The fate of our homes, businesses, jobs and security of many families lay in the hands of a single, unknown, undisclosed person in the City of Centralia.
Since the nearly 1 million-square-foot of warehouses proposed to be built on the floodplain is commercial, I’m told that not even the city council has the voice in the opposition. The council has taken a step back and the go forward will be decided by a single person, unnamed and undisclosed, for the yes or no on a nearly million square foot warehouse.
This is apparently the way for the council to wash their hands of all bad decisions in our community, on the floodplain, and over the aquifer that provides our water. This project has been in planning for nearly two years. I was personally at council meetings where the developer was discussed and it was the known reason for the annexation of the property into the city a few months ago.
The application for the annexation was proposed by the property owner selling to the developer, so the only deniability is if a council members didn’t read what they were voting on.
The Department of Ecology has the Floodplain Management Act that clearly identifies that building a property that floods another property holds not only the party that develops and builds it liable, but the permitting agency, or the city and county, for any damages that allowed the development. Washington is one of the most flood-prone states in the nation, with nearly 30 presidential disaster declarations since 1953.
The Department of Ecology defines flood damages to include the shifting of stream channels, inundation of water, and erosion of soils.
The City of Centralia Community Development department has even expressed concerns that this development simply didn’t make any sense. The paving over of an agricultural field was identified as unrealistic by the city itself. The safety of other properties is a main concern for the floodplain management. Additionally, the impact on the roadways, the streams, river, the critical aquifer, drinking water and health and safety of the surrounding properties fall within the Department of Ecology Floodplain Management Act.
Negative ramifications of any and all of these factors could and would hold the city liable for damages, not only for property but for business disruptions and environmental damages due to the flooding directly related to raising nearly 50 acres of property and paving over it.
A City of Centralia ordinance specifically includes protecting natural floodplains and specifically outlines protecting and preserving our natural floodplains in Centralia, such as the Skookumchuck River and small creeks such as Coffee Creek and their associated floodplains, shorelines, wetlands and how they play an important role in our community. It allows floodwater to spread over a large area to reduce flood peak velocities and property damage, stabilize soils, and recharge groundwater by filtering impurities from runoff.
This project is within City limits and would be directly against Centralia Planning rules and guidelines.
Jeremy Ashbeck
Centralia
