Knock Three Times

The Commissioners of the Port, City of Shelton, County and PUD 3 met on January 29, 2010. The agenda included an update on ADAGE, discussion of the Shelton Urban Growth Area Interlocal Agreement between the City and the County, and last but not least the water agreement among the City, Port and PUD 3.

ADAGE: Lee Torrens gave a power point briefing describing his company, the technology and the potential for this model plant within Mason County. He offered to hold one on one briefings with each of the commissioners (to avoid the open public meetings act???). We learned that the permits are not in place for this first of its kind plant. We also learned that Economic Development and the Port of Shelton knew a lot more about this proposed plant than did at least two of our county commissioners. In fact Lynda and Ross stated they have never been briefed.

While all of the commissioners at the table could ask what appeared to be their politically correct questions, private citizens in attendance on Friday were limited to three questions. Ross Gallagher sitting as the chair of this joint meeting came up with the rule that only three questions would be allowed. As we were told by Lee Torrens, his job is to control the message and the expectations for the plant plus he needed to catch a plane to get home to his family in Montana.

Kudos to Lynda Ring Erickson for offering to hold public meetings in District 1 about this plant. There are a lot of questions that need answering - way more than just the three allowed by Ross Gallagher on Friday. Thank you Lynda for standing up for us amidst that love in. There's too much at stake for the strategic interests of the citizens of Mason County to rush this through the approval process. Maybe after our questions are answered and we have more information, we'll all agree this is a good idea. But let's not just jump to a hasty conclusion without bringing the public into the loop.


Shelton UGA: The County and City are working on an interlocal agreement regarding the Shelton Urban Growth Area. The City has approved its version of this agreement and now the County needs to make changes in building permits, zoning and utility standards. What I picked up as one possible bone of contention is what the home occupation and cottage industry standards will be. Teri Jeffries representing the Shelton Mason Chamber of Commerce said that her overall hope was that City and County officials not place City standards on the County and that whatever standards are adopted that they be phased in as it makes sense to the "market". Jay Hupp was glad to hear that both the City and County are still open for revisions particularly for realtors and master builders as well as interested citizens. More to come on this one.



Water Agreement among the City, Port and PUD 3: We heard a consistent theme: at first "the stars were aligned" and then "the sun, the moon and the stars were aligned" as those sitting at the table spoke of the proposed agreement. Wouldn't you expect the City and Port to both agree that something celestial has occurred when you can see the potential for getting PUD 3 rate payers to pay for the water line that is so going to benefit both the Port and City?

Jay Hupp offered this proposed agreement wouldn't have happened if it had not been done secretly by their staffs. Both the City and PUD 3 will be addressing this agreement at their meetings this week.

Watch for this to be fast track approved.

Ross allowed just three questions for this controversial topic. People in attendance were asking questions like: where's this water coming from? To which Dave O'Leary said the City has water rights but doesn't know whether the capacity is there or not and that's the way these projects are done.

He said what? I'm thinking Dave O'Leary is getting pretty close to receiving the "Are You Kidding?" award.

Stay tuned to see where this water agreement goes.