County Commissioner Gary Stamper listens to a speaker at the County Commissioners meeting last February.
County Commissioner Edna Fund speaks at the County Commissioner meeting on Monday morning in the Lewis County Courthouse.
Lee Napier, Director of Community Development for Lewis County speaks during a Lewis County Board of Commissioners' meeting Monday.
Don Welever from Randle finishes addressing the county commissioners about an ordinance on Monday morning.
The Lewis County Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to extend a six-month moratorium upon certain permits within the rural and resource lands — a move intended to halt companies from building large-scale facilities — such as water bottling plants — in rural areas of the county.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners voted to impose the first moratorium on permits seeking water extraction in rural Lewis County in August of 2019 which was reported on then by The Chronicle. The moratorium was prompted by the water-bottling company Crystal Geyser and their interest in building a commercial water-bottling plant in Randle.
Randle citizens and members of Lewis County Water Alliance were fiercely opposed to the possibility of the water-bottling plant being built.
The commission in 2018 voted to allow standalone food and beverage manufacturing in rural zones to accommodate wineries and breweries. However, that decision also opened the door for Crystal Geyser and their proposal for a 100,00 square foot bottling plant along the Cowlitz River in Randle, extracting 400 gallons of water per minute from the springs along Peter’s Road.
“If you’re going to think about that industrial resource use, we ought to think about where it ought to go more carefully. It has traffic implications, it has implications that we hadn’t considered,” said Eric Eisenberg, civil deputy prosecutor in July of last year.
The moratorium has and will continue to allow the county time to study the possible changes to the zoning code that will protect natural water in the county and protect rural sites from harmful development, Eisenberg said.
“So this ordinance, 1314, will extend the moratorium that was enacted by the Board of County Commissioners. I believe that ordinance was 1306. It was enacted in August and so with all moratoriums they expire within six months if not extended,” said Lee Napier, director of community development for Lewis County on Monday morning.
Napier said that the extension will last for another six months but the commissioners can lift it if they receive information that would lead them to do so.
Two Randle citizens, Don Welever and Jim Merhaut, attended the Board of County Commissioners meeting to testify in favor of the moratorium extension.
“I am here to thank you for the moratorium as it exists today and fully urge you to extend it,” said Merhaut.
Merhaut said his well is within the cone of influence, so it is in his best interest to have the moratorium extended. He thanked the commissioners, Napier for her work on this issue, and his neighbors for their support.
“Really I just came to make this goes through. I think we are really close to getting this resolved — three weeks to be exact. I’m definitely in support of extending this for a little longer,” said Welever.
The Commissioners thanked the Randle citizens for making the trip to the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis to testify at the Board of County Commissioners meeting.
“I think we can hear the applause from Randle from folks who watch the broadcast (of the County Commissioners meeting) every monday morning,” said Commissioner Edna Fund after Ordinance 1314 passed.
