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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 2, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 2, 2012
 
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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