News & Info

And the Beat Goes On

Government affairs work at Olympia Master Builders is not exclusive to Thurston County. The following is a brief update of the work that our chapter members and Olympia Master Builders (OMB) staff have been involved with.

Lewis County
Permit Review Process – Over the past two years the OMB Lewis County Chapter has been involved with a comprehensive review process of Centralia, Chehalis and the County. This review was done under the guidance of a coalition or partnership which included the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, Lewis County Realtors, Port of Centralia, Lewis County OMB and others.

Recently the review concluded with the group's consultant speaking to her report in a presentation at the monthly Chamber forum. The Report concluded with recommendations for each jurisdiction that would assist them in providing better services to the community through the land use and permitting process.

Now that the report has been made public the coalition is working to move the review process into the second phase. This phase of the process involves the coalition working closely with the jurisdictions on implementing recommendations from the report. OMB Lewis County Chapter President, Don Koidahl, has agreed to head-up the effort of the group in communicating specifically with the County. Koidahl said of the process, "This is an excellent opportunity for the building and business community to work collectively with government." He continued, "We have already achieved one of our main goals in this process, which is to have better dialogue with government."

To date, all three jurisdictions have received and reviewed a copy of the report and are willing to work with the coalition to improve their internal process.

Mason County
Members of Olympia Master Builders Mason County Chapter, as well as OMB staff, have been invited to participate in a task force that will be reviewing fees and procedures of the Mason County Permit Assistance Center. This effort will provide an opportunity to give input to the County regarding their internal systems and budgetary needs.

This past December, Mason County Chapter President Roger Denny, expressed concern to the County over their proposed fee increases of ten percent with an annual increase of three percent thereafter. As a result the County Commissioners asked staff to meet with the OMB Mason County Chapter in order to seek compromise and understanding on this issue.

City of Shelton
The City of Shelton has recently adopted new infill development standards. Through the work of Mason County First Vice President Andrew Spear and other members, OMB was able to work with the City Commissioners and staff to get reasonable language added to these standards. However the work in this area is far from over.

At this point in time the City is considering more changes to their development standards, including implementing traffic impact fees. Mason County members and OMB staff will continue to stay in touch with the City of Shelton.

Grays Harbor County
This past month the members of the Twin Harbors Chapter had a wonderful opportunity to hear from all three of the Grays Harbor County Commissioners. For a little more than an hour the Commissioners fielded many questions in a free flowing discussion.

Many of the questions to the Commissioners revolved around their vision for how to prepare for growth. In response the Commissioners said that the County is currently working very hard on water and other infrastructure related issues.