HomeMy WebLinkAboutres2011-036 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL AGENDA BILL NO. AR7 (11 1 _32R
CLEARANCES Initial Date Date Received in Council Office Agenda Date Assigned to:
Originator: ® R E C LL� G V E D October 11, 2011 NR/ Council
Erin Osborn O ?In U Introduwflon
Dept. Head:
J.E. "Sam " Ryan pk- Q` � OCT , 0 4 2011 10 / 25 / 2011 Hearing
/ o
Prosecutor: WHATCOM Royce Buckingham ,/� 4 29- ( 1 WHATCOM COUNTY
Purchasing/Budget: COUNCIL
Executive: PA) /D- y_ /
Peter Kremen
TITLE OF DOCUMENT:
A Resolution approving recommendations on applications for open space current use assessment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Cover Memo, Two Draft Resolutions for Council Consideration, Planning Commission Facts & Findings,
Excerpts from September 22, 2011 Planning Commission Work Session Minutes, Staff Report, Evaluation
Forms, Maps, Photos, and Supporting Documents.
SEPA review required? ( ) Yes ( X ) No Should Clerk schedule a hearing? ( X ) Yes () No
SEPA review completed? ( ) Yes N/A Requested Date: October 25, 2011
SUMMARY STATEMENT OR LEGAL NOTICE LANGUAGE:
In accordance with Whatcom County Code, Section 3 .28 .020 which establishes procedures for processing
applications for open space current use taxation, Whatcom County Planning Commission recommendations on
16 applications for open space current use assessment as authorized by Chapter 84. 34 RCW are hereby
forwarded to the Whatcom County Council to approve in whole or in part or to deny. Two resolutions are
proposed to initiate Council action should they wish to approve Planning Commission recommendations, or if
instead they wish to approve summary recommendations made by staff, all referenced under Master File
Number OS2011 - 1 .
* Distribution. Request: Assessors Office — Jean Eastman
COMMITTEE ACTION: COUNCIL ACTION::
10/11/ 2011 : Discussed . Committee recommends the 10 / 11 / 2011 : Substitute Introduced
resolution beginning on Council packet page 102 (The 10 / 25 / 2011 : Council Approved & Amended 4 - - 3 ,
Planning Commission recommended resolution) with one
amendment , to approve the City of Bellingham application . Kershner , Larson & Knutzen opposed
Erin Osborn will rewrite the resolution today for Res . 2011 -- 036
Introduction tonight .
Related County Contract #: Related File Numbers: OS2011-1 Ordinance or Resolution
Number: Res . 2011 - 036
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
Resolution Page 1 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 -1 - v-03a
SPONSORED BY : Consent
PROPOSED BY : PDS
INTRODUCTION DATE : 10/ 11/11
RESOLUTION NO : 2011 -036
APPROVING RECOMMENDATIONS ON APPLICATIONS FOR
OPEN SPACE CURRENT USE ASSESSMENT
WHEREAS, The Open Space Taxation Act codified as Chapter 84 . 34 RCW,
gives counties legislative authority to approve applications for current use
classification and re - classification for the following classifications : Farm and
Agricultural Land , Open Space Land , and Timber Land ; and
WHEREAS, Pursuant to Whatcom County Code , Section 3 . 28 . 020 ,
applications for the classification of Open Space Land and Timber Land are received
and evaluated by Whatcom County Planning and Development Services Department
staff, and the results of this evaluation are then presented to the Whatcom County
Planning Commission for their review and consideration in making recommendations
to the County Council on whether to approve the applications in whole or in part ;
and
WHEREAS, Pursuant to RCW 84 . 34 . 055 and WAC 458 - 30 - 330 Whatcom
County has adopted a Public Benefit Rating System ( PBRS ) by Ordinance # 95 - 040 ,
which is used by staff to rate applications for Open Space Land ; and
WHEREAS, Applications for Open Space Land are evaluated with the Public
Benefit Rating System and assigned a Public Benefit Rating ( PBR) that corresponds
with a staff recommendation of approval or denial , and must receive a score of 45
or above for a staff recommendation of approval ; and
WHEREAS, In accordance with the Whatcom County Open Space Policies and
Public Benefit Rating System , public access is a condition of approval for Open
Space Land applications , except that this requirement may be waived by the Council
when the purpose of the classification is for the conservation of wetlands ; or when
there is a documented occurrence of : State or Federal Threatened Endangered
Species , Federal Proposed Endangered or Threatened Species, State Sensitive or
Monitor Species ; or when there is a known or potentially significant archaeological
Resolution Page 2 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 -1 -v-03a
site and
WHEREAS, On October 25 , 2011 , the Whatcom County Council held a public
hearing and considered recommendations made by the Whatcom County Planning
Commission , and also considered staff's recommendations on the applications
referenced in Master File Number OS2011 - 1 ; and
WHEREAS, Pursuant to WAC 197 - 11 - 800 ( 6 ) ( c) , matters relating to Open
Space Current Use Assessment are determined not to be major actions and thus
exempt from environmental review under the State Environmental Policy Act
( SEPA) ; and
WHEREAS, Pursuant to RCW 36 . 70 . 390 , the statutory requirements
regarding legal notice have been met ; and
WHEREAS, The County Council has adopted the following Findings of Fact
and Reasons for Action :
1 . In 2010 , Whatcom County Planning and Development Services received 16
applications for open space current use assessment on lands located within
the jurisdiction of Whatcom County . These applications were collected and
processed as a group and are referenced under Master File Number
OS2011 - 1 .
2 . Eight of the 16 applications were for Open Space Land , and eight of the
applications were for Timber Land . Planning and Development Services
staff evaluated the applications for Open Space Land with the Public
Benefit Rating System , and evaluated applications for Timber Land with
Whatcom County Timber Management Plan Format and Criteria , and
also for conformance with Subsection 84 . 34 . 041 of the Open Space
Taxation Act .
3 . Staff prepared a report with recommendations based on scores with the
applicable evaluation criteria and submitted this report to a four
member Planning Commission Subcommittee who met with staff in a
work session held on June 30 , 2011 . Staff recommended approval on
all of the applications for Timber Land as they all received scores that
are consistent with a recommendation of approval ( 7 points or above ,
up to a maximum of 14 points ) .
Staff recommended approval on six of the eight applications for Open
Space Land , and recommended that two of the applications for Open
Space Land be denied based on a Public Benefit Rating ( PBR) of less
than 45 points . Staff recommended that Hicks , Kimball , City of
Bellingham , Poe , K . Howell , and Kaplan be approved because they each
scored a PBR of 45 points or more , and recommended that G . Howell
and Forsythe be denied because they each received a PBR of less than
45 points .
Resolution Page 3 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 -1 - v-03a
The Planning Commission Subcommittee made preliminary
recommendations to approve all of the applications for Timber Land ,
and to approve four of the applications for Open Space Land : Hicks ,
Kimball , City of Bellingham , and K . Howell ; and to deny Poe , Forsythe ,
G . Howell , and Kaplan .
4 . On Thursday , September 22 , 2011 , the full Planning Commission held a
work session and considered staff recommendations and Planning
Commission Subcommittee recommendations on all of the applications
referenced in Master File Number OS2011 - 1 , and also considered input
from the Mr. Kaplan , one of the applicants , present at the meeting .
5 . On Thursday , September 22 , 2011 , after considering staff
recommendations , and Planning Commission Subcommittee
recommendations , the full Planning Commission voted to recommend
that the Whatcom County Council approve all of the applications
referenced in OS2011 - 1 for Timber Land .
6 . in accordance with Whatcom County Open Space Policies and Public
Benefit Rating System , when making recommendations to Council as to
whether to approve or disapprove applications for the classification of
Open Space Land , the Planning Commission is charged with considering
the resulting loss in revenue or shift in taxes that would occur if the
application was approved .
At the September 22 , 2011 Planning Commission work session , staff
presented information which described the estimated resulting tax shift
that would occur if the application were to be approved . Using figures
provided by the County Assessor's office , staff calculated the estimated
difference between fair market value and the estimated current use
assessment value to arrive at the savings in yearly taxes to the
property owner, and the hypothetical shift in taxes to the other tax
payers in the taxing district .
7 . On Thursday, September 22 , 2011 , after considering staff
recommendations , and Planning Commission Subcommittee
recommendations , the full Planning Commission voted to recommend
that the Whatcom County Council approve three of the applications for
Open Space Land : Hicks , Kimball , and K . Howell ; and to deny Poe , City
of Bellingham , Forsythe , G . Howell , and Kaplan .
8 . On October 11 , 2011 , staff presented staff recommendations and
Planning Commission recommendations to County Council in Natural
Resources Committee . In addition , staff presented two distinct draft
resolutions for Committee consideration in choosing a resolution for
introduction to Council of the Whole that evening . One of the draft
resolutions contained staff recommendations , and the other contained
Planning Commission recommendations . After discussion and
deliberation , Committee members voted to introduce a third draft
resolution for Council introduction that evening . This draft resolution
version ( 0S2011 - 1v- 03 ) included recommendations of approval on all
Resolution Page 4 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 - 1 - v-03a
e ight Open Space Timber Land applications ; and of the Open Space
Land applications , a recommendation of approval on Hicks , Kimball ,
City of Bellingham , and K . Howell , and a recommendation of denial on
Poe , and G . Howell , Forsythe , and Kaplan .
9 . As required by the Open Space Taxation Act, RCW 84 . 34, a public
hearing was held on all applications for open space current use
assessment referenced in Master File No . OS2011 - 1 . This hearing was
held before the Whatcom County Council on the evening of October 25 ,
2011 . At the hearing , the Council noted a scrivener's error in the text
of the resolution regarding the City of Bellingham recommendation . As
introduced , the text indicated that the application was to re - classify
land currently classified as Designated Forest Land ( DFL) to Open
Space Land ( OSL) which was confirmed by staff as incorrect . It should
have stated that it was an application to reclassify from Open Space
Timber Land ( OST) to Open Space Land ( OSL) , and the Council voted
to amend the resolution to correct the scrivener s error .
10 . At the October 25 , 2011 public hearing , the full Council heard a report
o n the discussion that took place in Natural Resources Committee on
October 11 , 2011 . They also heard new information from the public
and from staff regarding the Kaplan application . Council learned that
the Kaplan 1 . 79 acres had originally been approved as Open Space
Land in 1991 when it was part of an original five acre tract . When a
property conveyance between father and son took place and separated
the two bookend tracts on either side of the 2 . 75 acre tract on which
the Kaplan residence is located , these two " bookends " comprising 1 . 79
acres were inadvertently removed from the Open Space Land
classification . This left 1 . 75 acres of the Kaplan residence tract
continuously classified as Open Space Land for the last 20 years with
the 1 acre home site assessed at fair market value . When the Council
learned that the 1 . 79 acres of the Kaplan application had been
previously approved , and after considering the merits of the application
and the high public benefit rating , the Council made a motion to amend
the resolution introduced on October 11 , 2011 , to include a
recommendation of approval on the Kaplan application . This motion
was approved with a 4- 3 vote .
11 . On October 25 , 2011 , the Whatcom County Council voted to approve
the resolution introduced on October 11 , 2011 , as amended , approving
all eight of the Open Space Timber Land applications ; and of the Open
S pace Land applications , approving Hicks , Kimball , City of Bellingham ,
K . Howell , and Kaplan , and denying Poe , G . Howell , and Forsythe .
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE WHATCOM COUNTY
COUNCIL :
1 . Recommendations on applications for open space current use assessment
referenced in Master File Number OS2011 - 1 listed below are hereby
approved subject to conditions and applicable scores as noted herein :
Resolution Page 5 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 -1 - v-03a
A. Timber Land ( OST)
OSP2011 - 00002 - Don & Theresa Kamphouse - 400414087058 - New OST
24 . 84 OST acres - Timber Management Plan Score = 14
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00010 - Velma Hoy McWhinney , 400421335200 ; 400421460180 ;
400421390140 ; 400421402080 - 31 . 38 acres - New OST ;
Timber Management Plan Score = 12
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00012 - Alan & Lynda Johnson , 400517505410 - New OST
19 . 0 OST Acres ; Timber Management Plan Score = 14
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00013 - Timothy & Kristine Unger, 380418450429 ; 380417086504
DFL to OST - 18 . 26 OST acres ; Timber Management Plan Score = 14
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00013 - Terrance & Sharon Unger, 380418533429 ;
380418521432 ; 380417045455 - DFL to OST- 16 . 47 OST acres ;
Timber Management Plan Score = 14
Resolution Page 6 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 - 1 - v-03a
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00015 - Linda & James Radtke , 380418448496 ; 380417066426 -
DFL to OST - 25 . 06 OST acres ; Timber Management Plan Score = 14
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00017 - Freeman , 400104442524 - DFL to OST- 14 . 04 OST acres ;
Timber Management Plan Score = 12
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
OSP2011 - 00018 - Rounthwaite , 380314297033 ; 380314296142 - New OST
30 . 00 OST acres ; Timber Management Plan Score = 12
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . No less than 5 acres devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of
forest products as defined in Title 76 RCW .
2 . Approved Timber Management Plan .
B . Open Space Land ( OSL)
OSP2011 - 00001 - Roger & Patricia Hicks , 370315034485 - OSAG to OSL ;
Parcel acres = 6 . 60 ; OSL acres = 5 . 60 : PBR 99 . 36
Recommendation :
Approval , subject to the following conditions :
Resolution Page 7 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 - 1 - v-03a
1 . Public Access Shown on Maps in File No . OSP2011 - 00001 ,
adopted by reference .
2 . Posted Open Space Sign
3 . Public Access Statement & Proposed Rules of Conduct
4 . Public Access Easement Granted to Whatcom County across
Private Galbraith lane crossing the northern property line for use
by recreational hikers and bicyclists to access Galbraith
Mountain .
O SP2011 - 00003 - Jeffrey & Lisa Poe , 400112236212 - OSAG to OSL;
Parcel acres = 4 . 78 ; OSL acres = 3 . 78 : PBR 54 . 72
Recommendation :
Denial .
O SP2011 - 00004 - Richard & Susan Kimball , 390427173339 - OSAG to OSL ;
Parcel acres = 6 . 70 ; OSL acres = 5 . 70 : PBR 64 . 68
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . Public Access Shown on Maps included with this Report
2 . Posted Open Space Sign
3 . Public Access Statement & Proposed Rules of Conduct
O SP2011 - 00005 - City of Bellingham , 380336149189 - OST to OSL ;
Parcel acres = 10 . 25 ; OSL acres = 10 . 25 : PBR 97 . 5
Recommendation :
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . Required Public Access Waived
2 . Posted Small 1 ft X 1 ft Open Space Sign
3 . Conservation Easement Granted in Perpetuity to a local land trust
organization
O SP2011 - 00008 - Garrett H . Howell , 400205431085 - OSAG to OSL ;
Parcel acres = 5 . 04 ; OSL acres = 4 . 04 : PBR 29 . 40
Recommendation :
Denial .
OSP2011 - 00009 - Karen Howell - 400619410163 ( 7 . 55 ) ; 40061941547
( 7 . 08 ) OSAG to OSL; 400619492456 ( 16 . 07 ) ; 400619492477 ( 15 . 46 ) DFL to
OSL;
Total Parcel Acres = 46 . 16 - All acres in OSL : PBR 86 . 00
Recommendation :
Resolution Page 8 of 8
File Ref: 0S2011 - 1 -v-03a
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . Public Access Shown on Maps included with this Report
2 . Posted Open Space Sign
3 . Public Access Statement & Proposed Rules of Conduct
OSP2011 - 00011 - James & Edna Forsythe - 400111218300 - New OSL ;
Parcel acres = 9 . 47 ; OSL acres = 8 . 47 : PBR 42 . 00
Recommendation :
Denial .
OSP2011 - 00016 - Robert Kaplan - 400109174508 - New OSL ;
Parcel acres = 1 . 79 ; OSL acres = 1 . 79 : PBR 80 . 16
Approval, subject to the following conditions :
1 . Public Access Shown on Maps included with this Report
2 . Posted Open Space Sign
3 . Public Access Statement & Proposed Rules of Conduct
2 . The Whatcom County Council directs the Assessor to place the above
referenced parcels into the appropriate open space current use classification .
3 . Adjudication of invalidity of any of the sections , clauses, or provisions of this
resolution shall not affect or impair the validity of the resolution as a whole
or any part thereof other than the part so declared to be invalid .
APPROVED this 25th day of October , 2011 .
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APPROVED AS TO FORM :
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Rom " Ingham
Civ ' Prosecutor