Last Wednesday, Dec. 21, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Greater Seattle filed a lawsuit against Lewis County, claiming the county commissioners’ denial of a site-specific rezone on its property north of Mineral Lake was “not only erroneous, but also manifestly arbitrary and capricious, discriminatory, and based on rationale outside the record and contrary and antithetical to established land use principles,” according to court documents obtained by The Chronicle.
When the YMCA purchased around 500 acres of land by the lake, its intention was to build the organization’s first new overnight youth camp in over a century in a partnership with the Nisqually Tribe. Touting educational benefits, the camp was promised to prevent clearcut logging and housing developments from casting eyesores on the pristine lake, which, on a clear day, boasts a view of towering Mount Rainier.
While the move sounded ideal to many, incurring support from outdoor learning center Cispus and Centralia College, along with many other organizations and individuals — there were a few vocal antagonists from the unincorporated community of Mineral. In the 2020 census, Mineral tallied around 135 full-time residents.
For decades, development proposals for that land, which is zoned as “forest resource land,” had been shot down — something proudly claimed during rezone hearings by 78-year Mineral resident Ron Nilson. In the early 2000s, Lewis County Public Health staff noted the presence of arsenic in the community’s largely hand-dug wells and proposed creating a special purpose district to ensure clean water for citizens.
But Nilson told The Chronicle earlier this year there was a feeling the water system would bring about the establishment of sewers and other development eventually leading to “all the expenses that come with living in a city,” he said.
Now, the town’s water problems are used by Nilson and others opposed to the YMCA as an argument against the camp — to the point where the YMCA even hosted a voluntary meeting last year with its water rights specialist to explain how the organization would operate its wells.
Essentially, the opposition of some locals was expected. But what ended up stopping the YMCA’s plan in its tracks was not the town of Mineral — at least, not directly — but the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.
Despite previous vocal opposition to the Growth Management Act’s restrictions on land rights, all three of the commissioners on the board in November voted not to allow a rezone of the acreage from “forest resource land” to a “master planned resort,” which would be the next step forward in the camp’s construction.
The three commissioners at the time, Sean Swope, Lee Grose and Lindsey Pollock, cited concerns well beyond the scope of the requirements laid out in Lewis County and state code, claims the YMCA’s lawsuit. After the decision, District 3 Commissioner Scott Brummer took over for Grose. But Brummer, too, was vocal about his opposition to the rezone on the campaign trail and during public hearings on the rezone.
As part of its pitch, the YMCA said it would continue paying property taxes on the 500 acres, rather than evoke its nonprofit tax-exempt status for the foreseeable future. Pollock said little during the hearings besides that this promise was a tough sell without a long-term guarantee. Grose claimed local clashes with King County had been detrimental to Lewis County timberlands and communities, citing the YMCA of Greater Seattle being headquartered there. But the lawsuit, filed in Thurston County Superior Court, quotes Swope more than anyone.
The suit is a petition for a repeal of the board’s decision and asks for Lewis County to pay for the legal fees incurred by the YMCA. The 47-page petition is filled mostly with the Lewis County Community Development staff summary and recommendation of approval for the rezone request — which was approved unanimously by the county’s planning commission. Throughout it, the nonprofit aims to prove the commissioner’s decision was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Y’s values, which it claims should not have been a factor in the land use decision regardless.
“Specifically, the Board of County Commissioners raised concerns and inquiries directed towards the YMCA’s proposed agreement with the Nisqually Indian Tribe to permit access for traditional hunting and gathering purposes, raised concerns that a camp should be located in King County (where the YMCA is headquartered), and raised concerns and inquiries directed at the alleged ‘core values’ and education the YMCA may promote at the camp, including concerns as to whether the YMCA, through its equity and inclusion mission, supports critical race theory and gender reassignment surgery on minors, and whether it believes in ‘biological truth,’” read the petition.
The petition continues by listing the Y’s mission statement: “building a community where all people, especially the young, are encouraged to develop their fullest potential in spirit, mind and body.” Its core values are caring, honesty, respect, responsibility and passion for excellence, the petition stated.
Currently, the YMCA of Greater Seattle operates Camp Orkila in the San Juan Islands and Camp Colman in Kitsap County — both, like Mineral, are small, environmentally-focused communities. The new camp would help the organization meet high demand for enrollment at those sites. Years of planning and site evaluation went into the decision on the Mineral Lake land buy, the petition states.
Planning and evaluation that were halted by decisions unrelated to the guidelines on rezone decisions are outlined in Lewis County code, the nonprofit claims.
During the rezone hearing, Swope grilled the YMCA’s representative, saying the materials provided in favor of the rezone cited “education” frequently. However, he said he felt education these days often means “indoctrination.” He continued by asking the representative where the organization landed on political issues such as defunding the police, critical race theory and gender reassignment surgery on minors.
The petition states he also “erroneously” alleged the YMCA “promotes” gender reassignment surgery through its organization and further asked the representative if she supports “‘biological truth,’ explaining it as ‘male and female,’” according to court documents.
Referring to the Board of County Commissioners as one body but still quoting Swope, the petition continues saying he “erroneously” alleged the YMCA was “promoting” education related to race that he found concerning.
Shifting to Grose’s statements, the documents claim the board raised concerns regarding the out-of-county business of the YMCA as an applicant, quoting his statement that King County had “basically raped” Lewis County timberlands and saying the camp should be located on one of King County’s many lakes.
The board then raised concerns about the YMCA’s proposed agreement with the Nisqually Indian Tribe to allow tribal hunting and gathering on the property, when the board “expressed the sentiment that ‘how the tribes are able to gather and hunt oftentimes are different than average citizens’ and questioned whether the proposed agreement would be governed by ‘tribal regulation or under just normal citizens,’” according to court documents.
During the hearing, Grose said he was concerned approving the rezone would mean “setting up a private hunting ground for the tribe.” Staff reminded him the property was privately owned before the YMCA purchased it, and that anyone hunting there without explicit permission from the previous owner, Forecastle Timber Company, would have been trespassing. This seemed to aggravate, rather than reassure Grose, as he then said that “solidified” his vote against the rezone.
Asked by a reporter after the initial hearing why he chose to focus on the organization’s values during a land use matter, Swope blamed the YMCA for choosing to cite “education” as a benefit in their documents supporting the move.
As Lewis County code’s most subjective section of rezone requirements, the commissioners are allowed to weigh whether the rezone is in the public interest, which Swope said it was not. However, the YMCA’s lawsuit claims the decision was based on “unfounded perceptions of the mission and core values of the YMCA, without due regard for and fundamental rights and property rights of the YMCA,” according to documents.
At the time of the vote, Pollock did not respond to a request for comment from The Chronicle on her choice to vote against the rezone. The commissioners’ office did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit this week, either.
The YMCA responded that it does not comment on active litigation, but wrote in an email it remains “committed to the Mineral Lake project and serving all youth and families, especially those who need us most in Lewis County and beyond.”
The trial setting for the YMCA’s case against Lewis County is set for April 14, 2023.
