Can You Help?

Here are some of the things you can do to help.

Make a financial contribution to our legal fund. The GNA has hired legal representation, to mount the most effective opposition to this project.
Click here to make a contribution to our legal fund.

Tell your neighbors about this proposed project. Suggest that they learn more about the project here at www.griffinneighbors.org.

Click here to print out our flyer on the project (this is a single-page, legal-sized handout).

Print out and post our window signs on your vehicle, or make your own.

Become a member of the GNA. Our dues are a modest $20 a year. Click here to join online.

Please do not contact the County Commission about this project's application. Why? if we appeal the findings of the Hearing Examiner, that appeal is heard in closed session by the Commissioners. Any Commissioner who has received communications from citizens about the application may have to remove himself or herself from that hearing. We don't want that to happen!

We would like to identify those in our community who can work on specific aspects of this project. We are planning on convening informal workgroups in the following areas:
  ► Natural resources (wastewater, drinking water, drainage)
  ► Zoning
  ► Traffic and parking
  ► Rural community/ quality of life impacts (schools, crime, emergency response, light pollution, etc.)

You don't have to have specific expertise in these areas, to help us.

Click here to email us to offer assistance.

Timeline of the Application

Thurston County has allowed this application to continue since July, 2003!

Oct 2002 - Presubmission Conference is requested by the applicant, Willis Family Trust. Click here to read the public documents related to the project.

Jul 2003 - Application for Special Use Permit is filed, following Traffic Impact Analysis, storm water management, sewage and other materials are submitted.

Feb 2004 - GNA hosts community meeting. Overflow crowd in Fire Station. Guests include representatives of Willis Family Trust. Opposition to project is nearly unanimous. GNA Board subsequently votes to formally oppose the project. Click here to read about our strategy.

Jul 2004 - County proposes limits to the definitions of "community center" and limits on the size of such facilities.

Feb 2005 - County issues Determination of Significance and asks for public input on scope of Environmental Impact Study. A response is required from the applicant in 120 days.

Oct 2005 - Representatives of the Willis Trust inform the County they are awaiting the County's response on Mr. Nicholson's Tennis Club application "before deciding whether to move forward with the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement or an appeal." County fails to lapse the conference center application.

May 2006 - Attorney for GNA notifies County the application should lapse, as Willis Family Trust has missed deadlines required by County regulations.

May 2006 - Without explanation, County chooses to allow application to move forward, despite GNA objections.

Dec 2006 - County's Hearing Examiner refuses to lapse application.

Feb 2007 - County Commissioners admonish County staff on their failure to properly monitor the applicable deadlines, but permit the application to move forward. Click here to read more about it.

Feb 2008 - County staff request "information indicating the applicant intends to pursue the project" and "the timeline for starting the EIS process." County threatens to expire application if the information is not received in 2 weeks.

Mar 2008 - Developer pays application fees, does not provide information or timeline requested by the County. County does not expire application. Click here to read more about it. GNA President asks County to expire the application. Click here to read the letter.

The GNA Opposes This Project

We believe this project is too big for our rural setting. It does not benefit the community and is not a "community center."  Few local groups will be able to afford the rental fees for this facility. This is an improper conversion of residentially-zoned property for private, commercial use. It violates applicable zoning controls and, if approved, could open the door to further abuse of the county zoning ordinance. The project is incompatible with the Thurston County Comprehensive Plan and the Growth Management Act. The project will substantially and adversely impact the community, traffic into and out of this area, ground water, and storm water runoff.

The GNA supports responsible development which benefits the Griffin area. This project is neither.

Description

18,000 square foot building, 35 feet high.

Described as having a capacity to accommodate 500 people for "meetings, conferences, retreats, and social functions," although maximum capacity for a building this size is much higher.

Full service kitchen.

150 paved parking spaces.

Seven to Nine full time staff.

Includes an outdoor patio, with room for a bar.

Formal identification of this project by the Thurston County Permit Assistance Center is - Project #2003101110.

Location

The project will be build on the lot located immediately north of Steamboat Annie's on the northeast corner of Steamboat Island Road and Sunrise Beach Road.

Click here to see a photos of the architect drawings and the site plan. Many more documents filed with the county may be viewed by clicking here.

Current zoning of this parcel

Rural Residential Resource zone allowing one residential unit per 5 acres (RRR 1/5). That's correct; this is zoned for residential, not commercial development. The purpose of this zone is for residential development that "maintains the county's rural character" and to provide for compatible agricultural, forest and other "rural land uses".

However, a permit may be issued authorizing a number of special uses anywhere in the county, including in this zone. One of the special uses is for a "community club, homeowners' association, private club or fraternal organization", defined as follows:

"a building in which members of the community or association may gather for social, educational or cultural activities."

We believe this project should not be described as a "community center." Representatives of the Willis Family Trust have confirmed that this is a business, a commercial enterprise. As such, we oppose the use of the special use permit designation under which this application is being made.

Current state of the proposal

The applicant (they do not wish to be called the "developer"), The Willis Family Trust, must now complete an Environmental Impact Study. When complete, their application will be submitted to the Hearing Examiner for public hearing. Although the applicant has repeatedly violated the County's regulations with respect to meeting deadlines, the County has on several occasions refused to lapse the application.

The GNA is coordinating an opposition to this project, in public hearing.

On March 22, 2004 Lance Willis' representative sent a letter to the County, suspending action on the application. Shortly before the August 18 deadline, after which the application would die, the application was instead reactivated. Mr. Willis later wrote the President of the GNA that it had never been suspended in the first place.  Click here to view the letter suspending the application.

Although Mr. Willis once wrote that, if the community would not support this project, he would not follow through with his plans. We filled a meeting room at the main Griffin Fire Station to overflowing on February 27, 2004 with neighbors opposing this project, after which Mr. Willis insisted he has sufficient support from the community to proceed.

The County, on February 15, 2005, released a Determination of Significance and Request for Comments on Scope of an Environmental Impact Study for this project. The Determination of Significance required a response in 120 days.

On October 17, 2005, representatives of the Willis Trust wrote to the County that the Trust was awaiting the County's response on the Tennis Club application "before deciding whether to move forward with the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement or an appeal." Following this, the Willis Trust told the County they did not receive proper notice of the February 15th Determination of Significance. By their own admission, the Willis Trust was ignoring the County's deadline.

Rather than put an end to this application, the County ignored their own deadline and granted the applicant yet another extension.

The GNA hired an attorney to write a letter to the County. In the letter, sent May 8, 2006, we summarized the entire history of these events. The County merely responded they would not expire the application and they have asked Willis to do what they asked in February, 2005.

Click here to view the attorney's letter.

Click here to view the County's response to the attorney's letter.

Click here to read the article in the December 20, 2006 issue of The Olympian. The headline is "Steamboat Island Community Center project to move forward; Neighbors upset over plan."

The GNA and their attorney filed a formal appeal to the Commissioners, asking to expire the application. On February 20, 2007, the Commissioners announced a 2-to-1 against the Griffin Neighborhood Association appeal to declare the conference center application to be expired. While all Commissioners admonished County staff on their failure to properly monitor the applicable deadlines, the application will be permitted to move forward. Click here to read more about the decision, on the Blog of the GNA.

Fully a year later, the County requested from the Willis Family Trust "information within two weeks, indicating the applicant intends to pursue the project" and "the timeline for starting the Environmental Impact Statement process." The County received neither. Presumably in response to the letter, a representative of the developer merely pays nearly $10,000 in application fees to the County.

Should the Willis Trust complete the Environmental Impact Study required by the County, things will start to move rather quickly. There will be scheduled a public hearing. At that hearing the Hearing Officer will collect testimony on both the scope of the EIS and whether the Special Use Permit (to convert residential property for use as a "community club") will be granted.

Most certainly, neighbors who oppose this project will need to adhere closely to the County's deadlines, unlike the applicant. We will have little time to develop a thorough response to the EIS.

Should the Hearing Examiner rule in favor of the Willis Family Trust, the GNA may consider an appeal to the County Commissioners. They will decide based solely on the record accumulated during the public hearing. The GNA and its supporters, therefore, must make the best showing it can, during the public hearing.

Important Internet Destinations

If you are not a member of the GNA, click here to be added to our mailing list regarding this project.

Click here for a summary of reasons many GNA members oppose this project, description of how this project conflicts with growth management, and with links to a copy of one of the letters sent by a GNA member to the County's Permit Assistance Center.

The pamphlet, "Guide to Public Hearings Before the Hearing Examiner"

Should the public contact the County Commissioners regarding this project? No. Please DO NOT contact the County Commission regarding this specific project. As you can see in 20.60.020 below, if we appeal the findings of the Hearing Examiner, that appeal is heard in closed session by the Commissioners. Any Commissioner who has received communications from citizens about the application may have to remove himself or herself from that hearing.

Thurston County Ordinance Chapter 20.54 on the Special Use Permit - includes 20.54.030 (once authorized, special use may not be extended without a new application),
20.54.040 (among other points, stating "the proposed use shall not result in substantial or undue adverse effects on adjacent property, neighborhood character, natural environment, traffic conditions, parking," etc.), 
20.54.070 (defining standards for a "Community Club, Homeowners' Association, Private Club or Fraternal Organization"), and also
20.60.020 (application review procedures, including an appeal step with a closed hearing by the County Commissioners).

More resource materials to come
Have something you would particularly like to see? Click here to email us.

Read the articles and letters to the editor in The Olympian:
"Steamboat center plan revived" on Jun 13, 2006

The following links to articles and editorials are now dead, after The Olympian sold its online archive:
"County's permit system is seriously flawed" on Mar 21.
"Community club will affect neighborhood" on Mar 15.
"Convention center does not belong in a rural area" on Mar 7.
"Community center will have significant impacts" on Mar 6
"Convention center is unwanted, unneeded" on Mar 3. (Please do not contact the Board of County Commissioners, despite the appeal in the close of this letter!)
Articles by The Olympian staff:
"Residents decry center proposal" (this followed our meeting at the Fire Station) from Feb 28
"Battle shapes up over community center" from Feb. 23 (including plans for this project)

~ Unfortunately, The Olympian has now sold their archives and the above links are broken. You now have to pay in order to read past issues of The Olympian. You don't like this? Neither do we. Click here to write The Olympian (the hometown newspaper who sold the hometown's history to out of town interests). ~