If you have wondered why Lewis County is so regressive and has suffered decades of brain drain of many of its best young people to more economically opportune areas, this week’s session of the Lewis County commissioners for a decision on the YMCA property rezone at Mineral Lake would have been quite explanatory.
I was proud of Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, who has studied this land use decision and the law and concluded our planning professionals and our planning commission were correct in their approval of this zoning change. I assume Pollock realizes that you can’t expect a better Lewis County if you shut out good organizations, people, projects and their capital.
The two other commissioners again gave the YMCA great arguments for their appeal. Scott Brummer was concerned about the environmental impact of this proposed camp, which would be a couple of main buildings and a number of cabins at least 400 feet from Mineral Lake, and was concerned about the annual guest count. Yet Brummer later stated that he was OK with McMansions surrounding the lake, even though they would likely be vacation rentals which could have a much higher total annual guest count.
At the first decision hearing, Commissioner Sean Swope posed questions to the YMCA representative about whether the Y would have topics in their curriculum such as “critical race theory.” Do most people even know what that means without Googling it? His questioning was irrelevant and inappropriate in a rezoning decision but showcased his bias against the petitioner.
In this week’s session, Swope stated his good friend Sheriff Rob Snaza’s argument. Our sheriff is struggling to provide minimal service to 70% of Lewis County now and he wouldn’t be able to provide service to this proposed youth camp. Given that situation, I guess that we cannot have any growth in East Lewis County because the sheriff can’t cover it. We will now have to halt any and all activity which brings more people to Lewis County. We will have to throw up the barricades here in Packwood, where we have been flooded with tourists and vacation rental guests and their money in recent years.
This is a bogus argument. It is up to the Lewis County commissioners to fund the sheriff adequately to provide the necessary services as the county grows. They cannot argue there can be no growth in Lewis County because they have frozen the level of law enforcement services.
Fortunately for the YMCA, these two commissioners have provided plenty of ammunition for the YMCA’s appeal in Thurston County Superior Court. Even though the property owner has complied with all aspects of the Growth Management Act and Lewis County code, has been endorsed by the Lewis County Planning Commission, has went the extra mile and then another extra mile to placate all concerns for their project, they were denied this rezone because of political bias towards the organization and political pandering to a vocal, but few in number, opposition.
Bill Serrahn,
Packwood
