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Thursday, July 28, 2011
Year 125 -- Week 30 --- 6 Sections --- 48 Pages --- Published in Shelton, Washington -- $1
By NATALIE JOHNSON "They haven't deemedus in and opportunity to comment. It has long argued that noise from
compliance yet," the city's commu- argues that this was sufficient. It the airport would be a nuisance to
After a lengthy process of ap- nity and economic development was not,~ the board wrote, homeowners in the development,
peals, litigation, public hearings director Steve Goins said. "They The 160 acres in question are which would only by a half mile
and plenty of frustration, the want us to have a consultation a part of a larger, more than 700- south of the airport's runway.
City of Shelton voted to rezone process with the aviation commu- acre piece of land owned by Hall Such a nuisance, pert Executive
160 acres of property south of the nity." Equities. Since April 2010, the city Director John Dobson said could
Shelton airport to neighborhood/ ,The gro'#th board states in its has been trying to rezone the 160- lead to lawsuits that would nega-
residential in April. decision that the city did not pre- acre Shelton Hills development to tively impact airport and Port of
However, a recent decision by viously engage in such a consulta- neighborhood/residential. Shelton operations.
the Growth Management Hear- tion process as they should have. While adding hundreds of acres To satisfy concerns about noise,
Lugs Board invalidated the rezone "The City stated at the Compli- of development to the city sounds the city commissioned a noise
and will send the city back to ance Hearing that it provided WS- like a good idea to city commission- study earlier this year by Seat-
square one. DOT notice of its proposed action ers and staff, the Port of Shelton tie noise consultation firm BRC
Acoustics. BRC representatives
said that because activity from the
airport would not generate noise
above the noise measurement
65 DNL, the FAA's threshold for
noise impact, the rezone would be
appropriate and the development
shouldn't have any significant
noise impact.
Dobson disagreed with the find-
ing, saying that~the 65 DNL mea-
surement signifies noise that is
See Rezone on page A-7
\
Journal photo by Nataiie Johnson
Mara Clift, left, and Melissa Fulton, FFA members, help put together the beef tent at the Port of Shelton
Fairgrounds es y.
By NATALIE JOHNSON pig-owners signed up to exhibit their animals we're looking at 200 man hours."
this year. While most of the volunteers will tell you
Hundreds of volunteers and fair enthusi- "That's sad, this whole barn used to be that the last week has been exhausting, they
asts came together over the last week to spit filled with pigs," she said. also all say it's all worth it.
and polish the fairgrounds so that all of Ma- Agriculture and Floral Superintendent "Now it's a challenge from that stand-
son County and beyond can "Make Tracks to Nancy Dillon was busy this week not only point," Brown said. "When it's all together
the Fair." decorating the massive agriculture building, and everything's UP and the kids are showing
Many of those volunteers commented on but setting up fun quizzes for kids. and winning prizes then all the work we do
the xiiassive fair time crunch taking place She also plans to make fun use of the fair's prior to this makes it all worth while."
this week. theme - "Make Tracks to the Fair," and use All this work is worthwile not just to see
In past years the Mason County Fair took different examples of tracks in her decora- the finished product, Brown said, but to allow
up to two weeks to set up, then another two tions, from animal tracks, to train tracks and kids to participate in a fair and educate oth-
weeks to tear down. This year, fair enthusi- even an eight-track tape player, ers about agriculture.
asts had about four days. The Mason Area Fair will also have an "All of the 4H kids they have to qualify at
"You're basically unpacking a whole fair in aquaculture area this year, which was a new the county level to go to state ... For FFA,
a couple ofdays," said John Hansen of North- addition to the fair last year. they don't have to qualify but it's my rule
west 'Event Organizers, who put on the fair Shifts of 50 4H kids, adult 4H leaders, that they have to show at a local level," he
this year and last year. "It's a huge effort." Mason County Fair Association leadership, said. "This is important to me as a teacher ...
While John and Rachel Hansen have orga- fair supervisors, FFA students and volun- there are so many people our there that don't
nized the overall fair, John Hansen said that teers worked around the clock over the last know where their food comes from."
it's the superintendents and the kids who re- few days to clean the fairgrounds and set up Brown's own 13 year old daughter, Patty,
ally run the fair. all of the animals and exhibits in 25 build- shows horses and sheep at the fair. Johnson
"Each one of the buildings is a planet - all ings. said that anyone who goes to the fair should
we do is keep these planets from colliding," "I can't tell you the total number of man stop when they see kids like Patty.
he said. hours," said Ken Brown, president of the Ma- "If you see kids at the fair ask them ques-
Poultry Superintendent Alyson Johnson son County Fair Association, Shelton High tions, they like that," she said.
said that while the poultry barn is full, with School Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor. The Mason Area Fair begins on Friday,
70 chickens, six turkeys and three geese, no "Just to put this tent up for the beef barn July 29.
City to
put new
pl nt
nto
action
By NATALIE JOHNSON
After a long process to re-
build its entire wastewater
treatment plant from the
ground up, the City of Shel-
ton officially started trans-
ferring wastewater flow to
its new buildings and equip-
ment Monday morning.
Crews started making
the transfer at 7:40 a.m.,
said project manager Bob
Tauscher/~hd spent much
of the day waiting for hold-
ing tanks to fill up.
The switch from the old
to new equipment allows
city crews and contractors to
begin tearing down the old
buildings and equipment,
and begin adding a new lab
for water testing.
"It's a big page turn in this
project,"
Tauscher
said.
"They're
filling
tanks as
we go to-
day, there
won't be a
lot accom-
Tauscher p I i s h e d
today, the
goal is to
get the tanks about half
full."
The new wastewater
treatment plant has brand
new buildings and equip-
ment from the headworks
to the outfall pipe and.has
switched from the old stan-
dard of chlorine disinfection
to the new standard - an
ultra-violet, or UV disinfec-
tion system.
Commissioner Dawn
Pannell asked if the city
would need to do any addi-
tional testing with the new
disinfection system.
"All of the parameters
under the permit are exactly
the same as they have been
See Plant on page A-7
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Joe Puhn counts birds
as part of a study to
find the origin of a
fecal coliform
conltion
Oakland Bay.
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Tribe bird watch
for the bay
By NATALIE JOHNSON
As part of the Squaxin Island Tribe's con-
tinued efforts to identify the source of a fe-
cal coliform contamination in Oakland Bay,
the tribe is turning to birds.
"We have this summertime bacteria
problem and we're still trying to find the
source," Squaxin Island Tribe Environmen-
tal Program Manager John Konovsky said.
"Some
people have wondered if it's birds."
Konovsky is leading an effort to get a
rough count of the bird population in the
far end of Oakland Bay off of Ecler Road
to see what impact birds and their feces
could have on summer spikes in fecal coli-
form levels in the bay. The study is funded
by and Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Our Puget Sound grant and should
only cost a few thousand dollars, Konovsky
said. f
Konovsky and field technician Joe Pul
count birds, ranging from waterfowl #
crows, eagles, osprey, killdeer and kingfis
ers.
The bacteria are caused mostly by T
man and livestock feces being washed !
the bay by rainwater. The contamin~
See Bird on pag7
t"