Utility service area: County commissioners will define appropriate types of development.
By Joel Coffidis, 6/23/1996, The Olympian
The Olympian
Zoning within a proposed $12.7 million water and sewer service area in Grand Mound and preservation of the Nisqually Valley top the Thurston County commissioners' agenda Monday.
Commissioners will consider amending the county comprehensive plan and zoning map for Grand Mound.
The decisions will outline what types of development will be allowed within the proposed 1 1/2 square-mile sewer and water boundary.
A public hearing on the zoning was conducted May 23.
Even if the changes are approved, property owners within the area still must approve funding if the system is to be built.
If built, the water and sewer system would mean grand changes for Grand Mound, an unincorporated hamlet in southwestern Thurston County. The system would spur commercial, light industrial and residential growth while protecting the area's sensitive aquifer, supporters said.
In addition to the area near Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 12, the system would eventually serve the Maple Lane School for youth offenders and the rest areas along 1-5 at Maytown and Scatter Creek.
Backers such as Jesse Banick, a member of the citizens committee that worked on the plan, said the plan is needed to boost the area's economic base, which in turn will help schools.
The goal is to begin operating part of the system by April 1998, county utility program manager Jim Bachmeier said. The treated effluent from the sewage system would be discharged into the Chehalis River.
In other business, commissioners will consider a program in which -he county would pay Nisqually Valley farmers money to keep them from developing their land.
The "purchase of development rights program could preserve as much as 920 acres of farmland between Interstate 5 and McAllister Springs, which would help safeguard the city of Olympia's water source and preserve "the last piece of green between Seattle and Olympia," county planner Steve Morrison said,
The county will appraise the land and pay farmers the "development value" of the land. The owners can still farm the land, but a conservation easement would be placed on the property deed forever, restricting development.
It could cost the county as much as $2.5 million in conservation futures money, which is collected from property owners countywide at the rate of 61/4 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value,
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