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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 28, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 28, 2011
 
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/ Rezone Continued from page A-1 hazardous to health, not just annoying. "I could put up 100 air- planes on a given weekend and those 100 airplanes would create a noise level of 85 decibels," Dobson said. "I could have that happening every weekend for a month and I'm still under that 65 DNL aver- age. That doesn't mean the people living under that are happy with that noise. The FAA is concerned about hazards to human health, not incompatible land use." Goins said that the city understands that noise complaints are subjective, but they need to have a standard by which they can determine how to use the land. "The big issue with noise has been 'What is stan- dard?" he said. To solve this disagree- ment about noise levels, the growth board suggest- ed a consultation process between the city and avia- tion community accord- ing to guidelines set forth by the Washington State Department o'f Transpor- tation: Aviation (WSDOT Aviation). "WSDOT Aviation has formal consultation pro- cess - we plan to follow that process," Goins said. "We thought we had suffi- ciently covered that base." Throughout the ear- lier rezone talks, the city maintained that they had adequate consultations with the aviation commu- nity, while the port dis- agreed. "They (the growth board) want true consultation to take place ... I would not just use the word consulta- tion but true negotiation," Dobson said. "Hopefully what we get is an under- standing that some of that property really isn't appro- priate for residential." Dobson said that only 59 or 60 acres of the entire 700-plus acre property are in dispute. He said that he and the port would be willing to work with the city to find the best uses for the land. While the board voted against the city's proposal to rezone the land, board member William Roehl voiced a dissenting opinion in the report. "Consultation does equate with agreement," Roehl wrote. "It does not appear tha~ additional 'consultation' would have served any useful purpose." The growth board voted 2-1 to invalidate the rezone and city comprehensive plan amendment. The city has until Janu- ary 13, 2012 to show com- pliance with the board's demands and their next hearing is set for February 23. The city is also currently in an appeals process with the Washington State Su- perior Court. Bird Continued from page A-1 causes the far end of Oakland bay to be regularly closed to shellfish harvesters. Levels of fecal coliform bac- teria, measured in colonies per hundred milliliters, skyrocket in Oakland Bay over the summer, Konovsky said. "It can go from the single (dig- its) to sometimes teens in the winter and into the hundreds and sometimes thousands in the summer," he said. "It's not in- tuitive, fecal coliform is usually high in rainy winter weather." While the study is necessary to rule out the impact of birds as a large source of the coliform bacteria, Konovsky said that he is skeptical that they are the sole source of the problem. "The reason I say I'm skepti- cal is that Little Skookum Inlet has a much larger bird popula- tion than the upper end of Oak- land Bay ... but Little Skookum Inlet is one of the cleanest bodies of water we've found," he said. If birds do prove to be a large contributor to the bacteria lev- els, Konovsky said that the tribe would do a more in-depth study. Fecal coliform cannot mi- grate on its own, it needs rain- fall to move it from its point of origin into the bay, which is why it's so hard to find the source of contamination, Konovsky said. However, Oakland Bay's levels of bacteria tend to peak in the driest months of summer. Konovsky said that this might mean that bacteria doesn't need to travel as far to get to the bay as was previously thought. "One theory is that the source must be more local than we've thought," he said. Last summer the Squaxin Tribe did an experiment to try Journal photo by Natalie Johnson Oakland Bay has been experiencing unusually high levels of fecal coliform bacteria since 2005. to replicate Oakland Bay in a lab setting to see if the bacteria might be reproducing right in the bay during warm summer months. "I believe the bacteria are probably replicating out there because it's warmer," he said. "Our experiments to date haven't supported that theory." In the lab, Konovsky said that the bacteria died off after about seven days in the water, but in the bay the bacteria stay alive for months. Oakland Bay is a truly unique body of water that is very diffi~ cult to replicate in a lab setting, he said. "It's the terminal estuary of a terminal estuary - it's the farthest inland estuary in the Sound. The water in Oakland Bay resides here for a long time," he said. "It's very sensitive to low levels of pollution." While summer levels of fecal coliform are still high, Konovsky said that they have gone down from the "crisis" of 2005 and 2006. "It'§ not nearly as bad as it was," he said. Journal photo by Natalie Johnson City of Shelton Community and Economic Development Director Steve Goins briefed the city commission Monday on delays associated with a project to repave K Street. K Street Continued from page A-2 "K Street has been in fairly poor shape for a while and has managed to not deteriorate as rapidly as some of our other streets- it's got to a cer- tain point and just kind of stayed there," Michael said. "I hope that it could get through another season." Michael said that delaying the project until next year would not put the city's chances to receive funding in jeopardy. Plant Continued from page A-1 so we'll be basically doing the same suite of testing," city engineer Mike Michael said. "We'll have the ability to chlorinate for a limited period of time." The city will also be ex- tending the plants sewer outfall pipe, which flushes treated wastewater into Hammersley Inlet, by 96 feet in the next few months. Now that the new plant is up and running, it will also make use of a new slack tide facility, which stores efflu- ent water during low tide, and releases it automatical- ly when the tide comes in. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE SELLING MORE OF THIS WEEK? We can help you when you call (360) 426-4412 to advertise www.masoncounty.com j A New Book By Edmonds Author A cancer survivor's journey through the eyes of his caregiver. Saturday, July 30= 11:00 a.m. SAGE Book St0m 116 W. Railroad Ave. Suite 102 Shelton, WA 98584 $37 A Year Delivers! Call (360) 426-4412 to subscribe to the • ¢4~"~1BER o~" S County ZO A s37 (Mason County Address), $51 (Washington State), $61 per year out of state www.masoncounty.com * P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 | Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, July 28, 2011 - Page A-7