Novastar Dev (2)
City of Yelm
Community Development Department
105 Yelm Avenue West
Yelm, WA 98597
July 14, 2010
The Cullens Road Subdivision received preliminary approval in December 2006, and the Hoffman Plat in June 2007.
The Washington State Legislature made a change to Section 58.17.140 RCW effective June 10, 2010, that reads “a final plat shall be submitted to the legislative body of the city town
or county for approval within ((five)) seven years of the date of preliminary plat approval. This means that for the Cullens plat you have to December 2013 and Hoffman Plat to June
2014 to submit a final subdivision. In order to submit for a final subdivision, all of the conditions of approval of the preliminary plat must be met.
At the time these plats were granted preliminary approval, the City was able to make a general finding pursuant to Section 15.40.020 YMC that water would be available at the time it
was required, at building permit issuance. At present, due to a series of actions which include the Washington Department of Ecology’s denial of a water rights transfer which had been
twice approved by the Thurston Water Conservancy Board, the City is unable to make a finding of concurrency for new preliminary subdivisions. If a final subdivision were presented
today for approval, it is likely that a finding of water availability pursuant to Section 15.40.020 YMC could not be made by the City, and the final subdivision would not be approved.
The City of Yelm has been proactive in water planning since 1994, when the City made application with the Washington Department of Ecology for new water rights sufficient to serve the
entire City and its Urban Growth Area.
While efforts are underway to secure sufficient water to provide for Yelm’s long term needs, the City has aggressively pursued the acquisition and transfer of existing water rights in
order to provide for continued growth until new water rights are acquired. Yelm has historically been successful at acquiring and transferring sufficient water to meet demands.
The State Building Code at Section 19.27.097 RCW requires evidence of water availability and the issuance of a building permit by the City of Yelm is the City’s commitment to serve a
proposal with potable water.