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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
May 10, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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May 10, 2012
 
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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 "The assumptions upon which the subject land was originally zoned are no longer valid," the request reads.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." Dentistry from the heart ... ... to be held at the office of Dr. Richard C. Downing, D.D.S. 1626 Olympic Highway North, Shelton, WA (360) 426-4712 I Joining us this year will be The Smile Mobile brought i Dental Service Foundation! ........ !o you ,by Washington Your Choice of One Free Procedure: W Choice #1 - Filling W Choice #2- Extraction W Choice #3 - Full Mouth Cleaning Registration begins at 7:00 a.m. We will treat as many patients as possible in eight hours. *Must be at least 18 years of age* S 19th annual Community Spelling Bee Desserts & Appetizers Silent Auction Door Prizes Friday, May 11th at 6pm $helton Civic Center Call for more info: 360.426.9733 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. Rotary Web Offset PRINTING • Advertising Tabloids • Newspapers • Magazines • Posters • Newsletters Just about anything except U.S. currency/ 426-4412 1 Shelton-Mason County ! Ij¢