Olympia Food Co-op Forum

From Stephanie Koontz,


"The Port of Tacoma has bought a huge piece of land located right in the middle of a sensitive area with Millersylvania State Park on one side and a fish and wildlife reserve on the other. For 15 years, both the park and the wildlife dept have had their eye on this property, which in combination with the McIntosh forest reserve would create an amazing wildlife corridor and preserve several threatened native species. But the port outbid them and wants to build a truck and train transfer station and possibly a solid waste transfer site (garbage coming in from all over the region) right in the middle of this precious reserve of land. The facility would cover an area larger than downtown Olympia and operate 24/7, with thousands of trucks rolling through Maytown and down Tilley Road, or idling on the property. They might even end up condemning the entire town of Maytown.

One way we are trying to stop them is by requesting a rezone of the area to rural agricultural use, and it would be a tremendous help to have the names of people who support the request. I am attaching an explanation of the rezone request, along with a map of the endangered area and a petition.

http://www.olympiafood.coop/why_rezone_rocky_prarie.doc

People don't need to sign in person. They can just send send me their name and address or phone and I will add it to our list. We already have more than 900 signatures but it would really help if we could turn in another large set before the port holds their first open hearing on this proposal on January 31. The meeting is their first attempt to convince the public that they have looked at "alternative sites" (although they already paid $20 million for the site and we know from freedom of information act documents that they have written the specifications precisely for this area.) It will be held Thursday, January 31st from 6-9pm at St. Martin's University (Worthington Center) 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey.


Best,

Stephanie


Stephanie Coontz
Professor of History and Family Studies
The Evergreen State College
Director of Research and Public Education
Council on Contemporary Families