Regarding your Dec. 5 Look Back in History — 15 years ago, you report: “The only thing keeping Walmart from building a connector to 103rd Avenue was a permit from the state Department of Transportation. A stipulation for approving the super-store was that the connector had to be built 18 months after right-of-way was purchased, which occurred in July 2007.” Correct, except it took more than two years for the connector to be built. Walmart opened in July 2007, and right-of-way acquisition was completed in July 2007. The permit process to allow Walmart to start construction on the connector was completed in December 2008. Construction began in September 2009. The City of Yelm’s Community Development Director Grant Beck dropped the ball in following up with the state on the permit issuance, thus delaying the required stipulation to have this done within 18 months!
Steve Klein
Yelm
