Joe Baker, Yelm City Councilman; Mayor Ron Harding; Rep. Jim McCune; Rep. Tom Campbell; Kevin Dayton, WSDOT Region Administrator. Seen here digging Yelm's grave.

Welcome to the SR 510 Yelm Loop.

As of 9:15 am on Tuesday April 20th, Yelm traffic came to a screeching halt as the SR 510 – Yelm Loop Bypass To Nowhere construction went from local officials doing goofy photo opts to bringing traffic in Yelm to a halt.

The project is said to be ‘completed’ in winter of 2010 according to the www.wsdot.wa.gov site.  I use the term completed loosely because the only funding any where near in place is Stage One that only runs to Cullins Road, not even to Canal Rd which could then route some of the traffic around town.

And the new zoning of the land the 1/2 a Bypass will run through? The City of Yelm doesn’t have water to hook up people’s homes that they issued building permits to, much less to start developing all the new exiting commercial and residential zoning along the Bypass.

Pictures of Yelm Bypass traffic below.

In the Special Presentations, after Don Miller responses to roll call with by saying ‘yo’, Mayor Harding appears to be suppressing a ear to ear smirk as he reads a Court of Appeals decision handed down yesterday evening that the Court of Appeals has sided with the City concerning JZ Knight’s Land Use Petition Act (LUPA)1 petition.

The courts document can be found here.

A response is already up on www.jzknight.com, stating ”Our attorneys are reviewing the decision and evaluating options.”

While Harding says that the city has prevailed, he doesn’t really say what that means as far as the disputed Tahoma Terra preliminary subdivision approvals.

We find out a bit later that the City plans to spend $615,223 to drill a well on a ‘proposed city park’ in the Tahoma Terra Master-Planned Community.

The Council voted unanimously to drill the well.

When Council member John Thompson asked City Administrator Shelly Badger asked if this was city land, she responded the city has an agreement to build there and that it is the city’s land.

Yelm Blogger Steve Klein brings up some interesting points.

If the city owns the land then, why would they need an agreement to build there?
A search of County records show no city owned land in the Tahoma Terra phases.
…
- The 2008 Mitigation Plan to which Mrs. Badger speaks was never approved and no longer stands because the City of Yelm withdrew their MDNS on August 14, 2009.

The city said, “You will be notified when the City re-issues a threshold determination in this matter.”

There has been no further determination by the City in this matter.

- The draft Water System Plan (WSP) has no legs because it also has never been approved & so many things have changed since it was publicly released.

- The unfinished phases of Tahoma Terra were supposed to go to auction last week.

And from March 13th Olympian:

“A foreclosure sale is scheduled April 9 for the unfinished phases of the Tahoma Terra master planned community in Yelm.”

That is where is well is located.

CLICK HERE

Scroll to page 30. See well W-2 in red.

- Is the city going to buy some (or did buy some without telling the public) of the Tahoma Terra parcels?

They have been going into Executive Session alot, as they did last night, and hiding behind RCW 42.30.110(1) “to discuss possible real estate acquisition.”

This will result in a increase of 16% effective April 1st, 2010, a 2nd increase of 16% January 1, 2011 and then 8.25% each January 1st 2012-2015 in the water bills of Yelm residents and businesses.

Are current City of Yelm water customers paying for the commitments city officials made for speculative future developments?
This is a valid question that should be asked.

Watch the Yelm’s City Council approve these water rate increases based on an unapproved Draft Water System Plan online.

Yelm.com asks

“Where is the public’s outrage at this affront to their wallets?
If not now, when?
When the water bill arrives will be too late!”

Where was the Yelm Area Chamber of Commerce? You think they would be interested in this as rate increases of this nature will impact local businesses.

Cross Section of The Bypass to Nowhere

Titled: YELM LOOP – STAGE 1, it is described in short as “SR 510, MP 13.28 to MP 14.81 in Thurston County, CL 1 or 4.CONTAINS APPRENTICE UTILIZATION REQUIREMENT: 15%. For more information go to: www.wsdot.wa.gov/biz/contaa Estimated Value: $7,500,000 – $10,000,000 Customer Reference Number: 09C524/#7879 Close Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010″

Documents from the DOT site
NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION
Addendums
Cross section

You remember Stage One right? Its the part of the Bypass which would run traffic through several ‘yet to be developed, but city zoned’ areas north of Yelm, but only to Cullins Road, not even to Canal Rd which could then route some of the traffic around town?

What do we put along side this new Bypass to Nowhere? Well the city doesn’t have the water to issue permits so people can move into their already build homes, do they have water for the business and developments that I’m sure are planned for both sides of the new Bypass?

www.protectyelm.org will be pushing its new posts and news out to http://twitter.com/ProtectYelm

Follow us for the most recent updates

Directly from Yelm.com

YELM RESIDENTS SHOULD DEMAND ANSWERS FROM CITY OFFICIALS!

The number one responsibility of elected officials and their staffs of our municipalities is to protect and serve the constituents in their communities – looking out for their interests. Sure, being honored as Citizen of the Year, Best Community Volunteer, or Best Elected/Appointed official is a wonderful acknowledgment for all of the service to the town.

That doesn’t quite equate to the “protecting” part of job. Yelm residents & especially tax-paying property owners should be holding City of Yelm officials’ feet to the fire on two key questions as to why this Mayor, City Council and their Staff have not protected the interests of their own people with two simple questions:

1. HIGHLANDS DEFAULT LEFT UNPAID TAXES & FEES

Why has the City of Yelm NOT filed liens against Thurston Highlands, LLC. to attempt to recoup owed back-taxes and contractual fees for citizens after the Highlands’ Fall, 2008 default, totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars?

I am also a City of Yelm property owner and posed this question City Administrator Shelly Badger. After an e-mail exchange, she has not answered this question. Her lack of a response IS the answer in and of itself. This IS the 1,000 pound elephant in the room the city does not want addressed!

That city officials do not like me or my question does not matter, nor is the issue.

Where is the common decency in working on your citizens’ behalf to protect their tax money?

All of the community-volunteering acknowledgments pale next the lack of aggressiveness on this matter!

If Mrs. Badger provides a response, I will pass on to you.

2. WATER RATE INCREASE

Why has the City of Yelm raised water rates 69% on their residents, as outlined in the city’s Draft Water System Plan, when that plan has not been approved?

How can city officials pass on water rate increases to its residents for a Water Plan that involves expenses for a major Multi-Planned Community (MPC) when that MPC has defaulted and is out of the picture is just one question that has never been answered? And, the plan has not been approved and may not be viable.

Another 1,000 pound elephant in the room the city does not want addressed!

UPDATE: Dec. 8th, 8pm

The Yelm City Council authorized spending $37,000 tonight to craft a response from a Dept. of Health letter to the city dated October 20, 2009 regarding the Water System Plan & provide additional “analysis regarding the city’s water portfolio in light of the recent denial of the McMonigle water right.”

Ed. Note: Will that be all [$37,000]? Probably not!

Stay tuned!

Further, regarding the 2010 Sewer Rates on the City Council Docket tonight:

Grant Beck gave the Staff Report on the record saying that due to his heavy work load, the city’s 2009 Sewer Rate Plan has not been updated, so was asking Council to carry-forward the 2009 rates into 2010 and eliminate the deposit.

That was interesting and what especially caught my ear was a follow-up warning to Council on this from City Administrator Badger, who said that if the Budget Committee finds the City’s Budget is not on their targets in the 1st quarter of 2010, Staff will be coming back to ask for a COLA [Cost of Living Adjustment] rate increase for Sewer Rates, as the city will not have their 2009 Sewer Plan done until the latter part of 2010.

I wrote in the NVN last week that I knew the city was going to have 2010 budget issues & Badger basically gave that warning last night to Council, on the record.

I encourage you to write to City officials and ask them these 2 simple questions.

Send me the answers you get & I will publish them here.

Mayor Ron Harding = ronh@ci.yelm.wa.us

City Administrator Shelly Badger = shellyb@ci.yelm.wa.us

City Community Development Director Grant Beck = grantb@ci.yelm.wa.us

ALL YELM RESIDENTS SHOULD DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THEIR CITY’S LEADERS!

Yelm City Council approved placing the Regional Fire District Consolidation measure on the ballot on December 8th, 2009 .

Ballots will be mailed the week of January 18, 2010.

The video below is posted on www.setrfa.com

From their website

In the late 1990’s Yelm and the surrounding communities began to see steady growth. Increased population and development in urban and rural settings resulted in greater demands on area fire districts; Yelm Fire District #2, which included City of Yelm residents, and Thurston County Fire District #4 (Rainier). The City of Yelm has no city fire department and has been contracting with the Yelm Fire District #2 for the provision of fire and emergency medical services for many years. Fire service and emergency medical services, which were provided by predominately volunteer fire departments, struggled to keep pace with the increase in emergency calls.

Changes in the laws governing firefighter health and safety and increased difficulties in recruitment and retention of qualified volunteers required a more consistent staffing plan. This led to the hiring of three (3) career firefighters by Yelm Fire District #2 in February 2002.

In 2001, Thurston County Fire District #4 (Rainier), contracted with Yelm Fire District #2 to improve emergency response capabilities. The two (2) districts share personnel, equipment, and apparatus as a condition of the contract. This arrangement improved service and administrative efficiency in both districts. The combination of districts is called “S.E. Thurston Fire & EMS” and includes City of Yelm residents regarding emergency responses. Each fire district maintains its own Board of Fire Commissioners, which meet together on a monthly basis. City of Yelm citizens are unable to vote on or participate in fire department issues under this arrangement.

In 2008, the districts signed an Interlocal Agreement. With this agreement the two (2) Boards of Fire Commissioners, Yelm and Rainier, agreed to operate jointly and to pursue the formation of a Regional Fire Protection Authority (RFA) in conjunction with the City of Yelm.

The RFA Planning Committee was established and is comprised of three (3) fire commissioners from Thurston County Fire District #4, three (3) fire commissioners from Yelm Fire District #2, and three (3) appointed Yelm City Council members.

The challenges and needs of all citizens in the S.E. Thurston Fire & EMS area were assessed and addressed by the RFA Planning Committee through a series of meetings. This plan is the result.

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!

Eminent domain is the inherent power of the state and local municipalities to seize a citizen’s private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen’s rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner’s consent. The property is taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties who will devote it to public or civic use or, in some cases, economic development. (from Wikipedia).

Steve Klein broke this story and gives an excellent time line of the City’s struggles with its Water Plan on Yelm.com is a post titled CITY OF YELM SEEKS TO CONDEMN CITIZEN’S WATER RIGHTS.

The post on her website states:

The City of Yelm is trying to substitute a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS) for an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) regarding their proposed five-fold increase in water withdrawal quantities. By doing this, City officials are sidestepping their obligation to get the opinions of the public and independent professionals about the environmental impacts of such an action.

Your well water level could drop 23 feet and leave you dry

When this happens, when you least expect it, who’s going to pay you the $15,000 it takes to drill you a new well and replace your pumping equipment? Are you going to enjoy the surprise of having no water?

You have until this Friday, May 22nd to send your comments into officials for an appeal.

It also includes a downloadable PDF and contact info for sending in comments.

The PDF is much like the full color print ad in the Olympian today (in the A section).

The deadline for public appeal is Friday May 22nd.

Below is the map from www.jzknight.com, showing the area affected by the proposed drawdown.