County hearing examiner hears proposal for 30.97 acres south of Yelm

A Thurston County hearing examiner heard a proposal to subdivide a 30.97-acre known as Wellington Woods Preliminary Plat into five single-residential lots, and a wetland conservation area on Tue., Aug, 24.

According to the proposal, the property owners wanted to turn the plat into a Planned Rural Residential Development (PRRD), a type of development design which aims to maintain or enhance the area’s rural character, as well as provide large parcels of land for agriculture, forestry, and other rural land uses.

The big picture

The project site is located 2.1 miles north of Bald Hill Road SE and 9.5 miles southeast of Yelm. It is situated in an unincorporated part of Thurston County, bounded to its west by Brenda Lane SE, and on the south by Rainier View Drive SE, also referred to on the map above as Rainier View Lane.

The property owners propose to divide the project into two clusters. One cluster, with Lots One, Two, Three, and Four is accessible from Brenda Lane and is meant to maximize development while the other cluster, with Lots Five and Six, which is facing Rainier View Drive is meant to maximize conservation in the area

Since the property is classified as a PRRD, the County only allows one residential dwelling unit per five acres. For this project, property owners propose to build six dwelling units.

Wetlands conservation

 Since the project is located near a wetland, property owners plan to dedicate a total of 67 percent or 20.137-acre of land area into Lot 5 which is classified as a Resource Use Parcel. . This will consolidate all the 8.34 acres of wetland into a single ownership and place the area under conservation. The lot will be reserved for use as a natural area, recreation, and a single-family home site.

The project is also required to have a 222 ft. wide buffer from the edge of the wetland. This indicates that all proposed building sites should be outside of the buffer zone.

In addition, Lots Five and Six, the eastern portion of the property, also faces a steep bluff overlooking the Nisqually River which is classified as a critical area by the Nisqually Land Trust. In a statement, Eddie True, a representative for the property owner, confirmed that around 40 to 50 feet of land which makes up portions of Lot Five and Six will also be identified as a protected zone. “No construction, no building,” True said.

Each lot will have its own private water well and on-site septic system.

The decision for the request is scheduled on Sep. 14, 2021, which is followed by a 14-day appeal period. If an appeal or reconsideration is not received, the decision is considered final.