"Two area land-use watchdog groups are appealing a Yelm-area section of Thurston County's comprehensive plan, saying its [Yelm's] urban growth area is too large. "If an urban growth area is bigger than it needs to be, it's costly to taxpayers," said Tim Trohimovich of Seattle-based Futurewise, one of the two appellants along with the Olympia-based Adams Cove Group. He added that it would lead to "paving over areas that are needed for groundwater recharge and paved surfaces that will cause discharge of polluted water into surface-water supplies."

The appeal, if approved by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, could result in the second time in two years that Thurston County has been ordered to rework parts of its comprehensive plan. The county is in the process of complying with the hearing board's first such ruling, issued in 2005.

Trohimovich and Adams Cove Group spokeswoman Gayle Broadbent said they filed the appeal Feb. 16 with the hearings board because the Yelm urban growth area is bigger than it needs to be to accommodate growth.

The hearing board's role is to make sure local governments comply with the state's 1990 Growth Management Act," quoting The Olympian.