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Olympian Reports On Permit Problems In Yelm
Posted Under: Thuston County, Yelm Activities, Yelm Government, Yelm Growth, Yelm Issues
The Olympian ran a story titled Permit process gone awry creates nightmare in Yelm detailing the struggles of Andy and Cindy Smith who are unable to move into their new house because of the City of Yelm’s mismanagement of the building permit process.
The city issued a building permit for the home despite a development condition that prohibited it. Now, to uphold a second condition, the city refuses to issue an occupancy permit to the Smiths because of water use issues.
It seems a lot of the blame is being placed on the developer Steve Chamberlain and Dan Lee, the builder, despite the fact it was the city that issued the permit in the first place.
A commenter adds
This is the same developer, City Dev. Dir., Mayor & City Council that has the City of Yelm in alot of hot water:
- Chamberlain was one of the developers of the now-defaulted 5,000 home Thurston Highlands that left the city holding the bag in hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes & contractual fees for services rendered. The city never obtained a contract with Highlands developers to get reimbursed for their pro-rata share of a Water Study on developers land.
- Thurston County Superior Court ruled against the city’s policy of issuing permits to developers without proving water availability until the building permit stage, rather than prior to plat approval, in a suit against Chamberlains Tahome Terra.
- The City may be overpumping their Ecology-allocated annual water limit & has spent $200,000 in legal fees attempting to acquire the McMonigle Water rights, in which Chamberlain was involved, now being acquired through eminent domain.
The city never admits their mistakes!
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