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Home My WebLink Aboutord2013-049 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL AGENDA BILL NO. AB2013-272 CLEARANCES Initial Date Date Received in Council Office Agenda Date _ Assigned to: Originator: Amy Keenan AHK 7/8/2013 7/23/2013 Introduction Division Head: P&D Committee and Tyler Schroeder l E3/15 ( ll �J� p 8/6/2013 Council Dept.Head. I '- FOB _ J Sam Ryan I ' � I 13 Prosecutor: . � 1 JUL 16 2013 Royce e Buckingham 1 1—(3 Purchasing/Budget.: WHATCOM COUNTY Executive: CO U N C I L JackLouws J iel/ /IC./t3 TITLE OF DOCU 'fT Text amendment to W C 21.05.039 Phasing, expiration and time extension for preliminary long subdivision approval. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Staff Memo 2. Proposed Ordinance and Exhibits 3. Planning Commission Findings of Fact and Reasons for Action 4. Planning Commission minutes I Other background information is on file at the Council office. SEPA review required? ( X ) Yes ( ) NO Should Clerk schedule a hearing? ( ) Yes ( X) NO SEPA review completed? ( X ) Yes ( ) NO Requested Date SUMMARY STATEMENT OR LEGAL NOTICE LANGUAGE: (If this item is an ordinance or requires a public hearing,you must provide the language for use in the required public notice. Be specific and cite RCW or WCC as appropriate. Be •I clear in explaining the intent of the action.) Proposal for a text amendment to WCC 21.05.039 to allow for long subdivisions to gain final approval consistent with the changes in RCW 58.17.140. COMMITTEE ACTION: COUNCIL ACTION: 8/06/2013: Forwarded to Council for approval 7/23/2013: Introduced 8/06/2013: Council Adopted 6-0, Weimer absent Ord. 2013-049 Related County Contract#: Related File Numbers: Ordinance or Resolution Number: Ord. 2013-049 Please Note: Once adopted and signed, ordinances and resolutions are available for viewing and printing on the County's website at: www.co.whatcom.wa.us/council. July 2, 2013 1 PROPOSED BY: PDS 2 SPONSORED BY: Consent 3 INTRODUCTION DATE: 7/23/2013 4 5 ORDINANCE NO. 2013-049 6 7 Text amendment to WCC 21.05.039 Phasing, expiration and time 8 extension for preliminary long subdivision approval. 9 10 WHEREAS, the Planning and Development Services (PDS) staff has brought 11 forward a proposal for a text amendment to WCC 21.05.039 to allow for long 12 subdivisions to gain final approval consistent with the changes in RCW 58.17.140. 13 14 WHEREAS, the proposed code amendments have been reviewed under the 15 State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA); and 16 17 WHEREAS, In accordance with RCW 36.70A.106 Whatcom County Planning 18 and Development Services notified the Department of Commerce of the proposed 19 code amendments; and 20 21 WHEREAS, the Whatcom County Planning Commission held a public hearing 22 on the proposed amendments, with notices published in the Bellingham Herald, and 23 considered all testimony; and 24 25 WHEREAS, the Whatcom County Planning Commission forwarded its findings 26 and reasons for action to the County Council; and 27 28 WHEREAS, the Whatcom County Council hereby adopts the following 29 findings of fact and conclusions: 30 31 FINDINGS 32 33 1. The proposal is for a text amendment to the Whatcom County Subdivision 34 Code, Title 21 to allow additional time for submittal of a final plat after 35 preliminary approval consistent with RCW 58.17.140. 36 37 2. On April 18, 2013, Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington State approved 38 Substitute House Bill (SHB) 1074 which was passed by both the Washington 39 State House of Representatives and the Senate. SHB 1074 amended the final 40 plat approval dates allowing ten years from preliminary approval to reach 41 final approval if the plat is not subject to shorelines and if preliminary plat 42 approval is on or before December 31, 2007. If preliminary approval was 43 after December 31, 2007, but is before December 31, 2014 the applicant 44 shall have seven years to submit a final subdivision pursuant to SHB 1074. Page 1 July 2, 2013 1 Plats receiving preliminary approval after January 1, 2015 will be subject to 2 the five year timeframe to reach final plat approval. SHB will be effective on 3 July 28, 2013. 4 5 3. There are several preliminarily approved plats that may benefit from 6 extension of the timeframes including, but not limited to, the plats of Tall 7 Cedars, Belmont, Shuksan Highlands Phase 2, and Sunrise Meadows. 8 9 4. A State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist was prepared on May 30, 10 2013. SEPA review and determination is in process. 11 12 5. The proposal was posted on the County website by June 5, 2013. 13 14 6. Notice that the proposal had been posted on the County website was sent to 15 citizen, media and other groups on the County's e-mail list by June 5, 2013. 16 17 7. Notice of the subject amendment was submitted to the Washington State 18 Department of Commerce on June 4, 2013. 19 20 8. Notice of the Planning Commission hearing for the subject amendment was 21 published in the Bellingham Herald on May 31, 2013. 22 23 9. Notice of the Planning Commission hearing for the subject amendment was 24 posted on the County's website on June 4, 2013. 25 26 10. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the subject amendment 27 on June 13, 2013. 28 29 In order to approve the text amendment, the County must find that is 30 consistent with the Growth Management Act. Additionally, the County must 31 find that the zoning amendment is consistent with and implements the 32 Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan. 33 34 CONCLUSIONS 35 36 1. The subject zoning amendment complies with the Growth Management Act. 37 38 2. The subject zoning amendment is consistent with and implements the 39 Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan. 40 41 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Whatcom County Council that the 42 Whatcom County Code is hereby amended as shown in Exhibit 1. 43 Page 2 July 2, 2013 1 BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that if any section, subsection, sentence, clause or 2 phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional; 3 such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this 4 ordinance. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this code and 5 each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact 6 that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases has been 7 declared invalid or unconstitutional, then the original ordinance or ordinances shall 8 be in full force and effect. 9 10 ADOPTED this tdgyief,4, August , 2013 . � Y 11 ,. Ca' ,. 12 ~NN‘ N rf`f WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 13 ATTEST: ' 0 ►•F � Co.,' WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON 14 = 0• a CUNT-Y L---• r' ~ f 15 ekedrAl 16 . vDana Brown-DavisrC erk otIlgt nc.11 Kathy Kershner, Council Chair 17U 18 ►�syr�? � � WHATCOM COUNTY EXECUTIVE 19 APPROVED AS TO FORM; — * .�_ ��~~~ WHATCO -CeiUN WASHINGTON 20 I1,r1 iiitit''\'` 21 22 23 Civil Deputy asecutor Jack Lou , Cbtm hxecutive 24 ( l,Approved„) ( ) Denied 25 Date Signed: / 7, zoi j Page 3 Exhibit 1 21.05.039 Phasing, expiration and time extension for preliminary long subdivision approval. (1) Except as provided by(a)of this section, a final plat shall be submitted in proper form for final plat approval within seven years of the date of preliminary plat approval if the date of preliminary plat approval is on or before December 31, 2014, and within five years of the date of preliminary plat approval if the date of preliminary plat approval is on or after January 1, 2015. (a)A final plat shall be submitted in proper form for final plat approval within ten years of the date of preliminary plat approval if this project is not subject to requirements adopted under RCW 90.58 and the date of preliminary plat approval is on or before December 31, 2007. (2) Extension of Time for Submittal of Final Long Subdivision. The expiration of a preliminary long subdivision approval may be extended under the following provisions: (a)An applicant files a written request with the subdivision administrator prior to expiration of the five-year expiration period. The request shall state the specific work items, standards, and criteria which have not been completed and the reasons therefor. The request shall also indicate when the work will be completed within the requested period. The subdivision administrator shall review the request and provide a recommendation to the hearing examiner. (b)The hearing examiner shall have authority to grant one one-year extension subsequent to the original preliminary plat approval. (c)The one-year extension may be granted if after taking into consideration technical, economic and other matters beyond the control of the applicant the hearing examiner finds that there is reasonable justification for the granting of an extension. (d) In granting the one-year extension the hearing examiner shall take into consideration such changes in rules, regulations, ordinances, or development standards, or portions thereof, that have occurred since the time the original approval was granted. (e)The hearing examiner may condition the extension so as to require compliance with any such subsequently adopted rules, regulations, ordinances, or development standards, or portion thereof, that are deemed necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare. 4