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Thursday, February 2, 2012
and Diane Jones of Belfair -- $1
Shelton Hills p00roperty still in legal limbo
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@rnasoncounty.com.
An effort to rezone 160 acres of
property a half mile south of the
Port of Shelton'sSanderson Field
ended up in the Thurston County
Superior Court on Dec 16, 2011,
After the Washington State
Growth Management Hearings
Board invalidated the City of Shel-
ton's second attempt to rezone the
Shelton Hills property, owned by
the Hall Equities Group, on July
13, 2011, the city appealed the:de,
cision to Thurston County Supe-
rior Court.
The city hoped to have received
a decision from the court by now,
said City Administrator Dave
O'Leary.
"We were expecting the first
part of the month," he said, "We're
hoping that the judge decides
we've done everything right and
we have the authorization under
state law to make a rezone deci-
sion."
Since March 2008i when Hall
Equities first asked the city to ap-
prove a rezone of its 160 Shelton
Hills property from commercial] ings Board 10 days later, citing
industrial to residential, the is, concerns related to airport use
sue has become very complicated,
O'Leary said ........
"There are so many different
moving pieces - there are a vari-
ety of different suits and counter-
suits," he said.
compatibility ...............
Specifically, the port fears that
noise complaints would severely
impact the port's ability to do busi-
ness:
In September 2010, the growth
After more than ayear of public board stated that the
review, consultations and safety Parametrix sound study
and sound studies, the city ap-
proved the rezone on April 20,
2010.
The Port of Shelton appealed
the rezone to the Washington
State Growth Management Hear-
city's
was
flawed in six different ways. The
board invalidated the city's com-
prehensive plan amendment that
included the rezone.
Hall Equities then commis-
sioned a second noise study by
BRC Acoustics.
After the BRC Acoustics study
found that the noise from the air-
port would not negatively impact
the development, the city voted
again to rezone the property.
However, on June 14, the board
again found the city out of compli-.
ance with the Washington State
Growth Management Act (GMA),
stating that the city failed to prop-
erly consult with the port.
This week, both the city and the
port are still waiting for a decision
See Rezone on page A-3
Journal photos by latalie Johnsor
Mason County Shelter Executive Director Deb Nielsen said the shelter hopes that crews can begin construction on
two new buildings in the city by March or April 2012.
New shelter construction set
City commission approves grant; work
could begin on 2 buildings in March
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty corn
The Mason County Shelter
plans to begin construction on two
new buildings in Shelton as early
as March, shelter Executive Di-
rector Deb Nielsen said.
This week, the City of Shelton
Commission approved a contract
to adminster an $825,000 Com-
munity Development Block Grant
to the shelter.
With the grant, the shelter now
has the $3.2 million necessary to
build two new buildings and get
out of the floodplain.
The shelter, which serves
homeless families in Mason Coun-
ty, has existed at its downtown
Shelton location since 1993.
However, since 2004, flooding
of the shelter, which sits directly
next to Shelton Creek, has been a
persistent problem, Nielsen said.
"In 2004, 2007 and 2009 the
shelter flooded when Shelton
Creek overflowed its banks," she
said.
The creek also flooded in 2010,
she said, but didn't cause any
damage to the two buildings lo-
cated on the creek - one contains
the shelter's administrative of-
rices and several one-bedroom
apartments and the second serves
as an emergency shelter.
Since 1993, the creek bed has
risen nearly a foot due to sedi-
ment accumulation, Nielsen said.
'Tee don't really have any place
to go," she said. "Three times
we've had to put all the people in
motels for a month ... cu up dry-
wall, replace flooring ... bring in
dryers."
In 2008, representatives from
the Washington State Housing
Trust Fund, which partially funds
operations at the shelter, came
to do a regular inspection of the
building. After finding out about
the flooding, the organization in-
structed the shelter to look into
acquiring new buildings.
Nielsen said the shelter looked
at its options.
"There were two possibilities -
one was buying an existing set of
mobile homes and an apartment
building on Grove Street," she
said.
However, a 1.5-acre lot on
Olympic Highway South near
Delaware Street already zoned
for multi-family residential units
caught Nielsen's eye.
As early as March, after all
the necessary permits have been
filed, the shelter hopes to begin
construction on two new buildings
in that lot.
One new building will replace
the shelter's existing emergency
shelter downtown. Homeless fam-
ilies can now stay in one of the
emergency shelter's seven one-
bedroom apartments for up to 90
days.
See Shelter on page A-3
Commissioner searches for Memorial Hall project funding
By NATALIE JOHNSON
nataZie(usoncounty.com
On Armistice Day, Nov.
11, 1924, the American Le-
gion moved into the newly
completed Memorial Hall on
Franklin Street in Shelton.
from many more wars and
conflicts since World War
I, the war to end all wars,
which inspired its exis-
tence.
With veterans coming
home from every new war
or confliCt, the community's
needs have changed, and
slIIIU!!I!!II!!UI!UIIll
In the almost 90 years with it, the use of the hall.
since then, the building has Now, Mason County
seen veterans come home Commissioner Lynda Ring
Erickson said the Memori-
al Hall needs some work to
live up to the needs of the
commtmity.
'Torking on the voter-
2 ans committee, it became
clear that that building
was built as a social hall,"
she said. "Today's veterans
need job consulting and
medical counseling ... and
sometimes help with their
bills."
Ring Erickson serves on
the Memorial Hall Com-
mittee, a group of citizens
and local government rep-
resentatives that meets
quarterly to manage the
hall.
Last week, Ring Erick-
son sent a letter and packet
See Veterans on page A-3
Journal pnoto oy Natalie Johnson
Built in 1924, the Memorial Hall has seen
almost 90 years of veterans use services
offered within its walls.
LTAC
board
cancels
meeting
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoneountyocom
The Mason County Lodg-
ing Tax Advisory Commit-
tee (LTAC) cancelled its
meeting scheduled for 2
p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, due
to a lack of a quorum.
Mason County Commis-
sioner and non-voting LTAC
board member Steve Bloom-
field said the meeting will
likely be rescheduled for
sometime in March.
Howev-
er, Bloom-
field said
the county
commis-
sion plans
to discuss
General
Tourism
Manage-
me n t
Steve a p p 1 i c a -
Bloomfield tions from
Olympic
Broadcast-
ing and the Shelton-Mason
County Chamber of Com-
merce at its next regularly
scheduled meeting at 9 a.m.
or Tuesday, Feb. 7.
"We're going to be acting
on that sooner rather than
later," he said. "We need
to make a decision on that
pretty quick, so time's slip-
ping."
The county commission
asked the LTAC board to
take a second look at the
general tourism manage-
ment applications, out of
concern that the board mis-
understood Olympic Broad-
casting's proposal.
In December the LTAC
board voted not to recom-
mend approval of a Shelton-
Mason County Chamber
of Commerce request for a
$95,000 grant to manage
tourism in the county and
provide tourism materials
such as brochures, maps, ad-
vertising and commercials.
This is the same amount ap-
proved by the LTAC board
in 2011.
However, the commit-
tee did vote to recommend
approval for an Olympic
Broadcasting request for
$36,000 for tourism man-
agement.
The county commission
asked for an LTAC review
after realizing that Olym-
pic Broadcasting's propos-
al was strictly an admin-
istration fee and did not
include the tourism mate-
rials produced now by the
chamber.
The chamber's
See LTAC on page A-3