Jordan Matson addresses the Selah City Council at its Feb. 9 meeting. At the meeting, the council cleared the way for Matson plans to expand its operation. Chris Thorn photo

By CHRIS THORN

It’s taken more than two years, but during the Selah City Council meeting Feb. 9, the Matson family and their friends finally heard what they’ve been yearning for, a resounding yes to expand their business.

“There has been a tremendous investment in time and effort in preparing this development agreement, countless hours,” said Rod Matson. “I want to thank everyone, all our friends and supporters.”

Matson Fruit Company has been seeking to expand their business and rezone an 8.43 parcel of land from commercial to industrial since late 2007.

The meeting began with City of Selah Mayor Bob Jones declaring that there would be an order to who spoke when during the public hearing on the development agreement between Matson Fruit Company and the City of Selah. Jones said residents of Selah would speak first, followed by residents in the Selah School District limits and everyone else was next.

About a dozen individuals spoke at the hearing, ranging from Selah residents to a banker from the Tri-Cities but all had one thing in common, their support for Matson Fruit’s intent to expand their company.

“I believe it’s in the best interest of the city to allow Matson to expand,” said Selah resident Daryl Riddel.

“We believe we addressed the concerns brought to our attention,” said Jordan Matson. “We don’t know where we’ll be in 10 years or 20 years, but we want to be in Selah.”

“This is a good agreement,” said former Selah Planning Commission member Preston Shepherd. “It’s a win-win situation.”

After testimony, Matson Fruit’s attorney Michael Shinn took the podium and went through concerns brought to the Matson’s attention by the City of Selah and councilmembers. He said they had been crafted into the comprehensive 13-page development agreement between the city and Matson Fruit.

Some of the concerns addressed in the agreement include: designing and configuring truck routes and instructing their drivers not to use South Park Drive north of Larson Drive, requiring the Matson Fruit’s new office facilities provide a buffer between their industrial expansion and plant and maintain landscaping including trees to be placed around the rezoned 8.43-acre portion of the property.

One of the big changes in the agreement was the timeframe for which Matson has to expand. At the last council meeting the cap of 40 years was deemed to be too long. In the new development agreement that number had shrunk to 20 years but testimony from members of the fruit and banking industries, as well as the Matson’s, resulted in a change to 25 years after a 5-1 vote. The projections are for Matson Fruit to build a “future storage” building within six years of the approved agreement date, 15 years for construction of an office building and 25 years for construction of a warehouse.

Councilmember John Tierney had an issue with the increase in timeframe stating that he felt 20 years was sufficient.

“I’d prefer 15 years, 20 is adequate,” he said.

Fellow councilmembers disagreed and came to a consensus to grant Matson Fruit the extra time they requested.

“What’s an extra five years,” joked Councilmember Paul Overby. “This process has taken five years.”

The reason Matson Fruit requested extra time was because of the state of the economy and the ability to finance their expansion. Testimony was given in support of providing Matson Fruit more time for the future efforts.

After addressing other issues different councilmembers raised to do with the development agreement, they unanimously voted their intention to accept the development agreement and the property rezone that comes along with it.

The next step for the city and Matson will be to adopt the development agreement at the March 9 city council meeting and the subsequent rezone.