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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 9, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 9, 2020
 
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Thursday, July 9, 2020 — Sheltbn-Mason County - Page A-27 Lawsuit: Legality of site, long—term effects among Concerns ~ continued from page A-1 meaning it exceeded a county stipulation that a parcel that has a two-year lapse in non- conforming use requires re— application for mining use. A gravel borrow is an open- pit mine used to extract grav- e1. ' Under the diminishing as- set doctrine, the operation can legally exist only within the parcels that total 1.87, acres that the gravel borrow , historically operated. There is limited evidence to suggest that the surrounding 24- and 49.14-acre parcels now desig— nated as forestlands were ever used for mining. A few months prior to Win- dom signing a SM-6 form that approved the 66.5-acre surface mine, Mason County Plan- ner Michael MacSems sent a memorandum explaining that Grump Ventures, the business entity behind the proposed mine-operating company, could legally mine on the 1.87- acre lot, which would limit the operation to the existing grav- el borrow. “I can find no evidence that the mining operation was ever established on those parcels,” MacSems wrote in the March 15, 2017, memo. “My recom- mendation is that you do not sign until the acreage is changed to 1.87 acres.” In the lawsuit, homeowners allege that Grump Ventures’ application for mining approv- al was pending until Neather- lin returned from a trip to Ire- land with Jack Johnson, own- er of Peninsula Topsoil, “who was shepherding Grump’s ap- plication” as part of the local appliCation approval process. “The legality is just one fac- et, yes it’s a legal issue but the ' homeowners’ main concerns are if this mine takes opera- tion it will have a huge impact on an area zoned for residen- tial use only for the last 25 to 30 years,” plantiffs’ attorney David Bricklin said. “A lot of folks built homes there on that basis, but a gravel mine would be terrible, a lot of noise, truck traffic, and safety issues with the ground and surface wa- ters.” , In January, the county re- scinded the SM-6 form, citing the expiration of the noncon- Celebrate The Scott Gravel Pit has. not been excavated since April 2019 when the county issued a stop-work order. Journal photo by Isabel/a Breda forming use after two years of inactivity. Grump Ventures appealed that decision and the county is moving through the hear- ing-examiner appeal process. Grump Ventures had a week to respond and a hearing is scheduled for July 16. “It’s kind of important that they are suing for damages and there’s no‘mine,” Neath- erlin said. “I have to live with it and I have to deal with it. I try to work real well with ev- erybody, I thought I had done well. You can’t blame anybody for not wanting to have some- thing like that next to them.” Joe Smillie, communica— tions manager for the Depart- ment of Natural Resources said Grump Ventures has not contacted DNR “since they initially applied for a surface mining reclamation permit a few years ago.” The SM-6 form is required by DNR in order to grant a surface mining permit. After county or munici- pal approval of surface min- ing through the SM—6 form, a State Environmental Policy Act Review (SEPA) must be conducted. After a 30-day written com- ment period on the SEPA, on July 23, 2018, Grump Ven- tures owner Russell Scott, who lives across the road from the proposed surface mine, sub- mitted a written request to , $62 in Mason County* Call 360-426-4412 today! est. 1886 www.masoncounty.com Mason County with a 1-year Subscription! Slpltonwuaonanmum 110mm! Htl‘t‘ALD *Outs/de Mason County $75/year. Senior discounts available. withdraw his applications, ac- cording to. a letter from Mason County Planner MacSems to ' the Hood Canal Gravel Mining Opposition Association. - In a July 26, 2018, story in the Kitsap Sun, Scott said “it was never our intention to have this project disrupt the community this way.” Scott added, “Commissioner Randy Neatherlin spoke with me and explained the community’s concern, This really enlight- ened me. Right now, I am just taking a step back to reassess. I just didn’t envision any of this.” Reached by telephone, Scott declined to comment to the Journal on the ongoing litigation. Less than a year later, h0w- ever, Grump Ventures per- mitted Peninsula Topsoil & Landscape Supplies to begin excavating materials the week oprril 1, 2019. On April 8, 2019, Kell Rowen, Mason County plan- ning manager and a code en— forcement officer, went to the property and provided Penin- sula Topsoil with a stop-work order. “I followed up on the fol- lowing Wednesday to let them know that we’d reviewed the code and- because they did not have a mining permit (from the state) they needed a grad- ing permit from the county,” Rowen said. “(The grading l \ x x i permit) is required when you grade over 200 cubic yards and they definitely had excavated over 200 cubic yards.' As far as I know they have not done anything active on the site since that day in April.” According to legal docu- ments, Brad Carey, a North Shore resident, made a pub- lic records request of Windom “for all records and writing used/relied upon for Defen- dants signing off on the... ‘SM 6,’ ” on April 9, 2019, related to the gravel mine, “for which the Defendant intentionally and in bad faith denied said records.” On Feb. 5, county commis- sioners approved a $30,000 settlement to release all claims in the Brad Carey v. Mason County Public Records Act Lawsuit. Carey is a member of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Hood Canal Gravel Mine Opposition As- sociation, a coalition of North Mason residents working to mitigate the potential prob- lems with the proposed mine. One of the lawsuit plain- tiffs, McCullough, said he has worked as an environmental engineer for nearly 60 years and has completed more than 65 river, stream and estuary restoration projects, including the Salt Creek Estuary, Union River Estuary and Kliegel Creek restorations. During the SEPA comment ‘ E L Fig R; QSELRSTORHGE ..__l____v__.__._____.11 ~ the period, McCullough wrote a letter stating that in 2003 he and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group worked “to restore MacElhany Creek on the south end of the exist- ing gravel pit and another small stream on the north end of the existing gravel pit both streams had been, and still are, heavily impacted by gravel substrate,” as a byprod- uct of the existing gravel mine. According to the SEPA, the Scott Gravel Pit’s “proposed mining limits are outside of Stimson Creek Water- shed” and would have provid- ed a 100—foot minimum buffer from the unmapped stream in the northeast corner of the property. “I have no problem with gravel pits, I’ve been a con- sultant,” McCullough said. “But, they need to be properly sited and the land use transfer needs to go through the cor- rect and proper process, which they didn’t do for a 7 million cubic yard excavation (site) with asphalt, rock crushing and the whole works.” . McCullough said the ap- proval process for surface mines, even in areas that are properly sited, can take up to 10 years. Smillie said the DNR permit approval process varies by location. ' The site is across the street from the Port -of Allyn boat launch on Northeast North Shore Road. North Shore Road is about 200 feet from Hood Canal at that point. Summons were electroni- cally issued to defendants Grump Ventures, Mason County, Neatherlin, Russell Scott and Windom on June 30. County Prosecutor Tim Whitehead said he was on va- cation the week that the sum- mons were sent, but he will discuss the suit for the com- missioners July 20. Bricklin is one of the three attorneys from Bricklin & Newman who are represent- ing the homeowners. The firm specializes in land-use law, environmental law, property disputes and property damage. The county will draw from the risk pool it pays into annu- ally for legal representation. US. District Court Judge Michelle L. Peterson will de- 'cide the case. Now Accepting Reservations Office Hours: Mon-Sat 9am- 5pm 0 Sun 10am 2pm ‘ Gate Hours: 6am 9pm 23270 NE State Rt. 3 - Belfair, WA 9852 (360) 275-2257 www.BelfairSelfStorage.com