The Lewis County Public Facilities District tabled an agreement to buy potential land for the Southwest Washington Regional Equestrian Center on Tuesday, after a presentation by the state Department of Ecology on the agencys issues with the property.
Phil Smith, owner of the 190-acre site in question, was hit with a $232,000 fine by Ecology two weeks ago, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require him to restore 100 acres of wetlands within the property before further development can occur.
The PFD was in executive session for an hour before the regular meeting, discussing Smiths response documents and materials about the potential property sale.
Theres several issues here that have to be resolved, before we can even consider moving forward, PFD board member Dave Kuper said.
Gordon White, manager of Ecologys Shorelines and Environmental Assistance Program, discussed the violations issued by the agency, complete with photos of the site before and after grading had been performed.
These violations need to be fully resolved and cleared up before ecology can issue some of its permits. The issues largely in the landowners hands, White said.
White didnt give a solid estimate of how long the mitigation process with Ecology could take, but stressed that the process was up to Smith.
In other examples, it can take years to resolve things, White said. We need to see success in that before some things can be done around the site.
The board took no action on the sales documents which, because they are still in draft form, are not yet public record.
Weve spent a lot of time on this issue already, and all the sudden weve come to a screeching halt, Kuper said.
I think at this time well need to table this, and go back in negotiation, and speak with REQ Center and Mr. Smith to see if theres any action we can take, board member Bill Schulte said. We dont have another project, we dont have another location. I think we have to set this aside and go back into negotiations, and see what we can do with this.
Where do we go from here? Schulte pondered.
Corwin pointed out that the PFD was not responsible for the land in question at the time of the infractions listed by Ecology or the EPA.
We werent engaged with the owner at that time, in regards to this, he said.
The board is simply recognizing that the current status of the property it not conducive to the project, he said, and remains open to taking on new partners and listening to ideas.
Wed like to see if there isnt some way to spend this money in Lewis County, he said.
Larry Hewitt, project director for the Southwest Washington Regional Equestrian Center, explained that the REQ Center is not officially associated with the land in question, and that the moves by Ecology were fully expected.
Adding wetlands to the project wouldnt hamper the finished product, he said.
Theres room to negotiate. Theres room to mitigate this, he said.
We knew developing in any area of Lewis County would be difficult. Its not unexpected, he said. I certainly understand the PFDs decision to just wait and see at this point.
