Friends of Rocky Prairie
Action Alerts and Updates

• What will happen to the 745 acres owned by the Port of Tacoma, now that the SSLC is off the table?    The Port of Tacoma intends to sell this property, but to whom and for what purpose??  Friends of Rocky Prairie members have made significant efforts to partner with state and federal agencies and conservation organizations to preserve this unique area and it's inhabitants.  More to come....
   

•  June 20, 2008:  Port of Tacoma has agreed to let the Interlocal Agreement run out!! 
  This means that a South Sound Logistics Center will NOT be built in Thurston County!  Read more about this in the article in the June 20th Olympian.
  
  You showed the Port of Olympia Commissioners that we want to preserve the rural treasure that is South Thurston County and protect the peace at Millersylvania State Park.  A rail yard with constant noisy train traffic and air pollution doesn't belong here

THANK-YOU!!!
 

• Update:  Surprise move by Commissioners bans development at Maytown site for 6 months and delays cargo center.   Read the full article in The Olympian (from Wednesday, April 16, 2008).

  County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday for a moratorium at the 745-acre property.

  "This gives everybody some breathing room," Commissioner Diane Oberquell said. She said the move was necessary to freeze development activity because a pending request to rezone the land was so complex that county staff members might not have been able to process it in a timely fashion.

  A public hearing on the ban will be set within 60 days.

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•  Update regarding the rezone request and what's next:    
  On March 26, more than 80 brave souls drove through the snow to appear in front of the County Commissioners to encourage them to put the rezone request for the Maytown property on their docket this year instead of deferring it as requested by the Port of Tacoma. (A few days prior to the meeting, the Port of Olympia withdrew its support of Port of Tacoma's request and told the county they had no objection to this going onto this year's docket. We were appreciative of this move!) We turned in more than 1900 names of people who support our proposed rezone.
  
  We want to thank everyone who came, and everyone who wanted to but got defeated by the weather. Although the commission didn't want to hear testimony objecting to the Logistics center, they did allow a few people to explain why the issue should go on this year's docket. Then they let several more people say they supported the request.  Wolf Haven, The Nature Conservancy, and Black Hills Audubon went on record as supporting our efforts. Even though many folks were disappointed that they weren't allowed to speak about the importance of the issue to them, the fact is that our appearance there spoke volumes to the Commissioners. We feel pretty confident that there will be at least two more opportunities to voice opinions; in fact, the Chairwoman explained that the future hearings would be held in a smaller room and we should choose representatives to speak instead of all showing up. We took this as an encouraging sign!
  
  The Commissioners should let us know on April 15th whether we're on the docket for next year. If we are, then we'll need to organize presentations to the planning commission and for the next hearings. We'll know more after the 15th and will let people know what's happening and what's needed.
  
  In the meantime, we're busy trying to raise funds from all sorts of places to buy back the site from Port of Tacoma. We've been told that some of them are feeling receptive to that idea, and we're working on getting them all to agree to that plan. But there's a small detail of needing about 20 million dollars, so it's quite a task.
  
  Thanks to everyone for all your encouragement and help. It's difficult to give people specific tasks at this point, but we certainly appreciate the offers. We may need some help with phone trees, research, who knows, and believe us, we'll ask.
   

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•  A HUGE THANK YOU   to everyone who came and gave to the Friends of Rocky Prairie Benefit Concert, Saturday, April 5th, 2008, at Traditions Cafe in Olympia.  And another  HUGE THANK YOU to Gaelica  for the concert!.
  
  The group performed a moving rendition of "Song for Rocky Prairie," written by Friends of Rocky Prairie member Diane Sonntag.
  
  We are still selling our Rocky Prairie CD and custom designed Rocky Prairie tee shirts.  Please contact us at FORPrairie@hotmail.com for information about purchasing either of those items.