Public Hearing on Litzenberger Proposed 100 Unit "Mini-warehouses"

     by Dixie A. Walter
    November 16, 2003

     The Eatonville Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the Carriage House Inc./Litzenberger request to build 100-unit warehouses at 675 Center St. East in town Monday night November 17.. The proposed development would be built atop Eatonville's shallow, sole source aquifer mapped as a Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) and above the town intake pipe which brings drinking water to the community.
    There is confusion surrounding who may, or may not, give testimony at the hearing. According to the legal notice prepared by town planner Mart Kask, "Public testimony is limited to new information presented to the Town by James P. Van Eaton in a report entitled 'Draft Report on Critical Recharge Area Town of Eatonville' dated 7 October 2003."
     This is the planning commission's second go at the proposal. Last year the commission's recommendation to allow the development met with an appeal to the town council from Pat and Edwinna Van Eaton. The council then voted to allow Rowland Litzenberger to proceed and the Van Eaton's then appealed to Pierce County Superior Court where Superior Court Judge Tom Larkin found in their favor. The case was remanded back to the council and new evidence and information was permitted under SEPA guidelines during a SEPA comment period.
     The new SEPA evidence was one of three reasons town attorney Bob Mack wrote a motion to remand the hearing to the planning commission. And herein lies some of the conflict between legal documents. The remand states, "...The Planning Commission should consider, and take testimony and evidence on the following: ...3. Written comments on proposed Conditional Use Permit and Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance submitted by Steve Pruitt, Dixie A. Walter and Pat and Edwina (sic) Van Eaton." (Steve Pruitt's name on the motion is a mistake. The third name should be fisheries biologist Alex Foster and this was corrected for the council vote. However, the corrected version did not make its way into the latest town packet.
     Now the questions are - why do the legal documents contradict each other and who is allowed to give testimony. In one hand is the legal notice written by Kask which says only Pat Van Eaton may give testimony, while in the other hand is a motion drafted by Mack saying testimony should be given by the three people providing new information during the SEPA (State Environmental Protection Act) comment period. 
     ENN has sent a letter to Planner Mart Kask and Attorney Bob Mack asking for explanations. Copies have been sent to Mayor Harold Parnell, Mayor pro-tem Chelan Jarrett, Interim Public Works Director Greg Wilder, Planning Commission Chairman Steve Lind, Town Clerk  Carrie Lynn Loffelmacher, and Fisheries Biologist/Citizen Alex Foster.
     The public hearing and regular planning commission meeting are held in the town hall court room and begin at 7 p.m.

     To read the SEPA comments please see SEPA
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