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Issues Around The South Sound

Isthmus Issue

Senator Karen Fraser (D-22) speaks with bill supporters on February 19 after the Senate hearing on SB 5800. Left to right: Former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, Gerald Reilly, chair of the Olympia Isthmus Park Association, attorney and former House committee staff member John Welsh, and Jeff Jaksich, treasurer of the Olympia Isthmus Park Association.

"It seems like there are millions signed up in support of these bills...." began Senator Darlene Fairley, Chair of the Government Operations and Elections Committee, as she jokingly welcomed "prime troublemaker" Senator Karen Fraser to testify as prime sponsor of SB 5799 and SB5800. "I think the city made a mistake of historic proportions...so I felt compelled to act...." testified Fraser in support of her bills, which have now been combined into ESSB 5800. In December 2008, the Olympia City Council approved a zoning ordinance to increase building heights on the isthmus from 35 feet to a maximum of 90 feet.

To read the full article and progress of the isthmus development issue, go to our website at http://www.oly-wa.us/greenpages or http://www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Photos on this page by Janine Gates

Triway's Bellatorre Project: A River Runs Near It

On February 25, Tumwater Hearing Examiner Rodney Kerslake approved Triway Enterprises' conditional use permit for the Bellatorre project, a proposed mixed-use development, in which seven of the ten buildings are planned to be in excess of 50 feet in height.

In the consolidated hearing, Kerslake also ruled against citizens Erik and Marcia Kjesbu and Dave and Cathi Read, who appealed the City of Tumwater's issuance of an environmental mitigated determination of non-significance for the project. Their concerns related to environmental issues such as traffic, storm drainage and flooding issues, water quality impacts to the Deschutes River and nearby wetlands, and loss of territorial views by potentially hundreds of Tumwater Hill residents.

The four Tumwater residents, who met at a community meeting about the project in October 2008, spent months preparing for the appeal and represented themselves at the nine hour hearing held February 11 in the Tumwater city council chambers.

To read the entire articles chronicling the progress of the Bellatorre project and the efforts of these citizen activists, go to our website at http://www.oly-wa.us/greenpages or http://www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Citizen activist Erik Kjesbu indicates, on his homemade chart, the difference between sea-level and street level elevations at various intersections in Tumwater.


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Updated 2015/01/07 21:14:22