Waitsburg to Consider Subdivision Proposal

WAITSBURG - With an increase in wind farm activity and a pulp mill planned for the Starbuck area, the time just mightABBREVIATEDresidential housing be right forLEGALa DESCRIPTION:development in Waitsburg.

The Waitsburg Planning Commission will consider a multitude of factors as they meet with Warren

UTILITIES:Land Company owners and determine whether or not to send their recently submitted preliminary plat proposal on forSETBACKS:by the city council.consideration

The public hearing willVICINITYtake placeMAPat 7 p.m. on Dec. 15 at the Lions Club building at the Waitsburg fairgrounds.

Warren Land Company, LLC, owned and managed by Gene and Mary Warren, of Dayton, has submitted a preliminary plat proposal for Whoopemup Meadows, a 42 acre subdivision broken into 114 lots of 10,000 square feet each. Gene Warren said the project will be developed in five phases and could take up to 20 years to implement.

The land, which has been farmed by the Warren family since 2006, runs from Garden Street (just east of the Port of Walla Walla light industrial park) on the east to Taggart Road on the west and from Millrace Road on the north to the Northern Pacific railroad line on the south.

The property was previously owned by California developers Andy and Camille McElhinney who began pursuing the land's annexation into the city in early March of 2006. After more than a year of negotiations, tabled decisions, public meetings, and a comprehensive plan update, the land was rezoned as residential in July, 2007, in anticipation of the Whoopemup Meadows development.

In September 2007, the Waitsburg City Council placed a sixmonth moratorium on new subdivision applications to allow time for it to review current city ordinances. Annexation decisions were continuously tabled until, after about 18 months of discussion, the parcel was finally annexed by the city by a 3-2 council vote on Nov. 28, 2007. Due to a decline in the housing market at that time, the McElhinneys gave up pursuit of the development.

On Dec. 15, the Warren's proposal for Whoopemup Meadows will come before review by the Waitsburg Planning Commisionata7p.m.publichearing. William Potolichio chairs the Commission and is joined by K.C. Kuykendall, Marie Gagnon, Bart Baxter, and Karen Gregutt.

City Clerk Randy Hinchliffe said the plat proposal is currently in the hands of city engineers Anderson, Perry & Associates, and the commission will hear their recommendations at that meeting and determine whether or not the proposal should be sent on to the City Council.

All interested citizens are invited to attend and present evidence in favor or opposition of the Preliminary Plat. A copy of the completed application for comment can be obtained at City Hall and may be submitted in writing through Dec. 12.

Warren said he and Mary have a combined 40 years experience working in all phases of local real estate. They have raised their family in the Dayton area and have dry land and irrigated farming in the Touchet Valley.

Gene Warren is currently president of Warren Farms, Inc. which is a third-generation family farming operation in Columbia County. He is also a member of the Port of Columbia Board of Commissioners.

HDJ Design Group of Walla Walla is the lead engineer in the design of the subdivision.