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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole May 22 20071 2 3 4 5 6 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 7 Committee Of The Whole 8 9 May 22, 2007 10 11 12 Council Chair Carl Weimer called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. in the Council 13 Committee Room, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. 14 15 Present: Absent: 16 Barbara Brenner None 17 Dan McShane 18 Sam Crawford 19 Seth Fleetwood 20 Laurie Caskey - Schreiber 21 L. Ward Nelson 22 23 24 Nelson moved to go into executive session to discuss the first two agenda items. 25 26 Motion carried unanimously. 27 28 1. DISCUSSION WITH CHIEF CIVIL DEPUTY PROSECUTOR RANDALL WATTS 29 REGARDING PENDING LITIGATION (AB2007 -018) 30 31 2. DISCUSSION WITH WHATCOM COUNTY PROSECUTOR DAVID MCEACHRAN 32 REGARDING A LEGAL MATTER (AB2007 -018) 33 34 3. DISCUSSION REGARDING WORK ASSIGNMENT PROPOSALS FOR THE 35 COUNCIL'S PLANNING AND POLICY ANALYST (AB2007 -228) 36 37 Weimer stated he sent an email to councilmembers about work assignments. He 38 asked if there were any questions or concerns. He asked everyone to bring forward two 39' ideas. 40 41 McShane stated one of his ideas is to get an update on what is going on in the 42 Planning and Development Department. Someone must be engaged to track the 43 Bellingham urban growth area boundary issue with the City of Bellingham. Another ideas 44 are to update the flood code, work on the channel migration zones, and consideration of 45 information on a special shellfish district funding mechanism at Drayton Harbor under RCW 46 90.72. He doesn't understand about setting up the district and options that are available. 47 48 Weimer stated his two ideas were to plug into the entire Comprehensive water 49 resource integration program and look into exempt wells in terms of agricultural 50 preservation. 51 52 Brenner stated her biggest issue is to have an ordinance defining and integrating low 53 impact development. Other smaller issues include an amendment to the zoning code to Committee of the Whole, 5/22/2007, Page I allow wind generators as a conditional use or allowed use in all zones, a junk car ordinance with teeth, and a dirt bike ordinance. They have problems with people riding in wetlands, critical areas, noise, dust, and land disturbance on other people's properties. Crawford stated that Riverside County is relevant to an off -road vehicle ordinance. People's lives are being significantly impacted. Nelson stated he would not want to work on anything without a clear understanding of the fiscal impacts of any administrative effort. Also, anything that is done has to be enforceable. Don't end up making a law that no one enforces. Crawford stated his issues of interests are to track Title 20 and Title 21 rewrites with Bob Martin and to do a cost- effectiveness study of the Whatcom Chief, as recommended by Fred Kinny. Caskey- Schreiber stated the urban growth area (UGA) issue is monumental. They need to get organized, or the County will be subject to many lawsuits. She's nervous about the big change in staff and resulting loss in continuity. Fleetwood stated his top issue is having help with water resources. He agrees with getting help on the UGA. There is no active County legal counsel focused on the legal review of the Bellingham UGA issue. Soon, the County Council needs to talk about legal issues with a Council attorney. Weimer stated he agrees with the whole UGA issue. He asked if they are thinking about the entire range of UGA issues, or specific aspects of the bigger issue. Crawford stated it feels like the Council is not going to get any help. The Councilmembers didn't get one straight answer today. McShane stated the water resource integration program and the UGA issue are important. The Council shouldn't expect Ms. Craven to provide specific help this early. However, those are two major issues on which she should get up to speed, and then be ready to research specific aspects of the issues as they come up. She will also play a role in making a fit between the administration and Council regarding the water resource integration program. Those two areas will take a significant amount of time. Caskey- Schreiber stated that she would like to know how much of a record the County must build when it selects a safety factor. She asked what kinds of things the Council should address when it builds that record. Crawford stated he agreed that the County must be very careful about building its record. The City of Bellingham spent five years building its record. The County must be careful if it changes anything. McShane stated the Council has made difficult planning decisions in the past, which has this same threat. Part of the challenge of meeting this threat is to gather the record, which isn't that easy. In the past, he could have used that kind of help. They need to know where to go to get the information they need to build the record. The County is considering deviating from the recommended zoning density for Lake Padden. If they decide the zoning density is not reasonable for protecting that lake, there is plenty of information they can put in the record to support their decision. Someone who can do good research should be able to find that information easily. Committee of the Whole, 5/22/2007, Page 2 Nelson stated all tasks need to be approved by at least five councilmembers. He has a problem with the analyst outlining a case that he may not support. That is where they are going to have conflicts. The legal aspects will have to be done by the attorneys. Focus on the legislative action that the committee wants to consider, and have the analyst find potential solutions. The legislative actions should not be focused on particular zones or areas. If they want to work on UGA's, define the legislative action they are looking for first. He is comfortable with the analyst learning about the UGA issue and the water resource integration program. Caskey- Schreiber stated she would like the analyst to consider the safety factor in terms of the implications of the different recommendations and defining the Council's record for its decision. Fleetwood asked if they agreed that everything goes through the chair. He asked if councilmembers and Ms. Craven can talk independently in general. Weimer stated the chair would supervise the staff position, but can assign issues to another councilmember to work on an issue. Brenner stated these are overwhelming issues. She wants Ms. Craven to work on residential wind generators. Crawford stated that Ms. Craven could track the Bellingham UGA issue with the information and issues they've brought up tonight. Everything else can be held in the parking lot of issues. For the next couple of weeks, she can work on the UGA issue. Weimer moved that the Council direct the Policy Analyst to work on the UGA issue. (Clerk's Note: The Chair called for a vote, but only councilmember Caskey - Schreiber responded in favor of the motion. No one responded opposed to the motion. The general intent of the Committee was to concur with the motion.) The Council concurred. Fleetwood moved that the Council direct the Policy Analyst to work on the comprehensive water resource integration program. The Council concurred. Weimer moved that the Council direct the Policy Analyst to work on the small wind generator issue. (Clerk's Note: The Chair called for a vote, but councilmembers did not respond either in favor of or opposed to the motion.) Weimer announced that the vote failed. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. Committee of the Whole, 5/22/2007, Page 3 1 ADJOURN 2 3 The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:00 p.m. 4 �] 5 6 1 7 Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription 8 9 The Council approved these minutes on June 19 , 2007. 10 11 ATTEST: 12 13 14 15 16 a 17 �, D ���ii+ + + +urrrrr Nla•• HL1r A a ffrow� -Daft, cil Clerk= ' $iA OF *; ••�Shll N G�.'� WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Carl Weimer, Council Chair Committee of the Whole, 5/22/2007, Page 4