Road signs at Yelm intersection of SR 507 & 510
Photo courtesy of Yelm-based photographer Guustaaf Damave
“The City of Yelm Planning Commission is sponsoring a Public Hearing to receive comments on the proposed changes to the Comprehensive Plan. The City of Yelm is pleased to provide you with the analysis and draft of the proposed Yelm Comprehensive Plan and Yelm/Thurston County Joint Plan Amendments 2007.
The Yelm Planning Commission, with the assistance of the Thurston Regional Planning Council, is proposing editorial changes to the transportation, capital facilities plan, and other zoning related changes to ensure the Comprehensive Plan is consistent with the Washington State Growth Management Act.
The Public Hearing is scheduled for Monday, August 20, 2007, at 6:00 PM in the City Council Chambers at City Hall located at 105 Yelm Avenue West. Written comments will be received up until 5:00 PM, September 4, 2007,” quoting the email from City Hall.
Policy 2.1. Road Adequacy Policy (Level of Service Standard) of the Transportation Plan says
“To adopt levels of service for roads and facilities and services that reflect the preference of the community.”
The Plan says:
“For concurrency purposes, the following standards shall apply in the Urban Growth Area:
3. In the urban core LOS F is recognized as an acceptable level of service where mitigation to create traffic diversions, bypasses, and alternate routes and modes of transportation are authorized and being planned, funded, and implemented, and can result in improved LOS.”
Mayor Harding said LOS (Level of Service) would not be heard at the Six Year Transportation Plan Public Hearing.
OK, it must be heard here. LOS F is NOT an acceptable level of service.
We, the community, want to change the policy and no longer accept the LOS F on OUR MAIN THOROUGHFARE.
Level of Service (LOS) is simply explained on the July 19th entry on this blog:
scroll to July 19.
Won’t you turn out in numbers and tell the Planning Commission
“To adopt levels of service for roads and facilities and services that reflect the preference of the community”
and not levels based on their own desires. This is where the city’s policies are established.
The will of the community says the Plan is what must be followed!
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2 comments
Many people are unable or unwilling to attend the Public Hearing, but that should not be a deterrent to having their voices heard!
Suggestions:
1) Call the City Clerk 360-458-8404 and ask that your call be made part of the record for the Public Hearing Meeting on August 25th. Tell the City what you think about the unsatisfactory Levels of Traffic Service: C, D, or even F!!
2) Send a letter to Mayor Harding, and the members of the City Council at:
Yelm City Hall, P.O. Box 479, Yelm, WA 98597.
3) Don’t want to write a letter? How about sending an email? Go to:
http://www.ci.yelm.wa.us/default.asp
After the page loads, you will the mayor and city council listed on the right hand side of the page. Clicking on each link will bring you to their email address.
Such is the priviledge of freedom of speech. Such is the way that elected officials know the will of the people, specifically, your will being done.
YCT
I’m feeling like “individual rights” are at risk for the residents of Yelm after reading the Municipal Code’s chapter on land use and signs. Particularly so in reference to this clause:
“Provisions of the regulations to which the enforcement provisions of this
chapter apply will be enforced for the benefit of the health, safety, and
welfare of the general public, and not for the benefit of any particular
person or class of persons”
Ron Harding said, Anyone in elected office really has to serve the best interest of the entire city”
Who determines what is or isn’t in the best interests of the entire city? What do they base their decisions on? Are individual citizens or a group of citizens requests going to be ignored or given the excuse that their requests are found not to be “in the best interests of the city”? Does that policy apply to all Municipal Code chapters?
If a citizen or group of citizens file a complaint/request for action with the city or against a business/individual, do city officials even bother to take action? If they do respond, will they respond without bias and will they enforce the rights of individuals/a citizen group to seek resolution for complaints?
Harding Greens has received many complaints over the years about the unreasonable noise generated by their compressor for an old air conditioner that runs 24/7 with short periods of silence. People who talked with the manager of Harding Greens (a member of the Harding family) were told with rudeness to “plant trees and wear ear muffs” because they were there first. Mayor Harding told 2 people he has no interest in the business so he can only approach the owner, his mother who lives with him, about the noise problems. The only solution the Hardings have offered is to put wood slates in the chain link fence around the compressor. That will not eliminate the noise. One solution that would work is to park one of their many trucks directly in front of the compressor…a free solution. But the Hardings said they had been vandalized in the past and need to park the trucks so that their mother can see them from her window. Hmmm, wouldn’t cheap security cameras and insurance eliminate a lot of their anxieties and provide law enforcement with evidence should the trucks be vandalized? Does Ron Harding’s mother sit at the window 24/7?
Rainier Apartments is directly across from Harding Greens. The residents are seniors and disabled on low income. Residents need a safe, peaceful, low stress environment for health reasons. Are the resident complaints to be ignored and given the excuse that the remedy for the noise problem would not “serve the best interest of the entire city”?
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