Crowd of 300 speaks out on port project

About 300 people, many carrying protest signs, voiced ideas and concerns at a meeting Thursday night about a cargo and distribution facility proposed either for the prairies or farmlands of south Thurston County or Lewis County.

A new twist emerged from the meeting: Putting the idea to a binding public vote.

The suggestion came from community activist and former Tumwater City Councilman Walt Jorgensen. Commissioners from the ports of Tacoma and Olympia, who are cooperating to study the project and attended the meeting, said they had not considered the idea of a vote.

The Port of Tacoma paid $22 million last year for a 745-acre Maytown site in south Thurston County, where such a facility could go. It would reduce traffic congestion by transferring cargo from trucks to trains and would speed cargo deliveries, they said. Consultants for the ports also have suggested three other sites south of Olympia they consider workable for such a project.

The consultants also said the facility, called a logistics center, was necessary for the two ports to remain competitive in what is expected to be a tripling of trade business in this region by 2025. They estimated it could bring nearly 2,000 jobs after being fully developed within 15 years.

The ports still are deciding whether to build the facility, said Olympia Port Commissioner Paul Telford.

Olympia Port Commissioner George Barner said he would be inclined to put the project to a public vote, whether in the county where it might go or including Pierce County. The Maytown site would require a change by county officials to more industrial zoning, Barner said.

"I'd be in favor of hearing from the citizens," Barner said of the suggested November vote.

Many in the crowd objected to changing the rural nature of south county with an industrial facility that would require more than a mile of railroad and diesel trucks bringing loads of cargo all day. They objected to noise and air pollution and possible damage to their property values.

Jessi Hoffman of Tenino objected to the meeting format, in which citizens could ask questions in the final hour of the three-hour presentation. They won't get answers until a Feb. 20 open house about the project.

"I'm so upset I'm stuttering. Don't ask questions tonight; it makes you sound like wimps," Hoffman, an opponent of the proposal, told the crowd. "Tell them what you think."

Project supporters urged opponents to remember it would create jobs.

"Not everyone is against the proposal," said Venture Bank spokesman Joseph Beaulieu, president-elect of the board of directors for the Economic Development Council of Thurston County.

Port commissioners might decide this year whether to proceed with an environmental impact statement for the project, if they pick a site they favor for development. They declined to speculate when they might take a step to move the project forward.

Jim Szymanski is business editor for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-357-0748 or jszymanski@theolympian.com.