public comment letters(360) 458-3835 (360) 458-3144 FAX www.ci.yelm.wa.us City of Yelm Community Development Department 105 Yelm Avenue West P.O. Box 479 Yelm, WA 98597 December 9, 2003 Sara Foster 14104
89th Avenue SE Yelm, WA 98597 Dear Ms. Foster: This is in response to your letter dated December 8, 2004, and hand delivered to City Hall, regarding an ‘application by Pacland for a
commercial site’. As of this date, there has been no such application, which is why there has been no public notice and the application not made available to the public. Pacland and
Center Investments did submit a conceptual site plan for a pre-submission meeting with the Community Development Department. This process is not an application but rather a mechanism
for a potential applicant to find out the development requirements in the City of Yelm. I have attached for your information both the conceptual site plan and the notes prepared by the
Department covering the requirements for this type of development. As you can see from the notes, the Departm?????ent covered both the concerns you raise in your letter, and would
expect that, if the developer chooses to proceed, both these issues will be addressed as part of the application materials. If an application is made for the development of this parcel,
the owners of property within 300 feet of the proposed site will be notified by mail of the pending application. In addition, the environmental determination will be published in the
Nisqually Valley News. The Department also publishes a list of recent applications on the City web site (www.ci.yelm.wa.us), which is updated weekly. From the home page, choose the Community
Development Department and the menu item Agenda’s/Permits to find the recent permit list. In that same section you can find the agenda for the upcoming site plan review committee meetings
to follow pre-submission meetings. Finally, if an application is submitted, your letter will be added to the file as public comment for consideration through the permitting process.
Sincerely, Grant Beck, Director Department of Community Development
City of Yelm Community Development Department 105 Yelm Avenue West P.O. Box 479 Yelm, WA 98597 November 17, 2004 Edward Wiltsie, P.E. P.O. Box 946 Rainier, WA 98576 Dear Mr. Wiltsie:
The Community Development Department received your letter responding to a presubmission meeting by PACLAND and Center Investments. As it is untimely at this point to consider comments
on a preliminary meeting, the Department will hold your letter and include it in the project file, should an application be filed. Sincerely, Grant Beck, Director Department of Community
Development (360) 458-3835 (360) 458-3144 FAX www.ci.yelm.wa.us
(360) 458-3835 (360) 458-3144 FAX www.ci.yelm.wa.us City of Yelm Community Development Department 105 Yelm Avenue West P.O. Box 479 Yelm, WA 98597 October 19, 2004 Bettye Johnson P.O.
Box 97 Rainier, WA 98576 Dear Bettye: Mayor Rivas forwarded your letter dated October 14, 2004, to me for response. I believe that the Mayor asked me to answer the questions raised in
your letter in capacity as Community Development Director rather than responding personally for the many of the same reasons of fairness that I address below. Specifically, I understand
that it may be frustrating to you that the issue of a specific land use application is not yet before City Council. However, if an appeal is filed, the Council will ultimately decide
the application and it is fairness, not secrecy, that precludes them from discussing the matter outside the permit process. The permit process is designed to ensure that all parties
have an opportunity to evaluate, discuss, and comment on any specific proposal. I explained this process at the Council meeting and Cindy Texiera of the Nisqually Valley News has accurately
summarized the process in her recent articles. All information that ultimately is considered by the Council has to come from that process, otherwise the process is not fair to either
side. Mayor Rivas is protecting the rights of all parties by not discussing this matter until it is properly before the City Council. Notes from pre-submission meetings are public record
and I have asked our Office Assistant to mail you a copy of them after the meeting. In addition, if Center Investments chooses to continue with the application process after the pre-submission
meeting, it is my plan to post all documents relating to the project on the City’s web site, which can be found at www.ci.yelm.wa.us. In addition, you are always able to view and obtain
copies of any project file that the Community Development Department maintains. City staff strives to keep the web site up to date, but minutes are not posted until they are approved
by the Council. The ‘missing’ minutes were approved by Council last Wednesday and were forwarded to me on Thursday. I will try to have them posted before the weekend.
October 19, 2004 Page 2 of 2 The $500,000.00 in the water reserve fund mentioned at the Council meeting by Stephanie Ray (identified as fund 401 in the standard state accounting system,
BARS) is not a 401k account and was obtained through the issuance of revenue bonds and from water usage charges to City water customers. The water fund is a ‘enterprise’ fund in that
it must be self-supporting with no income from general revenue sources such as the B & O taxes. I am sure that Stephanie would be happy to provide the background information on this
funds budget status if you are interested. Finally, I have spent over 16 years in local government service with four different jurisdictions. In that time, I have never encountered anything
but a commitment to transparency of Government by elected officials and employees. In the case of Yelm, this is a commitment that is found throughout the organization and starts with
Mayor Rivas and Shelly Badger, the City Administrator. A Washington Court of Appeals recently stated in one of it’s land use decisions that: These are difficult times for property owners,
community groups and municipalities, the triumvirate involved in every major land use issue. The manner in which one uses -or does not use -land is debated endlessly and has become a
volatile emotional issue for all concerned. Peace may not be at hand, but the courts, and agencies charged with applying land use and environmental regulations have a responsibility
to be even-handed and balance the many competing concerns. Overlake Fund v. Shorelines Board, 90 Wn. App. 746, 750, 954 P.2d 304 (1998) The Community Development Department, myself,
and the entire City of Yelm is committed to the even-handed administration of land use. Sincerely, Grant Beck, Director Department of Community Development