I was dismayed that the IRG attorney would say my comments were out of the scope of the hearing at the Aug. 7 Hearing Examiner meeting about the Weyerhaeuser property. I disagree. Context and intent are always relevant. I was cut off after I said “airplane.”

What is the context and intent of the 1994 Concomitant Agreement between the city of Federal Way and Weyerhaeuser regarding future use of the property?

Weyerhaeuser was about to be annexed into the city. The agreement was created as a roadmap for future use of the property that would conform to city regulations. The intent was to preserve the scenic beauty, the forested areas and trails while allowing the company to have flexibility for future needs.

The term warehousing was included, in case the company needed to build a small accessory building for the company that would be used as a grow house, a site for materials preparation or storage.

Given that history, we are now faced with IRG misinterpreting the word “warehousing,” which was vague and unspecific in the Concomitant Agreement. The construction IRG is proposing does not preserve the scenic beauty, forested areas and trails. It exaggerates the definition of warehousing far beyond what was intended by Weyerhaeuser.

It’s like the word “airplane.” A Piper Cub is an airplane.

So is a 747. Weyerhaeuser intended warehousing to be a Piper Cub size, not the fleet of 747s being proposed by IRG.

H. David Kaplan

Federal Way