ending fund balance of $1,081,600. "We worked hard on that one," she commented. "I also did pretty good," was Rae's assessment of the treasur- er's daily cash investment earn- ings for 1998. She reported $861,780 in earnings and attrib- uted part of the success to invest- ing "every penny we had." Bolender pointed out that the treasurer also had more cash to invest on a month-to-month ba- sis than in previous years. RAE REPORTED receiving $27,452 in fees for doing invest- Gedde of Shelton was named this month as one of three re- cipients of Luther Seminary's Faithfulness in Ministry Cross for exemplary service to .tha church in the Evangehc Lutheran Church in America. Pastor Gedde received rec- ognition for his unique contri- butions to urban and suburban ministry prior to his retire- ment "He h ' as accomplished much in his 34 years of pastor- tlservice.," a spokesperson for " seminary said. "Gedde's proactive approach to church and community leadership led to the formation of ministries and communities in Washing- ton and parts of Oregon." His ministries, mostly in the Tri-Cities area, provided services such as community- wide counseling and chaplain- cy services to the community in Tri-Cities Chaplaincy; low- income and subsidized housing for the elderly at Lutheran Senior Center; weekly tele- vision church services involved with "Good News Media Minis- try" and financial gifts to neighboring churches and community initiatives with Richland Lutheran Church Foundation. Grocery, Lake Cushman Resort Store will be open daily 8 a.m.-5 p.m. for the convenience of the residents on "the hill." COMING SOON: VIDEOS (By February 1, 1999) The Store will remain in operation off-season as long as business warrants. FOREy:IONS, CALL 877-9630 ments for other districts. Interest and penalty on delinquent taxes generated $583,767. Other points of interest identi- fied by Rae in the report included the treasurer's collection fee on excise tax, 1 percent of the selling price of properties in the county, was $26,503. "This represents $2,650,349.63 in excise tax paid on sales of property," she report- ed. "The city and county both col- lected .25 percent." The county Dr. Andrew Be61ik, a local member of the Black Hills Audu- bon Society, will lead his annual birding trip along Hood Canal on two Saturdays, February 13 and February 27. A few seats remain on the first tour and Dr. Be61ik is now taking reservations for the second as well. Tours are on a wheelchair- accessible Mason County Transit bus. They begin at 8:30 a.m. and return in the late afternoon. "Now is the perfect time to go birdwatching on Hood Canal," Be61ik notes, "because the duck wars have ended. The hunters fired their last shots a few days ago, and peace and quiet have re- turned to the sloughs and marsh- es. "DUCKS, GEESE and other waterfowl are beginning to relax and allow humans once again to approach them close enough for observation," he added. Most of the birds the tour will focus on are winter visitors, Bed- lik noted. "By spring they will be heading north, or into the moun- tains, to nest and raise their young," he said. "In summer our inland waters are quite deserted, visited only by gulls, cormorants and pigeon guillemots. "In the next few weeks, the pic- ture is very different," he en- thused. On a day along the salt- water shores, his tour partici- pants might expect to see 15 or more species of ducks, many in breeding plumage; four to five kinds of grebes; up to three kinds of loons, usually still dressed for winter; alcids, smaller diving birds; geese, particularly brant; and tundra or trumpeter swans. Regular field trips are part of the Audubon Society program, and Be61ik's are among the most popular of the Black Hills group's offerings. Black Hills Audubon Society incorporates Thurston, Mason and Lewis counties. THE TOURS on the two Feb- ruary Saturdays will stop at es- tuaries along Highway 101 and State Route 106, affording view- ers easy access to waterfowl, the raptors that feed on them, and upland birds that feed near the shore. Optional walking, all on the level, won't exceed two miles, Be61ik added. The bus will first load both mornings at Arcadia Chevron on Olympic Highway South and will depart at 8:30 a.m. for Twanoh State Park, where latecomers and canal residents can join the tour. It will leave Twanoh at 9:20 a.m. Cars may be left for the day at either location, Be61ik noted. Stops are planned for the mouths of Lilliwaup Creek and Hamma Hamma and Duckabush rivers and by special permission from Tacoma City Light and the Skokomish Tribe in the delta of the Skokomish River. The bus will return to Twanoh .and then to Shelton between 3 and 4 p.m. RESERVATIONS are re- quired for the popular trip, Bedlik said. They can be made by con- tacting him at 426-6262. Sign-ups will be on a first-come, first- served basis. He is requesting that those who have signed up, if they must cancel, contact him, even if it's as late as the morning of the trip. There is usually a waiting list of participants who would be ready to use any avail- able seat, he explained. "Bring a lunch," Dr. Be61ik ad- vised, "which you can eat in tran- sit while arguing over birds." Participants, he said, should dress for rainy weather and mud- dy trails, and bring binoculars. Telescopes are particularly use- ful, he added. There is no charge for the trip, but free-will offerings that help defray the costs of the event will be welcome. Hearings board flags county EIS and urban growth plans By MARY DUNCAN Once again Mason County's latest revision of its comprehen- sive plan has failed to pass muster with the Western Wash- ington Growth Management Hearings Board. In an order issued January 14, the board continued its previous findings of noncompliance on the part of the county with the state Growth Management Act for the Belfair Urban Growth Area (UGA) and the The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. Both sections have been remanded to the coun- ty for further revision. The hearings board also con- tinued its finding of invalidity regarding population densities and clustering in rural areas and rural activity centers (RAC). "The ordinance contin- ues to allow non-rural densities in rural areas," the order states. A NEW FINDING of invalid- ity was issued in the order. "We find that the range and types of permitted uses in the rural areas and the RACs substantially in- terfere with Goal 1 (encourage development in urban areas where adequate public facilities and services exist or can be pro- vided in an efficient manner), Goal 2 (reduce sprawl) and Goal 8 (natural resource industries) of the act," the hearings board wrote. "The matrix of permitted uses within rural lands, RACs and rural community centers goes far beyond resource-based in- dustries," the board wrote. capital improvement fund re- The size for such businesses ceived $393,788 from this source, was contested by the petitioners, January $peaal$ 3 FREE TANS With any color or perml Cheryl Borden, PEACOCK TANNINO 8YSTF Jackie Burfiend, Marilyn Harris, stylist Owner, stylist Receptionist Now open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Evenings by appointment. A full-service salon serving allyour professional hair needs for men, women and children. Warren Dawes with the Mason County Community Develop- ment Council and John Diehl, a Harstine Island resident. The board agreed with their argu- ments. The order states, "We have a firm and definite convic- tion that the county has erred when it defines businesses with as many as 50 employees as 'small scale.' The act calls for adoption of measures to mini- mize and contain more inten- sive rural development." Because the Belfair Urban Growth Area is not yet in com- pliance with the growth act, the hearings board identified the following pertinent sections of the comprehensive place and de- velopment regulations which the county should address: a capital facilities plan for public sewage system; projected population characterized by urban density; and inclusion of the Union River Valley in the UGA, which the board questioned. The petitioners challenged compliance with the open space and recreation provisions of the act. However, maps providing details for such spaces were not received by the hearings board from the county until December 15. Those maps will be consid- ered at the next compliance hear- ing, the board ruled, since all parties have not had the opportu- nity to review the map and 14 other ones the county submitted as exhibits to the October 21 hear- ing. FOR THE FINDINGS of con- tinued invalidity related to rural lands, the county must revisit the boundaries set for RACs in Al- lyn, Hoodsport, Union and Taylor Towne; must delineate rural maximum residential densities since the county plan allows a density of four dwelling units per acre in RACs and one dwelling unit per acre in rural areas; and must cap clustering in the rural areas to preclude sets of clusters of such magnitude that they demand urban services, the board ruled. The hearings board congratu- lated the county for its progress on efforts to bring the plan and development regulations into compliance. "The county has revisited its population projection. The dis- pute regarding the Shelton UGA has been withdrawn. The county has improved some performance standards, reduced its market factor for UGAs from 50 to 25 per- cent and abandoned the working rural area and resource conser- vation master plan concepts," the board stated in the order. While both Dawes and Diehl expressed satisfaction with the board's rulings supporting their challenges, both were also dis- mayed that this process is drag- ging on. ul CAN'T BE too jubilant though," Diehl told The Journal on Tuesday. "This case should have been resolved. Under the influence of developers, builders and land-speculators, the com- missioners have dragged their feet and taken a series of half measures." An earlier ruling by the hear- ings board found sections of the comprehensive plan and devel- opment were not compliant with the law. "The county had an obli- gation to make repairs to what was inadequate," Diehl ex- plained. Essentially the hear- ings board agreed with the peti- tioners' arguments that adjust- ments which the county had made were still not compliant and this latest ruling is the re- suit, he added. In a statement prepared for the community development coun- cil, Dawes wrote, "The county's plan allows sprawling growth that uses up our natural resourc- es. Growth, controlled or uncon- trolled, inevitably costs more for services - roads, police and fire protection, stormwater, and all the other necessities we require. "UNCONTROLLED growth costs much more because of the greater distances involved to provide those services. The county's plan does not identify how these services will be pro- vided for or paid for. Of course, we know that it's our taxes, but the county is asking us to sign a blank check," Dawes' statement concludes. The county has 180 days to re- spond to the findings. The effect of findings of invalidity is a moratorium on small-lot subdi- visions and new commercial de- velopment, according to Dawes and Diehl. PLEASE VOTE .... ON FEBRUARY 2 "aL._/ Today's Students -- Tomorrow's Hope YES -- For Academics = Basic Education in Reading, Writing and Math YES -- For New Text Books and Library Books ¢YES -- For Needed Student Supplies and Materials For Maintenance [YES -- For Custodial -- For Unfunded Transportation Costs -- For Academic and Athletic Extracurricular Student Activities [YES YES HOOD (;ANAL ALL THIS FOR ONLY ] DOES Grapcvicw $0.71 79 ¢ PER *1,000.00 [THIS Mary M. Knight $1.69 Pioneer $1.27 C Southsidc $2.22 OF ASSESSED VALUE OMPARE? Shelton $3.25 Please remember: This is a replacement levsj, not a new tax. YOUR "YES" EDUCATES STUDENTS! Paid for by Hood Canal School Levy Support Committee * 502 N. Dow Mtn. Dr., Hoodsport, WA 98548. I Thursday, January 21, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 17