City to vote on annexation

The Shelton City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday evening on annexing 370 acres of Peacock Ridge into the city.

Four property owners have petitioned the city to annex forested Mason County land behind Olympic College Shelton. Green Diamond Resources owns two parcels totaling 240 acres, JPS Properties has almost 40 acres, Alpine Evergreen owns 50 acres and Bence Parcels 41 acres. The neighborhoods bordering the properties are Terrace Heights, Manke's Alpine View, Hiawatha Park and Capital Hill.

The land is designated for neighborhood residential, and is part of the Shelton urban growth area, City Senior Planner Jason Dose told the Shelton City Council at its Feb. 7 meeting.

"No development is proposed at this time," Dose said. "We're not considering changing any zoning." He added. "It is anticipated for development."

At that meeting, five people stepped up to the microphone to share their concerns about possible development of homes on the site.

John Gray, who lives in the Manke's Alpine View neighborhood, said he is not opposed to the annexation, but is concerned about traffic access if homes are developed. "Right now, there is only one way in and out of that property," he said.

"Alpine Way and Peacock Hill Road both empty into 13th Street into a rather complicated intersection with Shelton Springs Road and 13th Street," he said. "And as I can tell you, that any time of the day, that intersection can be a problem. It is borderline impossible, at about 7:30 in the morning, when everyone is going to school, and it's borderline impossible to negotiate that intersection at about 2:30 in the afternoon, when everybody is coming home from school." He added, "That should be resolved before the annexation takes place."

Mark Golda, a resident of Hiawatha subdivision just north of the proposed annexation area, said he and his neighbors are concerned about the possibility of a new access road coming in from Hiawatha Park. He said he also wonders how many homes will be allowed on the site, who will provide the infrastructure and who will pay for it. Golda also said he was told the proposed annexation area includes wetlands.

Larry Robertson also told the council he has questions.

"It appears to be a very large area of just forestland, and the cost to develop which you say there's no development now, which seems odd that someone would want to be in with no development in mind, that city sewer and water and all that stuff, the cost to service this area would be quite expensive," he said. "Who's paying for all that, and are all those costs going to be passed on to city residents, or the residents who are affected by that?"

The city council will host public hearings on any proposed development, as will the city hearing examiner, said City Manager Jeff Niten. The city will also put together a list of answers to frequently asked questions that will include the concerns heard at the meeting, he said. That posting was announced Tuesday at sheltonwa.gov/PeacockRidge.

"Some of them are unknowable until the property owners actually submit their plans for development, and then we can address any concerns at that point," Niten said.

Mayor Eric Onisko, who lives in Terrace Heights on property that abuts the proposed annexation, said he is excited by potential development. Because of the shortage of local housing, employees of the Mason County Jail and Sierra Pacific Industries are living and spending their money elsewhere, he said.

"We really need to build some houses, and this is a good location," he said. "We're not going to be building on wetlands."

Many of the questions and concerns will be addressed by SEPA review and fire department studies on access to the property, he said.