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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpecial Committee of the Whole April 22 20081 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Special Committee Of The Whole April 22, 2008 Council Chair Carl Weimer called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Conference Room, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: L. Ward Nelson Bob Kelly Sam Crawford Seth Fleetwood COMMITTEE DISCUSSION Absent: Barbara Brenner Laurie Caskey- Schreiber 1. DISCUSSION WITH PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR DAVID STALHEIM REGARDING THE DRAFT LONG RANGE WORK PROGRAM DATED MARCH 31, 2008 (AB2008 -075) David Stalheim, Planning and Development Services Director, submitted and read from a presentation (on file). Crawford referenced rural forestry lot clustering, and asked if the staff would make a proposal or just remove lot clustering as an option. Stalheim stated that depends on what the Council intends. Nelson stated the original intent was to get rid of clustering for rural forestry zones. A cluster subdivision creates urban development in a rural area. He continues to be inclined to eliminate the option. Fleetwood stated there have been only six cluster subdivision applications in the rural forestry zone in the past 15 years. He still has questions. It seems to make sense to put homes together to preserve land rather than have one home in the middle of 20 acres. Having three homes together within a forested tract isn't urban. Nelson stated the problem is when the cluster is built against someone else who thought they were in a rural area. Kelly asked if the cluster would require a conversion. Stalheim stated he assumes that a conversion would be required. He explained the conversion process. Nelson stated most rural forestry practices are harmed by any type of cluster development. He is opposed to allowing in cluster subdivisions in forestry zones, and possibly in any other rural areas. Stalheim stated he will put the interim ordinance forward to the Planning Commission as a permanent ordinance. Crawford stated it's a terrible idea to get rid of cluster subdivisions, but they've had those discussions before. Committee of the Whole -Long Range Work Program, 4/22/2008, Page 1 Fleetwood stated the staff can bring forward the interim ordinance as a permanent ordinance for a vote. Weimer stated he's fine with eliminating clustering in rural forestry zones. Fleetwood stated the rural, one unit per five acre (R5A) subdivision moratorium isn't included. Stalheim stated it is within the Lake Whatcom item. Fleetwood asked if they've considered when they may convene a moratorium response committee or plan. Stalheim stated Rebecca Craven and Cathy Craver have worked on it. Rebecca Craven, Council Policy Analyst, stated she is developing options in the urban growth area (UGA) watershed areas. She is gathering background information to deal with the moratorium. It will also be relevant when the total maximum daily load (TNIDL) study comes out. Weimer stated it looks like they are now able to get some things accomplished this year. It didn't look that way in the past. He asked if that is realistic. Stalheim stated they identified several projects they can offload to consultants. That allows staff to take care of other things on the list before the 2011 Growth Management Act (GIHA) update ramps up. Nelson asked if the department is doing anything with the 8,000 -acre forestry plan reconveyance. Stalheim stated he has not been asked to play a role in it, and he doesn't foresee that happening. Fleetwood referenced limited areas of more intense rural development (LAMIRD's). When the Council updated the rural lands chapter of the Comprehensive Plan, it didn't demonstrate whether the Council analyzed the proper size and location of LAMIRD's. The work approach to that lawsuit is to undertake a public involvement strategy. He asked why they are doing that. He asked if the County obligation to comply with the LAMIRD case is to do the required analysis. He asked how a public input strategy has to do with the Futurewise case. Stalheim stated public involvement is key in growth management, including analysis. The first step is to talk to the public about LAIAIRD's and determine the range of choices. At the same time as the public process, the staff will go through a technical analysis. They will incorporate public comments into the Comprehensive Plan and development regulations. By the end of the year, he will have a public analysis, technical analysis, and options for strategies. Fleetwood asked if the County was held out of compliance for the public process. They can address the LAMIRD issue without creating a large public involvement strategy. This is extra, and not required. Stalheim stated public involvement is essential to the LAMIRD process, and also to the 2011 GMA update. A subset of the 2011 GMA update is a LAMIRD designation. Fleetwood stated this description requires the Council to consider what is inside the LAMIRD, not outside the LAMIRD. Stalheim stated they tried to make the summary description as concise as possible. Weimer stated there should be a choice other than either the County's existing LAMIRD, which is out of compliance, and the Futurewise option. Stalheim stated they are points of reference for other issues. Even the staff are debating internally what the boundaries should be. Committee of the Whole -Long Range Work Program, 4/22/2008, Page 2 Weimer asked if the boundaries are getting more muddled the longer they wait. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Karen Frakes, Prosecuting Attorney, stated the LAMIRD's they have are not out of compliance. They've never been analyzed under criteria. Some of the LAMIRD's may be fine. The public will comment on whether or not the ultimate boundaries do comply with the technical requirements of the Growth Management Act. Crawford asked if there is an option for the staff to zone them all with a density of one unit per five acres. Sta-lheim stated there are the limited areas of more intense development, which is drawing a boundary of everything that existed in 1990. They technically have not gone through that technical analysis and drawn those boundaries. Fleetwood stated the County adopted the Comprehensive Plan in May 1997. The LAMIRD analysis requirements came into effect in July 1997. Whatcom County never analyzed it. Frakes stated that's correct. There is no requirement to have LAMIRD's. They are a tool to allow more flexibility for counties. Crawford asked if Mr. Stalheim would come back to the Council with options to the LAMIRD's. Stalheim stated a question is what happens outside the LAMIRD's, in the rural areas. They need to discuss that vision for the areas outside the LAMIRD's. That's one topic for public participation. They must define that boundary and what happens outside the boundary. Make sure the overall rural element, not just the LAMIRD's, is compliant. Crawford stated they've been told the County needs to further define the LAMIRD's. He asked if the issue is less about the density in the LAMIRD than where the LAMIRD is located. Stalheim stated define the LAMIRD according to a certain date, which is a technical issue. The second issue is what happens outside those boundaries. As they collect the public comment, make sure the areas outside the LAMIRD's are consistent with the GMA. Nelson stated public input is necessary to make sure the vision for an area is consistent with the boundaries. Oftentimes, the public comments received aren't representative of the specific town or community, but of the larger county, which may have a different vision. Weimer asked if a planning technician will be able to get through this process. Stalheim stated a planning technician can do a lot of the background work. The consultant resource is the tool he needs. He would manage the consultant. This is an interim solution to get through the issue for now. Eventually, they will reassign the issue to someone else. Weimer stated it's very complicated. They probably have great planning technicians, but don't put a planning technician out there to deal with public involvement. Stalheim stated that's why they are going to hire a consultant to focus on public involvement. The existing staff can do the technical analysis. Craven asked the source of funding for the consultant contracts. Stalheim stated his memo to the Council dated April 2, 2008 answers that question. It includes unspent money from a zoning code rewrite, the agricultural program and the Conservation Program on Agricultural Lands (CPAL) program. The total $370,000 is a good estimate of how under - spent the department budget will be. Committee of the Whole -Long Range Work Program, 4/22/2008, Page 3 I Craven asked about the creation of a regional planning forum. She asked what this 2 regional council will look like and how it's distinct from the Council of Governments (COG). 3 The statute that sets up the COG is written broadly- enough to encompass this sort of 4 discussion about the 2011 update. Stalheim stated this regional planning forum is not 5 ongoing. Using COG is an alternative to consider. He intends to look at options. Now, COG 6 is focused on transportation issues. 7 8 Craven stated she's not sure on what level of approval the Council plans to provide 9 this process. Given the degree of transition the department has gone through, and the fact 10 that few folks in the long -range planning division have unchanged work plans, she 11 recommends that they take time to let things settle for awhile with the new director. Also, 12 set up some regular communication between the Planning Department administration and 13 the Planning Committee, for example. The Director can give reports occasionally on specific 14 projects or as a whole, so things don't come to a head like they did. 15 16 Stalheim stated he needs to talk to the Council about a few more concepts that will 17 soon come forward. He is happy to check in with the Council. 18 19 Craven stated it would be helpful for the code scrub items to come forward to the 20 Council before the staff begins to change language. Also, as they go through the nine 21 petitions for review of the UGA decisions, the work plan will need to be adjusted to respond 22 to those decisions as they come out. 23 24 Weimer asked about the regional planning forum. They are using the small cities to 25 contribute to the planning policies and vision. He asked how they include unincorporated 26 areas like Birch Bay. Stalheim stated that is a good question. They should consider it. 27 They may be able to address it as they go through the visioning process. The consultant 28 will determine how to have an inclusive public process. 29 30 Weimer stated this work plan shows what they can accomplish this year. He asked if 31 the councilmembers still feel the need to prioritize. 32 33 Nelson stated he's not clear about the connection between the Planning 34 Department's projects and certain Public Works Department projects, such as lake 35 monitoring and water quality issues. Stalheim stated all the Planning Department's water 36 resources projects will go through the (CWRIP) process. It also created staffing issues. He 37 left those projects and their staff out of this process. 38 39 Nelson stated many of the Planning Department's planned projects depend on the 40 TMDL study. He asked if the work plan will continue to move forward with a watershed land 41 use analysis and determine appropriate stormwater protections if the study isn't released. 42 Stalheim stated the Planning Department and Public Works Department water resources 43 staff are now working in the same location and working together. 44 45 Fleetwood asked about the Birch Bay tree preservation proposal. Stalheim stated he 46 hasn't looked at the details. It may be a tree retention standard. 47 48 Kelly asked about the coordinated water system plan issues. Stalheim stated 49 individual water systems throughout the county must be coordinated so there aren't 50 competing services. This issue ended up at the Planning Department, but it's really a 51 Health Department issue. The Planning Department has an obligation to know where the 52 water systems are going and make sure they meet planning requirements. Other agencies 53 would have to be the lead regarding the overall water system plan and its implementation. Committee of the Whole -Long Range Work Program, 4/22/2008, Page 4 1 2 Kelly asked what it means to review changes and expansions of water district 3 boundaries per the Whatcom County Coordinated Water System Plan. Stalheim stated the 4 City of Bellingham, for example, is looking at certain water systems in one of its annexation 5 areas. To take over that water system, the City has to go through an amendment to the 6 Coordinated Water System Plan to expand its service area. The amendment goes through 7 the County and is submitted to the State Department of Health. 8 9 Weimer asked if the County will get stuck with the responsibility of small water 10 associations if they go bankrupt. He asked if the County has to provide the water. Craven 11 stated the statute requires the court to give the County authority to make assessments to 12 make repairs or changes to a system for public health and safety purposes. 13 14 Crawford stated they haven't seen that happen. The reality is that the water system 15 has the authority to raise rates to cover their costs. Craven stated the statute is written for 16 physical failure of the system that the water provider can't afford to fix. The statute doesn't 17 speak to the issue of a lack of water rights. She doesn't know what would happen in that 18 situation. 19 20 Kelly stated it also refers to water district boundaries, which implies that someone 21 has the authority to adjust water system boundaries. Stalheim stated that when someone 22 proposes to change a service area, the proposal has to go through the Coordinated Water 23 System Plan, which is a County and State process. 24 25 26 OTHER BUSINESS 27 28 There was no other business. 29 30 ADJOURN 31 32 The meeting adjourned at 2:57 p.m. 33 34 35 T 36 Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription 37 38 The�godi"Llil'up9joved these minutes on May 6 , 2008. 39 %%` �G 40 ATTE$tO u IVC�` i,�'i' WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL :� 41 A, .'�P� C,0o WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON 42 ? 43 _ OJ z� 45 • 46 Dan6-,.BrovNo 4W�&A 6i4) k Carl Weimer, Council Chair Committee of the Whole -Long Range Work Program, 4/22/2008, Page 5