Centralia City Council to Consider Advancing Fairgrounds Annexation

The Centralia City Council is set to consider a resolution today advancing a process to annex a portion of the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds into its boundaries.

The move follows a recommendation by the city’s planning commission.

County officials submitted a petition in February 2018 asking the city to take on the more than 45 acres of property sitting between its city limits and those of Chehalis. Doing so would lower the county’s water bill on the fairgrounds by about 30 percent since it would be subject to city rates. The fairgrounds are already serviced by Centralia water and sewer systems.

Analysis performed by city staff show an expected annual loss of $31,696 in revenue from water and sewer charges should the city council proceed with the annexation process. Utility taxes for cable, natural gas and telephone service would be levied, as would additional sources of revenue such as lodging tax dollars from campground stays, but those are not expected to completely offset the losses.

“It obviously helps the county, or they wouldn’t be asking,” City Manager Rob Hill said. “That’s common sense. I think from our position, as staff bringing it to the council, the county has been good partners with us on a number of projects, really good partners, so we’re certainly going to try to help them if we can.”

The council will not be making a final determination on the annexation process on Tuesday. Once it clears the county review board, councilors will take another vote as to whether or not to approve an ordinance codifying the annexation.

“They’re just like a business to us,” said Community Development Director Emil Pierson. “If it were a Safeway and they were annexing in, it would be identical. We don’t receive any more special privileges or anything else like that.”

The property carries an assessed value of $3.15 million and would be given an OSPF (Open Space/Public Facilities) zoning designation if folded into city limits. Lewis County PUD currently provides power to the fairgrounds, a service which would be picked up by Centralia City Light. 

The Centralia Police Department would acquire jurisdiction over the annexed portion of the fairgrounds from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A 2006 study showed no additional police resources would be required to take on that responsibility. City staff recommend in the agenda packet for Tuesday’s meeting that, should the city council accept the resolution, it do so subject to two conditions, one of which is that the LCSO continue as the primary public safety arm for the Southwest Washington Fair each summer.

The second condition would be that the address for the fairgrounds office be relocated to within Centralia city limits within three months of annexation. Not all portions of the fairgrounds are within the urban growth area in question — some individual buildings may well be split between the Twin Cities.

“Technically, the kitchen of the Blue Pavilion would be in Centralia, with the rest of the building in Chehalis,” said Fairgrounds Manager Tamara Hayes.