Seven weeks after the Centralia City Council approved a temporary moratorium on the development of large warehouses and distribution centers, the council hosted a hearing during its Tuesday evening meeting to hear from the public.
The majority of the 13 commenters spoke in favor of the moratorium, which was approved in an emergency manner Sept. 9. Supporters of the council’s action expressed their fears for increased truck traffic, and some even asked the council to consider extending the moratorium or even making it permanent.
Opponents of the moratorium, which restricts the development of structures larger than 250,000 square feet, claimed that the action negatively affects economic development and encouraged alternative solutions to the traffic issues, namely focusing on infrastructure.
Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston told the crowd after the public commenters concluded that the city is looking at a code change that would make this temporary moratorium permanent through its comprehensive plan review. However, she maintained that the restriction in the comprehensive plan, which would come before the council before the end of the year, is “very narrow.”
“It would disallow structures of 250,000 square feet or higher for the purpose of warehouse and distribution centers. It’s a very narrow focus,” Smith Johnston said. “Structures that are larger than that for other uses would not be affected. We continue to want to have a conversation around that and look for your input. There will be more opportunities for public comment.”
Jan Nontell, Centralia resident and local business owner, opened the nearly 50-minute public hearing by expressing her strong support for the council’s decision. She told the councilors that they were courageous for their vote in saying “enough.”
“I want to thank you for having the courage to say enough. Enough warehouses, enough traffic, and enough empty promises of jobs that rarely materialize,” Nontell said. “Your decision to pause warehouse development wasn’t just good policy. It’s strong leadership, and it’s appreciated.”
Nontell also called out the Port of Centralia, stating that its “pattern of behavior can be concerning” and that it “greenlights” projects that don’t always meet city standards.
Michael Gudeman and Nancy Gudeman, of Centralia, complained of the traffic in their neighborhood and on Harrison Avenue, with Nancy noting that she has heard that the city council cares about traffic but doesn’t care about quality of life or property values for its residents.
David Toyer, founder of Toyer Strategic Advisors, Inc. of Everett, said his company has been working with the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) of Washington in putting together an analysis to provide to the city. He said the industry is not in favor of moratoriums and wants to see another solution.
“What we’d like to encourage is the opportunity to find solutions. There’s a broader picture here,” Toyer said. “Moratoriums, unfortunately, send a really bad message across the board to all development. Development is a risky business to be in.”
Toyer cited an Oct. 24 letter written to Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston from NAIOP opposing the city’s warehouse moratorium and requesting stakeholder engagement. The letter, signed by NAIOP Executive Director Danielle Duvall and Director of Government Affairs Carter Nelson, gives context to the City of Vancouver’s warehousing moratorium that Centralia modeled its pause after, along with a July 2023 report prepared for Vancouver by Fehr and Peers.
“NAIOPWA is familiar with Vancouver’s moratorium and the Fehr and Peers report, as it and several businesses and economic development organizations spoke out against that moratorium and attempted to draw attention to instances where the Fehr and Peers report missed key points and considerations,” the letter stated. “In sum, we believe that Vancouver’s moratorium arbitrarily and negatively impacted its economic development future as a result. NAIOPWA firmly believes Centralia’s emergency moratorium and proposed limits on future building size risk causing more problems than they resolve.”
One reason for this conclusion, as Toyer and NAIOPWA explained, is that 83% of workers living in Centralia and 62% of workers living in Lewis County commute to jobs outside Lewis County, which adds traffic through the main thoroughfares in Centralia to leave the city. Additionally, over 20% of Centralia’s employed workforce (1,823 workers) commute outside the city to jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, including warehousing and distribution, according to Toyer Strategic.
Toyer Strategic’s analysis also found that the average annual wage for transportation and warehousing jobs in Lewis County is $61,545, which is 5% higher than the countywide average wages for all industries at $58,702.
Amy White, a Centralia resident, supported an even longer moratorium than the six-month pause the city council enacted, primarily due to her increased frustration in what she called an “ongoing lack of transparency” from the port.
“The port’s fuss over this moratorium seems grossly out of proportion to a simple pause. It feels like Centralia is becoming Appalachia West,” she said. “The port glorifies in replacing top soil and flood absorption capacities with concrete. Instead of dead-end mining jobs, we have dead-end minimum wage warehouse jobs exploiting our land and the backs of our working poor who barely survive. Centralia is far less livable as a result.”
One commenter complained of the truck traffic off of Reynolds Avenue and the carbon dioxide emissions trucks create, while another commenter called on developers to commit to help with Centalia’s infrastructure.
Katie Watson, a business owner in Centralia, said once UNFI came into town, roads became “absolutely terrible” and added that further truck traffic from more developments could not be handled by the current infrastructure, primarily Harrison Avenue.
Peter Lahmann, a Port of Centralia commissioner who opted not to speak on behalf of the port, told the councilors that the moratorium is wrong but that all three entities, including the county, need to meet in the same room.
Dawn Merchant, another Centralia business owner, called for the city council to permanently restrict the development of large distribution centers and warehouses.
“As a downtown business owner, I see every day how increased traffic affects our roads, safety and overall livability. Our infrastructure is already strained, and more large-scale warehouses and distribution projects will make that worse,” she said while speaking virtually. “Warehouses don’t bring family-wage jobs our community needs and deserves, especially as automation continues to replace workers. We deserve development that supports local families, strengthens our small business core, and truly invests in Centralia’s long-term future.”
Leah Sisemore, a former Centralia city councilor and current candidate for the council’s District 2 seat, opposed the moratorium and its potential impact on taxpayers. When the city stops investing in commercial or industrial developments, the city shifts who pays the bill, she claimed.
“We talk a lot about taxes. If the growth doesn’t help fund our roads or utility services through all the impact fees and the business taxes and the utility revenues that we get, that responsibility falls back on us homeowners and small business owners,” Sisemore said while speaking virtually. “To continue the moratorium is dangerous because it stops those dollars before they’re ever going to reach our community, and we lose out on revenue that is funding, or could fund, the traffic improvements and all the infrastructure upgrades that we heard tonight people asking for.”
Councilor Norm Chapman said that after he released a letter to the editor in the Oct. 25 edition of The Chronicle, where he stated his concerns regarding the moratorium, that he received an anonymous phone call from a restricted number.
“I received an anonymous phone call Saturday evening from a restricted number where the man with a deep voice said on the other end, ‘You want to play hardball with the port, bring it on,’” Chapman recalled. “And the caller hung up. Well, on behalf of the concerned taxpayers in this great community, I choose not to be intimidated. But instead, I plan to intensify my efforts in researching the facts, which are quite difficult to uncover, both in the past and what is currently going on.”
