Court Reverses City of Olympia’s Approval of 7-Eleven Project
A great victory for the Westside neighborhood!
This morning Judge Sutton reversed the City of Olympia’s approval of a 7-Eleven project at Harrison and Division on all three of our arguments.
I’ll write more later, but thanks to everyone who stuck with this for the past year, to our Attorney Bob Shirley and to Rachel Lee who provided us with meeting space, coffee and pizza to keep us going.
Dan
Works In Progress Ad
Letter to City Council re:Discussion on 7-Eleven
January 14, 2012
Dear Mayor Buxbaum and Council Members Cooper, Hankins, Jones, Langer, Roe and Rogers,
Thank you very much for opening the discussion on 7-Eleven at your Tuesday, January 10, 2012 session. I’m sure as this new Council establishes itself your collective voice will become stronger. We look forward to you placing this continuing discussion on the January 24th agenda so citizens will have advance notice and be present for your discussion.
Over 121 Olympia citizens in an open letter to you and in two full page advertisements in local newspapers asked you to settle the anti-7-Eleven Superior Court lawsuit in my favor, yet the settlement question was not addressed by your City Attorney nor by any of you on Tuesday evening.
Stand Up For The Plan: Reject the 7-Eleven at Harrison and Division
(January 3, 2012, Open Letter To The New Olympia City Council)
Honorable Mayor Stephen Buxbaum and Council Members Jim Cooper, Steve Langer, Nathaniel Jones, Jeannine Roe, and Karen Rogers:
We are among the thousand plus citizens of Olympia who oppose the City staff ’s approval of an auto-dependent, 7-Eleven convenience store adding to the traffic dangers at the intersection of Harrison and Division.
You, as the legislative body for the City of Olympia, have the authority to settle the 7-Eleven lawsuit.
Please stand up for the Comprehensive Plan and for the vision of Olympia that underpins the City’s commitment to a dense, pedestrian friendly and community oriented environment, one that creates “a safe, convenient, and attractive environment for pedestrians, transit riders and bicyclists, and which includes parking and access for vehicles.” (OMC 18.06.20).
Letter to Mayor Buxbaum
(December 31, 2011)
Dear Mayor Buxbaum:
I am writing to ask that the Council discuss and agree to settle the 7-Eleven lawsuit in my favor at your January 24th meeting.
While this lawsuit is in my name, it has both the financial and political support of a large cross section of citizens who live on the Westside.
I’m enclosed a proposed resolution and an offer of settlement. We think these deserve your careful attention.
I believe you can compare this issue to the Council’s decision to reject the Trillium Development for lack of compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. In that decision, you rejected the CP&D recommendations that were in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan. You also rejected the Hearing Examiner’s recommendations that were in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan.
What did the Hearing Examiner approve on October 17, 2011?
» Order on Reconsideration (PDF)
» Ordinances 6073 & 5830 (PDF)
» 11-0025 Reconsideration (PDF)
Dear Parties and Supporters of our efforts to Stop the 7-Eleven,
There are lots of things to “reconsider” given the City’s efforts to put a 7-Eleven at Harrison and Division, but let’s start with what was approved by the Hearing Examiner after all of our testimony
Bjorgen approved a 3000 square foot, one story 7-Eleven convenience store (Building A) at the corner of Harrison and Division with 11 parking spaces and the right to pave the entire lot as if Building B were to be built but without any requirement that Building B be built. Also, this one building has three access points: a new entrance on Division street, the use of a now one-way alley from 4th Avenue and the existing entrance on Harrison with a 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm restriction on turning left. Also, the existing bus stop will be moved west closer to the intersection. (I noticed yesterday that the Leasing Sign has disappeared from the project site.)
Reconsideration by the Hearing Examiner.
Despite the fact that the ever incompetent Associate Planner Kroydan Chalem did not mention this possibility in his letter to us of October 20, 2011, we learned that we could ask the Hearing Examiner for reconsideration. I sent this citation to you on October 19th (18.75.061). We learned based on reading this that we could ask for reconsideration within 10 days of the decision (October 26th) and that the Hearing Examiner could if he chose to respond within 20 days. If he did not respond in 20 days, he was deemed to have responded and the 21 days clock would then begin for a possible appeal to the Superior Court. Continue reading
