The Centralia City Council is opening conversations about annexation back up nearly one year after it passed a resolution commencing negotiations for an interlocal agreement with Lewis County to annex territory in its urban growth area (UGA).
The council hosted a workshop to discuss annexation before its Tuesday regular meeting. A catalyst for the workshop was a Feb. 2 letter to the city from partners of COTU Development, LLC requesting that the developer’s acreage be included in the city’s annexation package.
The letter, signed by Steven Ash, Levi Althauser, Jeff Wheeler and Trent Henning, formally requests that their property on Scheuber Road be included in the “priority list for the upcoming Spring 2026 annexation.”
“We understand that under the recent Lewis County Resolution 25-300 regarding co-management within the UGA, the city is strategically reviewing its urban growth area to identify logical expansions. We believe our property represents one of the most immediate, viable and beneficial opportunities for the city to meet the housing goals outlined in the Housing Assessment and Action Plan,” the letter read. The City of Centralia and Lewis County entered into an interlocal agreement in October 2025 governing the UGA.
The developer further stated in the letter that its project is designed to address a local deficit in diverse housing stock by providing up to 67 “economically diverse and desirable homes on the Scheuber Road hillside.”
“We are not asking for annexation to speculate; we are asking for annexation to build,” the letter reads.”
The developer said it has completed its due diligence required to move immediately upon the completion of annexation, including two potential site plans ready for review; a geotech study; comprehensive plans for slope stability, flood mitigation, and open space preservation; and infrastructure requirements. Signees of the letter cited the city’s goal to increase annual housing production from 54 to 202 units and stated that their development could provide more than 30% of that annual target with one project.
According to Emil Pierson, Centralia’s community development director, the city has retracted its UGA over the last two updates to its comprehensive plan by close to 2,000 acres. The entire UGA is made up of about 3,739 acres, but the city council is considering annexing only specific territories within it.
Currently in Lewis County’s code and its interlocal agreement with the city governing the UGA, the county has restrictions on single-family residential subdivisions, and multifamily residential subdivisions within the UGA. As it currently stands, the developer would be unable to subdivide a property into lots smaller than two acres in size and do multi-family developments, leaving its only option for development to annex into the city.
Pierson said he and Assistant Planning Director Hillary Hoke met with the developer recently, and the developer told staff that the first phase of the city’s original annexation plan, approved by the council March 11, 2025, did not include its property.
City staff included five recommendations for the council to consider, each with a different area of the UGA. The first area, north of Harrison Avenue, makes up about 95 acres, including 21.68 acres zoned for industrial development and owned by Kaufman Brothers and another 25.9 acres owned by National Frozen Foods and zoned for more industrial development.
The second recommended area, made up of 93.73 acres, was dubbed by the city as “LPC Phase II” as it is located where Logistics Property Company is building its first building, according to Pierson. This area was suggested due to its potential for future industrial developments.
The third suggested area to annex is South Scheuber Road, which involves the property that deals with the letter the city received. The total acreage for the area is 93.01 acres.
The fourth area involves east of Reynolds Road, which already has an approved subdivision and opportunities for residential and commercial development. The city’s map shows a total of 139.85 acres for this area near the Skookumchuck River.
Finally, the fifth area that was recommended for annexation is a 580-acre area in the Fords Prairie region that includes development at the end of Russell Road as well as Mayberry Road.
