– “Ice Chips Candy: Healthy sweets, safe for diabetics and loved by Sharks (of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’)”
“Two grandmothers from the state of Washington have been created products and businesses since 1986 with several successful enterprises including Ice Chips Candy created to be healthy and full of flavor.

Ice Chips Candy uses the birch bark Xylitol (made in the United States) with no genetically modified corn (GMO). Xylitol is a polyol, a sugar alcohol. It is all natural, safe for diabetics and has many health benefits,” by Debbie Hall, Informer Media Group, Las Vegas.
Read more


– Why Ice Chips did not move their manufacturing facility to within the Yelm city limits
THE FACTS:
The NVN published on November 6, 2014 why Ice Chips did not relocate within Yelm City Limits, “The two [Ice Chips owners Beverly Vines-Haines and Charlotte Clary] were even considering constructing their own building, but were told by city of Yelm Building Official Gary Carlson and Yelm Mayor Ron Harding they did not think they could zone the business, according to Vines-Haines.

‘I feel bad, because I love Yelm, but cities that keep business away never reach the status they think they are,’ she said.

‘When I read about Yelm in the Chamber of Commerce information, it’s read like they’re pro-growth,’ Clary said. ‘What concerns me is that they might think they are, and they are so not.'”

BOTTOM LINE:
The Ice Chips owners “were even considering constructing their own building, but were told by city of Yelm Building Official Gary Carlson and Yelm Mayor Ron Harding they did not think they could zone the business.”

Yet, the City of Yelm has an industrial zone, as another council candidate thoroughly discussed at the forum which needs to be exploited.

When Ice Chips is in the news, remember they could have been the “Yelm, WA-based company.”

– “Grocery Outlet Proposed in Yelm”
“Next to Safeway: Plan Includes Grocery Outlet Building, Fast Food Building, Retail Building”
Read more by Jenna Loughlin, Nisqually Valley News.

Editor’s note:
According to “city of Yelm Building Official Gary Carlson and Yelm Mayor Ron Harding they did not think they could zone the business [a locally-owned and operated Ice Chips manufacturing plant in Yelm], according to Vines-Haines [Ice Chips co-owner]. yet without the public being informed previously, a large Grocery Outlet conglomerate, accompanied with a retail pad & another fast food restaurant is on-tap for Yelm?

Have you ever wondered why the City of Yelm can seemingly always clear the way for huge national or multi-national chain stores to build here, yet are perceived as being unfriendly to locally-owned businesses? hmmm!

The Point:
How does the city’s code allow for two more entrance/egresses for a Grocery Outlet/retail/fast food complex between the Safeway entrances and the Bald Hill Rd/Creek St. intersections, which is already a stretch of road backlogged almost every afternoon, including weekends?
The City of Yelm blames their traffic woes on growth outside of the city limits, yet continues to approve more and more out-of area businesses with large “footprints” along the Yelm Ave. corridor.