By Amy Jennings, Vidette Reporter
The Grays Harbor County Commissioners intend to change the county's zoning laws in conjunction with a massive rezone of the Satsop Site.
Based on their correspondence with the county, as well as their appearance at a planning commission meeting earlier this month where these issues were first publicly addressed, it is anticipated that environmentalist groups in the area may contest both recommendations.
At 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 23, 'the Commissioners will conduct a succession of public hearings addressing (1) an amendment to the allowed and conditional uses in the county's Industrial Zone (1-2), and (2) a request to reclassify nearly 900 acres of Satsop Site property from General Development to I-2.
The actual request to rezone Satsop property includes nearly 900 acres, despite the fact that only 470 acres are currently developed. According to Ken Kimura, Director of the Grays Harbor County Planning Department, the extra acreage was just a matter of convenience - not part of a plan for further development at the property.
"I needed to describe the areas where there are improvements, and if I had broken the area down into just what was currently developed, the legal description would have been quite lengthy," Kimura notes. So, he chose to include entire government lots, plus fractional descriptions of four sections in the rezone request.
"No one's going to build on the steep slopes or the wetlands," Kimura said. "Just because property is zoned Industrial, doesn't mean it's going to be developed Industrial. For example, all of the Chehalis Surge Plain is zoned 1-2, but there's no way anyone could go in and do any of the industrial activities. It's just an impossibility."
Kimura further noted that, although the land is currently zoned for "general development," when the Satsop Power Plant was being built, the state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council "had absolute authority to regulate any and all activities at the site." Thus, even though the site is zoned for general development, by county standards the activity taking place would have required an industrial rezone.
County Public Services Director and Satsop Redevelopment project member Mike Daniels ensures that there are no plans to further develop the Satsop Site beyond the current 470 acres.
Concerns brought forth by the Grays Harbor Audubon Society, the Friends of Grays Harbor, and others with environmental concerns, prompted the SRP to enter into the same wildlife mitigation agreement originally established by the Supply System.
The agreement essentially ensures that all but the currently developed portion of the 1,600 acre site will remain fairly undeveloped. The agreement also ensures that the PDA will pay the State Department of Fish and Wildlife some $2,400 per year to maintain the area within the wildlife mitigation boundaries.
The zoning ordinance amendment is being requested in an attempt to adhere to the language used in defining the permitted activities of a Public Development Authority operating under the state authorized guidelines - like the one established to oversee activity at the Satsop Site once local control is granted from the Washington Public Power Supply System.
In developing the new zoning language, Kimura says he asked himself what the PDA's true purpose and goals might be.
"What do they want to accomplish," he asked. "I figured I was on safe ground in starting by understanding what development activities were part of an approved PDA plan."
During a Planning Commission Meeting on Nov. 2, the planning Commission recommended in favor of both the zoning ordinance amendment and the Satsop site rezone.
"The application to rezone the nuclear power facility site is made by the Grays Harbor County Commissioners. It represents one in a series of actions to conserve the infrastructure at the Satsop Nuclear Plant site and to adapt buildings, lands and facilities for industrial development," the commission stated in its findings. "The findings establish that the reuse of the terminated Nuclear Power Facility site is in the public interest. The findings also show that the utilization of the infrastructure serving the site and reuse of existing sites for industrial purposes will promote job creation and economic diversification, expressed purposes of the Grays Harbor County Comprehensive Plan."
The current list of allowed uses in an 1-2 zone include industrial uses, and residences for owner occupation or a caretaker. Conditional uses include automobile wrecking and child day care centers.
The proposed amendment would, according to the County Planning Commission's findings, "add to and clarify the list of allowed uses by adding the following: a) industrial development facilities... b) research and development laboratories, technical and vocational schools and facilities and c) transportation and utility facilities serving all permitted uses and activities."
The Board of County Commissioners will review this recommendation and take public comment at the Nov. 23 hearing in the Commissioners Meeting Room.