A proposed moratorium on filling in the Chehalis River Basin received a formal kibosh this week.
The Lewis County Commission sent a letter Monday to an advisory committee informing members the idea is dead.Commissioners acknowledged keeping ''unwise'' development out of an ''active flood plain'' is a fine idea, but said this might be interpreted as ''arbitrary and reactionary'' by developers and potential employers.
Fill consists of dirt or rock placed on a development site, usually to raise buildings above the flood plain. Citizens have complained that filling worsens flooding.
''Any changes to flood plain policies for the community need to be thought out in more detail before taking this step,'' commissioners said in the letter.
Phil McBride, a county Flood Control Zone Citizens Advisory Committee member, said commissioners took the ''politically correct'' alternative to the committee's advice.
''We've heard it loud and clear,'' he said. ''We are only an advisory committee. The powers that be are more interested in the future development of their property.''
The status quo leaves industries, homeowners and citizens in jeopardy, he said.
''The bottom line is (developers) want to fill in the flood plain and they don't want anybody to tell them they can't, and they want somebody else to bear the responsibility when they get in trouble,'' McBride said.
Commissioners were in Tacoma Thursday for the annual convention of the Washington State Association of Counties, and could not be reached for comment.
The committee wrote commissioners Dec. 23, 1997, recommending a one-year moratorium on filling in the flood plain to be implemented ''as soon as possible.''
The recommendation applied to areas within the 100-year flood plain, as identified by federal authorities.
The moratorium would allow time to study the effect of filling in the flood plain, and would help prevent further damage to the flood plain, the committee letter states.
''Development cannot be put before the health and safety of our citizens,'' said the letter, signed by then-chairman Pete Corwin, former Centralia mayor.
Commissioners acknowledged ''conflicting objectives'' of preventing ''unwise'' development and fostering a favorable economic climate, but said there are better ways to address concerns. The county intends to do this while writing a comprehensive plan, and with watershed planning and revising other ordinances.
The county is drafting a new grading and filling ordinance that could address some of the issues concerning members of the advisory committee and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Grading to a stream bank harms fish habitat, fisheries experts have said.
As it stands now, county property owners can grade soil up to a stream bed without any county regulation or permit. The grading ordinance could implement a permit process, triggering reviews under the state Environmental Policy Act and shorelines regulations, McBride said.
In addition, a consultant is conducting a $1.1 million flood-control study, recommending a massive excavation on the Chehalis River to provide storage area for floodwaters. Commissioners said this is ''very promising.''
Chehalis-area resident Tammy Baker criticized commissioners for not following the committee's advice.
''When it comes to the buck, they're willing to drown us all out for the almighty dollar,'' Baker said.
Last year, commissioners enacted a ban on filling in the flood plain moments after hearing Baker's concerns about construction near her property. Commissioners reversed themselves the next day after learning they had not followed proper procedures.
Mark Giffey, a Port of Chehalis commissioner, said filling in the flood plain has become the ''dogma of the time,'' although not necessarily correctly so.
He said a hydrologist told him that filling does not contribute as much to flooding as logging or building roads.
''I would hope science leads the way'' of any county action, he said.