04 21 2005 Beck
City of Yelm
Community Development Department
105 Yelm Avenue West
P.O. Box 479
Yelm, WA 98597
April 21, 2005
Edward A. Wiltsie, PE
P.O. Box 946
Rainier, WA 98576
Dear Ed:
This letter is in response to your letter dated April 15, 2005 (received April 18, 2005), your email dated April 18, 2005, and a letter dated April 19, 2005, sent via an email with the
subject line ‘RE: Public Disclosure Request’.
April 15 Letter
This letter provides comments on the Wal-Mart application, but the first two paragraphs castigate the City, the Community Development Department, and myself for your preception that
the City has not provided you and the Yelm Commerce Group with sufficient education regarding the land use process and notice of specific actions taken.
As should be obvious to you through my past public statements regarding the land use application process, I take strong exception to your theory that special consideration should be
given to any interest group, be it applicant or opponent, involved in the permitting process.
The fact is, however, that the Community Development Department has gone to extraordinary measures to ensure that the public at large, and your ‘collective’ in particular, have access
to full and complete information regarding this particular application. The Department is posting in a timely manner all application material, comments, and correspondence and notices
issued by the City on the Yelm web site. This information includes a summary of the process which addresses your specific concern that you missed a deadline for public comment. This
process summary was made available at the Nisqually Valley News forum held in January of this year, and is on the web site on the Wal-Mart page.
You were personally notified of this process for the distribution of information regarding the Wal-Mart application in an email from me dated March 15, 2005. This email was a response
to a public records request you made for ‘a complete copy of the Wal-Mart submittal, SEPA Checklist, Drainage Report, Plans, etc.’ In response, I indicated that:
‘The Site Plan Review application from PACLAND for Wal-Mart has been scanned and posted on the City web site as of this afternoon
(3/15/2005). We are continuing to convert letters and emails received prior to the application to Adobe Acrobat *.pdf format to be posted in the near future, I would expect by the end
of the week. Any public record relating to the Wal-Mart application will be posted to the web site weekly, within seven days of receipt.
This email was copied to Bill Hashim, Danielle Graham, James Flick, Jean Handley, Louise Oliverio, and Bettye Johnson. This email also referenced the process summary prepared by the
City and indicated that it also was posted on the web site.
I do not believe your claim that you and the group are attempting to learn the process through ‘direct conversations’ with me is accurate. My staff and I are always available to discuss
the land use review process and the status of applications at the counter or via telephone, but only Dr. Greg May has taken steps to utilize this resource. I have not read in either
the tone or language of the letters, emails, and statements at Council made by yourself and others expressing opposition to Wal-Mart as expressing any interest in better understanding
the land use process.
April 18 Email
Via this email, you request the number of times and dates that the ‘Commercial Zoning Ordinance’ for Yelm was changed since 1993 when the area of the proposed Wal-Mart was annexed into
the City.
As I indicated in an email to you dated March 7, 2005, responding to a public records request, a records request needs to be for a specific record which does not involve research on
the part of City staff in order to fulfill. The specific request would involve just this type of research which is not covered by the Public Disclosure Act.
In this case, the Community Development Department maintains an index of Ordinances which have amended the Zoning Code (to which I assume you refer when mentioning the ‘commercial zoning
ordinance’) since 1995. The City Clerk maintains an index of all City Ordinances. Both these indices are available for review during normal business hours and can be used to identify
specific records of which you may request copies.
April 19 Letter
In this letter, purporting to be a public records request, you request the following records:
Standard and site specific criteria used by the City to evaluate the Wal-Mart application for completeness.
Staff review comments and notes.
Final City ‘acceptance/approval documents’ with ‘conclusion’ regarding the criteria to evaluate for completeness.
The names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses for the individuals at Thurston County and the State of Washington that the ‘file is being forwarded to for associated review’
Further, you demand in the letter that the ‘documents provided include coverage of the impacts’ on a variety of environmental impacts.
I will address the records request in the order presented.
I direct your attention to Section 17.84.060 YMC and the application for site plan review, which contains a checklist of required information for a complete application.
Pursuant to Section 42.17.310 (1)(i), preliminary drafts, notes, and recommendations are not records subject to public disclosure.
I am not clear from your request to what document you refer. I believe it may be the letter dated March 24, 2005, determining the application to be complete. This document has been
posted on the web site since March 24, 2005.
The notice of application mailing list and email list is attached to this letter. There are no other public records which provide any additional information which may be responsive
to your request (such as telephone numbers).
I am uncertain as to what documents to which you refer in the final request for coverage of environmental impacts.
Finally, because you use the term ‘accepted’ the application, I hope that you understand that the determination that an application is ‘complete’ does not mean that it has been ‘approved’.
Sincerely,
Grant Beck, Director
Department of Community Development