PORT TOWNSEND — New legislation has prompted Fred Hill Materials representatives to ask Jefferson County to designate the company’s proposed pit-to-pier project an “industrial project of statewide significance” to allow it to get state help.
That designation would give the county the benefit of state resources and expertise for more timely environmental review of the project, said Dan Baskins, Fred Hill Materials project manager, citing Senate Bill 5473, which Gov. Chris Gregoire signed in May.
“We believe we’re qualified, and we’ve asked thecounty to review the project based on that,” Baskins said.
In county commissioners’ hands
Jim Tracy, land-use attorney for Fred Hill Materials, in a letter to the three county commissioners dated June 17, asked that the county consider the designation with regard to the pit-to-pier project, which has been in the county application stage since 2003.
The company proposes building a 4-mile-long conveyor belt to Hood Canal to move gravel to a 1,000-foot pier and load it on barges for transport.
“It essentially puts the onus on the state agencies to work together to get the project done,” Baskins said.
Those agencies, Baskins said, include the state departments of Ecology, Natural Resources, Transportation and Commerce.
The legislation, Baskins said, means “state agencies are on notice that they need to be working with the county, but it does not change the environmental review.”
County Administrator Philip Morley explained that the county commissioners would have to review the request and nominate the project to the state.
“There are a number of issues that we’re examining at the commissioners’ request so they can make an informed choice,” Morley said.
Other projects
The request from Fred Hill prompted the county Department of Community Development to review the new law and begin to explore the possibility that other projects might qualify under it, the county administrator said, although no other requests for such review have been received.
Such projects include:
• A $300 million, 890-unit master-planned development, the Pleasant Harbor Marina and Golf Resort, proposed by Canadian developer Statesman Group to be built near Brinnon.
• A proposed $27.3 million Port Hadlock sewage treatment system.
• The Larry Scott Memorial Trail, a Port Townsend portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail system.
“We need to weigh the priorities,” Morley said.
As soon as the county community development department analyzes the legislation, and once the new law receives legal review, Morley said, “I would imagine that the commissioners would formulate their decision on this.”
The county community development department, aided by consultants, is conducting an environmental impact statement on the Fred Hill Materials pit-to-pier project.
The proposal has met with opposition from Shine-area neighbors and regional environmental groups who fear the project would “industrialize” Hood Canal.
Fred Hill project
Fred Hill has been going through county approval processes and environmental reviews since filing its application more than seven years ago.
The proposed pier project includes a new conveyor to move sand and gravel from Shine mining areas to a 13- to 18-foot-wide load out-only facility on the western shore of Hood Canal, where barges and ships would deliver materials to Puget Sound and West Coast urban markets.
Although visiting Kitsap County Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of a decision that allows Fred Hill Materials to expand gravel mining gravel at its site south of state Highway 104, petitioners — including the Hood Canal Coalition — have challenged the ruling in the state Appeals Court.
Kitsap Judge Anna Laurie affirmed a 2004 Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board finding that a Jefferson County-approved 690-acre mineral resource land overlay for Fred Hill Materials complies with the state Growth Management Act.
The pit-to-pier project’s marine transportation capability would provide a domestic regional source of sand and gravel that would benefit private, public and environmental projects, including not only high-quality construction materials but affordable, vital sand and gravel to restore denigrated shorelines throughout Puget Sound and Hood Canal.
“The central conveyor and pier project will help satisfy the continually increasing demand/need for sand and gravel to build, repair and replace our public highways, roads, bridges, homes, seawalls, utility infrastructure and buildings, as well as supplying similar private sector uses,” Tracy said in his letter to the county commissioners.
” . . . Citizens of our state demand thorough environmental review but can ill afford delays brought on by increasingly lengthy permitting processes.”
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
