No matter what the Village People say, the Lewis County commissioners can’t seem to be convinced it’s fun to stay at the YMCA.
On Wednesday morning, for the second time, the county voted against a rezone proposed by the organization for 500 acres of land on the north end of Mineral Lake.
However, unlike the last time they did so — which prompted a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court appealing the decision — Wednesday’s denial was not unanimous. While Commissioners Scott Brummer and Sean Swope voted to deny the rezone, Commissioner Lindsey Pollock asked that it be approved with various stipulations. Her motion died without a second.
If it had been approved, the rezone would have turned the 500 acres from “forest resource land” into a “master planned resort.” The Y’s eventual goal with the land is to build an overnight summer camp. It would be the first new YMCA camp of its kind built in over a century.
Since being announced, the project has faced significant backlash from several Mineral community members, but has received endorsements from other local groups, including Centralia College and the Cispus Learning Center in Randle. Proponents have argued the camp would be the best use of the land with minimal impact on the lake, which many have called “pristine.”
Among the steps required of the nonprofit was an application for a rezone of the property. While the YMCA only asked for a rezone on the 500 acres, it owns about 2,000 acres in total next to Mineral Lake in the 138-person unincorporated community of Mineral in Northeast Lewis County.
In November 2022, when the commissioners were presented with an ordinance amending the county comprehensive plan including the Mineral rezone, they voted in accordance with the volunteer planning commission’s recommendations. For the YMCA, though, all three commissioners at the time voted against the rezone, whereas the planning commission voted unanimously to approve it.
During deliberations, commissioners spoke to concerns about the organization’s political stances, its partnership with the Nisqually Tribe, its placement as a Seattle-based group and other concerns related specifically to the YMCA as the applicant. Lewis County Senior Long-Range Planner Mindy Brooks, at the start of the do-over hearing that began in February, told the commissioners the decision they made must not be related to the applicant, but to whether the master planned resort overlay was appropriate for the land. Concerns on the camp itself were to be saved for the “project level” site plan, Brooks said.
After the November decision, the YMCA sued the county for what it called “capricious, discriminatory” judgment, alleging the commissioners violated property rights by basing their decisions on the organization’s values rather than following county and state code. Both the YMCA and Lewis County applied for a temporary stay of the appeal until March 6 after the county decided to re-hear the proposal, according to Tara Jones from the YMCA of Greater Seattle.
On Wednesday, Pollock said because the rezone was a quasi-judicial decision, she and her seatmates were required to act as “judges, not politicians.” Because the landowner followed the rules, she said, “the law is clear. Lewis County ordinances allow for master planned resorts in forest resource land.”
Pollock went through a list of stipulations she’d like the applicant to meet on the project level in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the Mineral community, she said. Those included asking that the YMCA include buffer zones between buildings and the lake, not invoke its nonprofit property tax exempt status, maintain strict compliance with water safety laws and develop a forest management plan.
“The question before us now is are we going to act to approve land uses allowed by Lewis County ordinance by voting to approve the master planned resort overlay with restrictions protecting the local community?” Pollock asked her seatmates. “Or, are we going to deny the rezone and then hide behind the robes of Thurston County judges when the denial is overturned?”
After her motion died, Brummer moved to deny the rezone, saying he believed it would have “significant impact to both the environment and community.” During a Monday morning deliberation on the topic, where it was noted that one of the alternative proposals for the 500 acres in the past was to allow two dozen single-family homes on the lots, Brummer claimed the housing plan would have less of an impact on the property than a youth camp, noting the plan would see at least 14,000 campers coming through Mineral in a given year at full build-out.
“I’ve heard that argument about the ‘24 McMansions,’” Brummer said, later adding, “I don’t think I’m ever going to be convinced that the impact of 24 single family residence(s), whether they’re used for VRBOs, is going to be a greater impact than 14,000 campers, 100 buildings, 49,500 gallons of water use.”
Brooks noted, assuming the “maximum capacity” of single-family homes to be used as short-term rental units such as Airbnbs or VRBOs, the land could see over 500 people per week or more than 27,000 people in a year.
While Swope said little during significant back-and-forth between Brummer and Pollock on the matter, he made a statement before his final vote to deny the proposal, noting the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office already struggles to cover the east end of the county and adding a “large-scale development” would be asking too much of the already-strained department.
When Swope referred to that issue during Monday’s deliberation, Pollock pointed out the YMCA could include a contract with a private law enforcement agency during the binding site plan process, and the commissioners could even require such a deal. She also reminded him the commission had recently approved expenditures for a new sheriff’s substation in the east end, which seemed to do little to appease him.
“It’s a very important issue for the citizens,” Swope said.
Whether the lawsuit will be picked up where it left off remains to be seen. After the last denial of the rezone, the YMCA issued a statement that it was “disappointed,” but continued “to believe that a youth and family camp and outdoor education center is the best use for that property, because its low-impact use will allow the bulk of the property to remain in its natural state.”
After purchasing an additional 1,600 acres abutting the original 500 earlier this year, the YMCA announced it would be starting outdoor activities with families on its property this coming summer.
At the end Wednesday’s meeting, the commissioners recessed the hearing on the ordinance until this Friday at 11 a.m., when they will vote on the remainder of the comprehensive plan amendments unrelated to the YMCA rezone.
