Crossarm hearing gets nasty
DISPUTE: Residents want assurances fill won't cause environmental problems
Ruth Levine, The Chronicle, 6/6/97
An appeal involving the former Crossarm site turned ill-tempered as the third hour dragged on before the Chehalis Board of Zoning Adjustment Tuesday.
At the end, amid the noise of shuffled chairs and whispered conferences, chairman Larry Cook announced a decision would be made in a "timely manner."
Bill Boehm, the attorney retained by the city, said he expects a decision within 30 days on the four appeals.
The former American Crossarm and Conduit Site. First, was the subject of a costly, 10-year Superfund cleanup. The land was excavated and sealed under a clay cap after a 1986 flood washed toxic chemicals off the site.
The property's new owner, Darrell Peterson, sought a permit in March to place 27,000 cubic yards of fill on the site. The site, which Peterson wants to develop as a commercial park, is sandwiched between Interstate 5 and Chehalis Avenue.
In order to apply for the fill permit, Peterson had to file a State Environmental Policy Act checklist. After Chehalis Community Development Manger Bob Nacht said the fill would not cause a significant adverse environmental impact, almost 20 letters were sent in challenging Nacht's initial decision.
Tuesday's meeting started 15 minutes late, while board members and Boehm met in an adjoining room.
Several of the appellants questioned if the cumulative effects of fill could be determined through a phased review process.
Lois Lopez, representing the Sasquatch group of the Sierra Club, said Peterson's checklist was inadequate, which hampers the city from doing a careful assessment of significant environmental impacts.
Peterson's property falls within a special flood-hazard area, she argued, and therefore must go through a more elaborate environmental review.
The city should stall on the project until flood data is updated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Lopez said. A study is to be started this summer, she said.
John Mudge, who lives along Dillenbaugh Creek, asked for assurances that the creek wouldn't be affected by contaminant runoff.
Like the other appellants, he chaffed at Nacht's repeated references in the written final decision that they did not have engineering or hydrology experience.
Nacht had an "arrogant and condescending approach," in the written decision, Mudge said.
After his presentation, board members discovered they only had one page of Mudge's three-page appeal.
"You'd be missing quite a bit if you only had one page," Mudge said.
Merrily Knutsen, representing the Chehalis River Council, said the checklist was "absolutely not sufficient," and all the appropriate state and federal agencies had not been notified.
Her statement started off a vigorous round of candid questions from Board Member Paul Dugaw, directed at Nacht.
The Department of Ecology Toxics Program has been notified, as was the SEPA Register, which is passed around from agency to agency, Nacht said.
When Morris was given time to respond, Dugaw fired questions at him. He wanted to know why an erosion-control plan had not been initially submitted, what the plans were for future development of the site, and what would be the impact of hauling fill for the nearby Chehalis Avenue Apartments.
"What kind of damage is this going to cause?" Morris asked board members, referring to the proposed fill. "Not any."
The site will be used for "smaller (companies) who don't fit into the Chehalis Industrial Port scheme of things."
"Is there any kind of site plan?" Cook asked Morris. "We have no detail. This is, for me, personally, a frustration. I'd like to see this before making a decision. It is very hard to do it from my imagination."
Nacht said, "The city has a regulatory body that agrees with about half the concerns raised by the appellants. Instead, it is a question of what method to regulate them. There is no significant adverse impact that could be identified by an environmental impact statement that has not already been identified."
Dugaw picked up Lopez' thread about the cumulative impact of fill.
"Are we dividing a larger system into fragmented exemptions, or avoiding a discussion of cumulative impact?" Dugaw asked Nacht.
"Is there going to be an flood control study (this summer)? Isn't there a chance we are working with outdated information?"
Board member Robert Amrine questioned Morris about the height of the fill, and said he had seen situations in which building pads were consecutively made higher to escape flood damage, which he said increases flood problems elsewhere.
"Do you know something about it, or is it just speculation?" Peterson shot back.
After being asked if he wanted to testify, Peterson responded, "No, I'll keep my mouth shut."
Lopez said she would not considering appealing to the Lewis County Superior Court if the board decided in the city's favor. One case costs $40,000, she said.
"I want to get out of this a little more citizen awareness," she said.
Mudge said he hoped the board wouldn't reach a decision quickly. For Mudge, the real issue is the city's policy about fill in the flood plain, which he said he hoped would be "tried in the court of public opinion."