After recusals and anger, Lacey council votes 3-1 to approve Meridian Market and Gas
After two council member recusals and angry outbursts from the audience, Lacey City Council voted 3-1 on Thursday to follow a hearings examiner’s recommendation and approve a conditional use permit for a convenience store with gas pumps known as Meridian Market & Gas.
The seven-member council was reduced to four members for voting purposes by the time the vote was taken. Councilman Michael Steadman and Deputy Mayor Malcolm Miller recused themselves from the vote, while Mayor Andy Ryder was excused because he returned home from a sister city visit to Poland on Thursday.
The council’s decision can be appealed, but for the moment it ends a year-long process in which hundreds of neighbors had submitted comments opposing the proposal and had spoken out against it during a recent hearings examiner hearing. They also protested at the development site — 8808 Campus Glen Drive NE — and gathered again before and during Thursday’s council meeting. Many opponents wore orange in a show of solidarity.
Resident Deborah Shawver was among about 100 people who attended the meeting, both inside council chambers and in the lobby. She said the northeast Lacey experiment of combining industrial development with residential development is not working.
“The last thing we need is a gas station,” she said before the meeting started.
During the meeting, other members of the public tried to speak, but were frequently reminded about the council’s quasi-judicial role when considering a hearings examiner recommendation. In the appearance of fairness, no communication between the public and the council is allowed, which is otherwise known as “ex-parte” communication.
City Attorney David Schneider explained that the council can approve, modify or deny the hearings examiner recommendation, but it was critically important that decision be based on the record created by the examiner, not resident comments.
If not, it could be grounds for an appeal or could put the council members in a compromised position, he said.
Prior to the council making a motion to discuss Meridian Market & Gas, Schneider asked each council member three questions: Do you have any personal interest that would be affected by making a decision on the requested conditional use permit? Have you had any ex-parte communication with an opponent or proponent? Is there any reason you can’t consider the matter in a fair and impartial manner?
All went smoothly until he got to Miller, who acknowledged that he drove out to the site, talked to the people who live there, viewed the site personally, and hung out.
“I came to a very similar conclusion: I was biased,” Miller said. He was then asked to recuse himself from the meeting. As he exited council chambers, he received a round of applause.
“Thank you, sir!” said an audience member as he left.
Steadman, who appeared via Zoom during the meeting, recused himself right before the council got to the Meridian Market & Gas agenda item. He did not give a reason, although he may have recused himself because he lives in northeast Lacey.
Schneider then turned to the audience and asked if there was anyone who wanted to challenge a council member on the appearance of fairness. His request was quickly misunderstood because those who wished to speak wanted to address the entire council.
One of those who tried to speak was former Lacey parks board commissioner Sarah Daniels, who recently resigned from the board over the Meridian Market & Gas proposal.
Daniels wanted to challenge the council on whether they had read the hearings examiner’s report.
“If you have read the report, I will be satisfied with your vote,” she said before retaking her seat.
Others also tried to speak but were denied and that’s when emotions began to boil over. Council member Lenny Greenstein, who was asked to lead the meeting after Miller recused himself, called for a short recess to quell the audience and reminded them that if the meeting got out of hand, the council would take its vote behind closed doors.
Council members Robin Vazquez, Ed Kunkel and Greenstein voted in favor of the conditional use permit, while Carolyn Cox did not, raising concerns that not enough “local eyes” examined the traffic situation near the proposed development site.
Lacey residents were disappointed in the outcome.
“They did not put community concerns above economy,” said Cheryl Ricevuto, a resident who has been actively opposed to the proposal.
She also said the council members acted as if they had no choice but to vote “yes,” considering that any “no” vote would have been seen as impartial. She said it felt like a “pro forma vote,” where the council members acted like they had no choice but to go with the recommendation.
Greenstein acknowledged that the quasi-judicial process is a “horrible process,” but there’s little council can do because they have to follow state law. One area they do have influence over is local zoning.
“We’re going to start reviewing all the zoning in the city: what we we like, don’t like and what we want to change. We have the ability to do that.”
Cox also supports looking at the city’s existing zoning to try to “futurecast whether the present zoning gets us where we want to be.”
Cox also said she felt for those who attended the meeting. They made signs, they held protests, they organized for over a year.
“I’ve gotten more mail on this than even homelessness,” she said.
Miller said he was prepared to vote “no” on Thursday, but felt he needed to tell the city attorney the truth.
“People want to be heard and they want to be listened to,” he said. “If I don’t hear and listen to them, I’m not doing my job.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
