The mediation table is officially set.
The Port of Centralia Commission voted unanimously Oct. 15 to participate in mediation efforts with Lewis County and the City of Centralia. Calls for mediation and collaboration began after the Centralia City Council initiated a six-month moratorium limiting the development of warehouses and distribution centers to below 250,000 square feet in an emergency move that surprised the other two jurisdictions in the mediation process.
The port sent only one revision of Lewis County’s draft mediation agreement back to the county. While the draft mediation agreement is focused on the urban growth area (UGA), Port Executive Director Kyle Heaton said the port is interested in including everything within the municipal boundaries in the agreement, as well.
“The reason for that is we don’t want to continue to have these fights. It’s not in the taxpayers’ interest. It’s not in any of the entities’ interest,” Heaton said. “If we can hammer out a development agreement for the UGA, we can certainly hammer one out for the remaining 70 to 80 acres that’s still in the incorporated limits, and then it’s all behind everyone and we move on. That’s the port’s intention.”
Heaton added that the county agreed to the port’s change and found it “reasonable.”
However, port staff and commissioners expressed frustration with the City of Centralia for a myriad of reasons related to the moratorium, its comprehensive plan, and its revisions to the mediation agreement.
First, Heaton said the port has appealed a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process near Kuper Road for high-density residential development that “required no traffic mitigation whatsoever.”
“We can’t complain about traffic on Harrison (Avenue) if we’re not going to deal with it across the board,” Heaton said, referencing the city’s efforts to mitigate truck traffic from Harrison Avenue, an issue that was grounds for the moratorium, in the city’s view. “That’s what we’re asking for. We’ve been dealing with mitigation. We’re going to have to insist that others do as well. That’s the law.”
Further, Heaton said the port asked the city to withdraw the SEPA and attach appropriate traffic mitigation measures for the development, but the city refused, and an appeal hearing was scheduled. After port attorneys contacted the city, the city withdrew the hearing and agreed to adhere to state law, according to Heaton.
“We appealed that SEPA. The appeal languished for July, which I’m not the applicant’s attorney, but he has rights too. It was set up for Oct. 9,” Heaton said. “However, they set up the hearing to approve (the applicant’s) plat and his SEPA all in one night, which doesn’t really lead one to believe the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine is in place. Our attorneys reached out to them. This is not a legal maneuver. We asked them to hold the SEPA in accordance with state SEPA standards. Eventually, the city has withdrawn the hearing and has agreed to adhere to state law.”
Commissioner Kyle Markstrom noted that while the port is interested in additional residential development, state standards must be upheld and adhered to.
“Having additional residential development in Centralia supports what we do here at the port for economic development. I just want to be careful that this isn’t seen that the port doesn’t support having residential development,” he said. “What we support is everybody adhering to the same standards and making sure that we’re all contributing our development, whether it be residential or commercial or retail or whatever, that it’s equally contributing to traffic.”
Heaton explained that the port has contributed $3 million to Interstate 5 Exit 88 and “significant millions more” on Harrison Avenue to guarantee the port a pipeline of traffic, but he said the city has “ignored that traffic.” He commended Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope and County Manager Ryan Barrett for their leadership to negotiate a development agreement.
“The port doesn’t argue that there are traffic congestion problems on Harrison. We want them dealt with too,” Heaton said. “We’ve been paying our pro rata share to make that happen. We want a financing package to work with the county, and the county has been working with us. We want the city to work with us as well and identify we’re all too small. Let’s identify a package that will take care of the citizens’ concerns.”
Heaton said the money exists to do so but that collaboration is not a “one-way street” in identifying a path to traffic mitigation. He stated that the port lobbied for $10 million to the Legislature, and when the money was divided into projects for the North Lewis County Industrial Access Plan, “no one from industry was invited to the table to divvy it up.”
One of the Centralia City Council’s requested revisions was for the city and the county to be notified and agree to the two port staff members chosen to attend mediation meetings before they began. Heaton said the port’s consultants will be chosen by its land use attorney.
“We don’t care who the county brings, and we don’t care who the city brings,” he said.
Markstrom expressed his offense with the city’s draft comprehensive plan update, which the council approved on a first reading last week and will vote on a second reading next week. He said the city is working to make the restrictions set forth by the moratorium permanent.
Markstrom provided a public comment at last week’s Centralia City Council meeting during the comprehensive plan agenda item, telling city Community Development Director Emil Pierson that the port had provided comments and concerns with the city, but not all of its concerns were addressed.
Pierson said that the city, along with the port attorney’s team, “made all of the corrections that (the port) requested” while later saying that “we’re currently working with them right now to resolve some of those comments” regarding the restrictions on large developments. Pierson recommended that the port consult with its land use planner, which Markstrom took offense to.
In an email to Pierson and Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston, Markstrom told Pierson that his rebuttal to his comment was “not only unprofessional but dishonest.”
“I am very engaged and up to speed with these matters and how they affect development in Centralia. I took your comment that I should consult Andrew, the port’s land use planner, as blatant disrespect, which I will not tolerate,” Markstrom wrote. “Again, the point of my comment last night was to go on the record to say that the port continues to have serious concerns with the comp plan that have not been addressed. Your attempt to correct that record was dishonest. I hope that in the future we can communicate in good faith and stick to the facts.”
