May 10, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Hospital expansion plans mo, ring tbc,r00 ,ard
By KEVIN SPRADLIN
/,evin@m, asoncontyocom
Expansion plans by
Mason General Hospital
(MGH) took a baby step for-
ward Monday night when
the Shelton City Commis-
sion agreed to consider a
rezoning request on behalf
of hospital officials.
The request is one of two
proposed amendments to
the city's comprehensive
plan. The presentation was
made by Jason Dose. se-
nior planner for Shelton.
Dose told Mayor Gary
Cronce and commissioners
Dawn Pannell and Mike
Olsen that MGH needed
the rezoning request ap-
proved before moving
ahead on plans to pur-
chase property, which is
approximately five acres in
size and owned by Shelton
United Methodist Church.
That parcel is zoned
Neighborhood Residential.
MGH, operated by Public
Hospital District No. 1 of
Mason County, wants the
city to change the zoning
on the property to Medical/
Educational.
"There is very limited
land available in the cur-
rent Medical/Educational
zone near the district's ex-
isting facilities to accom-
modate future growth,"
MGH officials explained in
their written request for
the amendment.
District officials indi-
cated that although they
had no specific plans for
the property, "its location
adjacent to the district's
existing facilities makes
the property desirable for
future use consistent with
the city's comprehensive
plan."
The parcel in ,question
is completely wooded and
located south of the hos-
pital's existing campus. It
is bordered by North 13th
and East E streets.
According to its written
request for rezoning, the
district has entered into a
purchase and sale agree-
ment with the church. The
sale, however, "is contin-
gent on the ability of the
district to rezone a portion
of property to a land use
designation that would al-
low the district to use the
property for future devel-
opment and expansion."
A proposed purchase
price was not disclosed.
District officials argue
the request is justified un-
der the Growth Manage-
ment Act and City of Shel-
ton Comprehensive Plan.
"The assumptions upon
which the subject land was
originally zoned are no
longer valid," the request
reads. "In addition, it also
appears that the original
designation of the parcel as
N/R (Neighborhood / Resi-
dential) was based upon
inadequate information.
Proper consideration of
current and most accurate
information supports the
proposed amendment."
The second request,
proposed by city staff, re-
garded the city's economic
development plan.
Cronce noted that mov-
ing forward with this
amendment is "not a final
vote or anything."
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Page A-2 - Shelton-Mason County Journal-Thursday, May 10, 2012
"We're still working on
suggestions," Cronce said.
"This is just a draft."
The commission voted
3-0 to forward both re-
quests to the city's May 14
study session agenda.
City officials empha-
sized that nothing had
been approved or finalized.
Instead, Dose reminded
the commissioners the
District's rezoning request
would require two public
hearings.
In other action on Mon-
day, Community and Eco-
nomic Development Direc-
tor Steve Goins relayed a
pitch made to him by the
National League of Cit-
ies (NLC) in which an in-
dependent video company
would produce six, one-
minute promotional vid-
eos about Shelton -- at no
cost to the city. The NLC
is a nonprofit group which
advocates for more than
19,000 U.S. cities.
CGI Communications,
with offices in Illinois and
New York, have produced
promotional videos for ju-
risdictions across the coun-
try.
Goins said topics would
include a summary of the
city's business and indus-
try as well as educational
and recreational rsourc-
eS'The videos are to e paid
for. in part. by CGI Com-
munications seeking ad-
vertising from local busi-
nesses. The city has the
authority to limit adver-
tisements from businesses
that "may be perceived as
offensive," according to an
advertisement policy pro-
vided by CGI.
"These types of estab-
lishments include, but are
not limited to, adult book-
store (and) entertainment,
pawnshops and tattoo (or)
piercing parlors."
The issue is expected to
be voted upon at the city's
May 14 public meeting.
PUD 3 receives
$380K FEMA loan
Funds to be used as flood reimbursement
By NATALIE JOHNSON
nataHe@rnasoncounyoCOm
Last January's winter
storm packed Western
Washington with more
than a foot of snow in plac-
es, causing 3,600 Mason
County PUD 3 customers
to lose power.
The PUD recently
learned that the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) would
reimburse the utility for
about $380,000 of dam-
age caused by the storm.
PUD 3 Finance Manager
Annette Creekpaum said
the utility incurred about
$506,000 of costs related to
the January storm.
"When we have a storm
going on we have account-
ing work at the same time
so we can give numbers
to the county so they can
give numbers to the state,"
Creekpaum said.
In February, the Mason
County Commission voted
to call January's storm
a "declared emergency,"
which allowed county
agencies like the PUD to
apply for reimbursement
from FEMA.
The PUD was eligible
to receive 74 percent of
its storm related expenses
back from FEMA, which
amounts to about $380,000,
said PUD 3 Chief Accoun-
tant and Treasurer Sherry
Speaks.
The PUD also expects
the State of Washington
to reimburse the utility
for another 12.5 percent of
expenses, leaving the PUD
responsible for the remain-
ing amount, she said.
"We're not clear wheth-
er we're going to get state
funds yet," Creekpaum
said.
Joel Myer, PUD 3 public
relations and government
relations manager, said
the PUD always goes after
reimbursement funds after
a declared disaster.
"We aggressively go af-
ter funds like the FEMA
funds," he said. "This is
one of the ways to [keep
rates low]."
Creekpaum said the
$506,000 incurred from
the storm does not include
added expenses to prevent
further damage.
"We believe we've also
incurred another $300,000
of expenses that we call
hazard mitigation," Creek-
paum said.
Hazard mitigation in-
cludes
work to in-
N stall wir-
.......... ing that
i is more
- resistant
iI:::: to storm
events,
and work
such as
trimming
Annette trees to
Creekpaum avoid fall-
en limbs.
"Right
now we
have
bare wire
through-
out the
county,
where it
doesn't
have a
Sherry p 1 a s
tic coat-
Speaks ing that
makes it
stronger.
That bare wire is very
easily damaged and comes
down easily," Speaks said.
"We want to replace that
with Tree Wire, which
is much stronger. That
would mitigate future
damage."
However, the PUD is not
currently eligible for reim-
bursement for hazard miti-
gation.
The utility plans to ap-
ply for those funds in the
future.
While January's snow
and ice storm seemed very
severe, PUD officials said
it was much more manage-
able than a similar storm
in 2007 which knocked
out power to more than
200,000 customers, some
for more than a week, and
caused $! million in dam-
ages.
The $500,000 in dam-
ages from the 2012 storm
accounts for about 1 per-
cent of the utility's budget,
Creekpaum said.
The PUD expects to re-
ceive the FEMA funds by
the end of 2012.
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