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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning January 29 20021 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Planning and Development Committee January 29, 2002 The meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m. by Committee Member Dan McShane in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Seth Fleetwood Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Also Present: Barbara Brenner Sharon Roy Sam Crawford L. Ward Nelson SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS Absent: None 1. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE CHAIR (AB2002 -023) Caskey- Schreiber nominated McShane. Motion carried 2 -0 with Fleetwood absent from the room. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL 3. RESOLUTION ADOPTING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OPEN SPACE /OPEN SPACE, OPEN SPACE /FARM AND AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION AND OPEN SPACE TIMBER APPLICATIONS (AB2002- 083) Elizabeth Olsen, Planner II, stated there are eight applications to go through. The first application is from Victoria Luhrs on Lummi Island. This is an amendment of the Open Space /Open Space application that was done last year. They had one or two problems with it. One of the problems was the conservancy designation by the Shoreline Management Plan. New information has come up about the conservancy designation. She is not sure how that will be handled. At the present moment, she has a rating sheet for the application. It received high ratings. It will have public access by small boat onto the second -class tidelands, below the bluff, which is a severely eroding bluff at the moment. The rating is 86.39 for the application. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 1 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. McShane asked if the conservancy designation would have a significant impact on the score. Olsen stated she hoped to get legal direction, and they should wait on this particular application. The second part of the Luhr's application is for Open Space /Timber on the west side of the road. The conservancy designation is not applicable to this area. The application is for 5.24 acres. At least 4.8 acres will be contiguous to the ten - acre parcel in the northwest portion of the area. The timber management plan was provided for the previous Open Space /Timber application and will be contiguous with this application. She gave the same points for the timber management plan and recommend that it is approved. McShane moved to recommend approval of the Luhr's Open Space /Timber application. Fleetwood stated he would abstain because he just arrived at the meeting and did not hear the information. Motion carried 2 -0 -1 with Fleetwood abstaining. McShane stated they could make a decision on the Luhr's Open Space /Open Space application at the evening meeting when they get more information. Olsen stated the second application is a double application from Nick Harris. Regarding the Open Space /Open Space application, the land is 8.5 to nine acres. It is flooded land on peat. In this situation, the area is not good for public access, but it is prime for conserving wildlife habitat and waterfowl, especially because it is one of the few peat bogs in the county. Because of the critical areas, the rating is about 68 points. The recommendation is for approval. There will be no public access sign because of the depth of the water and the dangers associated with that. The recommendation is also to waive the public access sign requirement. Fleetwood moved to recommend approval of the Harris Open Space /Open Space application as recommended. Motion carried unanimously. Olsen stated the Harris Open Space /Timber application is also for nine acres. There is a good timber management plan, done by Dave Anderson. The wildlife enhancement includes duck nests and things of that nature. It is prime wetland. The application received 12 points for the timber management plan. The recommendation is for approval. McShane questioned whether the desire is that the applicant thing about something in proximity to the bog. Olsen stated it is. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 2 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Brenner asked if the applicant is planning something, but just didn't put it in the application. Olsen stated David Anderson is an excellent Department of Natural Resources (DNR) retired employee. Mr. Anderson thinks about wildlife habitat, but doesn't necessarily put it in his plans. The management plan map mentions the area as wildlife habitat area. She will encourage Mr. Harris to go along with more of the wildlife situation near the bog. Caskey- Schreiber moved to recommend approval of the Harris Open Space /Timber application. Motion carried unanimously. Olsen stated the next application is the Janice Zender Open Space /Timber application on the Mount Baker Highway. She wants to put five acres into the classification. She has a good timber management plan, although the land was cut not too long ago. The timber management application includes the time to plant the new trees. If and when that happens, the Open Space /Timber application will be complete, and the recommendation is for approval. Caskey- Schreiber moved to recommend approval of the Zender Open Space /Timber application. Motion carried unanimously. Olsen stated next is Vekved Open Space /Timber application for the property located north of E. Axton Road. They are very eager timber managers. They've already been planting many trees. The application and timber management plans are good. The recommendation is for approval. McShane moved to recommend approval of the Vekved Open Space /Timber application. Motion carried unanimously. Olsen stated the next item is the Williams Open Space /Timber application. The land has been in the Open Space /Timber classification since 1977. At that time, there was no need for a timber management plan. The land has been segregated and purchased by the Williams'. Because of that, she asked for a new timber management plan to bring the records up to date, and to make sure the new owners know what to do. There is a good timber management plan. The recommendation is for approval. The land is already in timber. McShane asked if the area is zoned Agriculture. Olsen stated it is. McShane asked if there is a difference in tax status between the Open Space /Timber and Open Space /Agriculture designations. Olsen stated the tax Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 3 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. break is greater for the agricultural classification, but the property is used as a woodland forest at the moment. It has never been put to pasture. McShane stated that is based on State law. Olsen agreed. McShane questioned whether the County government could change it. Olsen stated she didn't think so. The Department of Revenue and the Washington Administrative Code guide the Assessor's Office. McShane stated this is the kind of area where timber should be encouraged. The trees grow really fast in the lowlands. There are areas in the county where the soils are not prime agricultural soils, but can be used as prime timberland. Any encouragement of expanding timber production in the lowlands would be beneficial. It's a great resource. McShane moved to recommend approval of the Williams Open Space /Timber application. Motion carried unanimously. Olsen stated the Hruby Open Space /Timber land is in the same situation as the Williams'. The Open Space /Timber application was granted in the 1970's, but without a timber management plan. The Hruby's have purchased the land, and have had to put in a timber management plan, which was done by Kevin Zender. The recommendation is for approval. It is a good timber management plan. The area is just off Samish Road on Galbreath Mountain Road. McShane moved to recommend approval of the Hruby Open Space /Timber application. Motion carried unanimously. McShane stated there was one recommendation for denial. Olsen stated Janice Hrutfiord will put in another application later. The area is much better for a timber management plan. Fleetwood asked how these applications are scored. Olsen stated there is a booklet that describes the process. She would be happy to discuss the process with him. 1. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY ZONING MAP FROM RURAL (RSA) TO GENERAL COMMERCIAL (GC) FOR APPROXIMATELY FOUR AND ONE -HALF ACRES ONE QUARTER MILE SOUTH OF THE SOUTHEAST INTERSECTION OF EAST SMITH ROAD AND GUIDE MERIDIAN (AB2002 -060) Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 4 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division Manger, stated the request is to rezone 4.47 acres, part of a larger parcel totaling more than six acres, along the Guide Meridian, just south of Smith Road next to the Markwood Kennels. The request is based on fact that there may have been a mistake done during the Comprehensive Plan adoption. Staff did research, but did not find that a mistake had happened. There was a clear motion at the time. Markwood's property is in two parcels. Only the property with the kennel was rezoned. Mr. Markwood asked that it be looked at again. There is a transportation corridor along the Guide that goes 660 feet back from the Guide. A rezone will still be consistent with the transportation plan, and would not require a Comprehensive Plan amendment. However, staff recommends against it because they don't want to create strip malls from Bellingham to Lynden, and because of traffic issues. This parcel is far enough from the corner that they wouldn't get access off the Smith Road and would have to have direct access from the Guide. The Planning Commission listened to public testimony and recommended approval. Their argument was that Mr. Markwood owns two parcels, and the Kennel is already commercial. The Planning Commission adopted new findings, which are on Council packet page 235. Staff recommended the first six findings and the Planning Commission created the other two. The property is vacant. It does not have prime agricultural soils. It is a separate parcel from the Markwood Kennel. Finding six gives a history of the zoning. The Planning Commission added finding seven, which says there are changed conditions and circumstances to support a rezone since 1997. The argument was that, as they widen the Guide Meridian, the area would be less desirable for a residential or rural parcel, and some of the other commercial properties would need to be revised. Finding eight says there is additional need for commercial development in the rural areas. Brenner stated she would probably support this if the Guide Meridian had been widened, but it hasn't been. There isn't any changed condition. She questioned whether the Council would even look at this if it wasn't for the fact that Markwood owns both properties. Goodwin stated there is no evidence of changed conditions. She doesn't see a changed condition out there. It is the way it has been. If and when the highway is widened, it might be a changed condition. However, the more commercial development there is along the Guide Meridian, the more need there will be for a median or a limited access or turn lane. The widening of the Guide may be a changed condition that would support leaving the zone the way it is. Brenner stated that if the Guide is widened, she would support this, but the Guide is not widened. Until the Guide is made better, and there are internal access roads on these pieces as they are developed, there will be more traffic. She didn't know what is changed. Goodwin stated a kennel is an approved use for the Rural, one dwelling unit per five acres (R5A) zone, but the owners are planning something else. An upcoming changed condition is what the Council decides to do with the Caitac property. At that time, the County may revisit the appropriate land use for that area. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 5 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. The Planning Commission recommendation is to approve the rezone. If the Council does not, it must schedule a public hearing at the next Council meeting. Fleetwood questioned what the error was that the Markwoods discussed. Goodwin stated this rezone was discussed during the Comprehensive Plan process. At that time, the Markwoods were told that the area wasn't going to be rezoned, and they could submit an application for rezone later. There was never a Council motion to actually rezone it, only a discussion about the possibility of the owners bringing it back, which they are doing. The parcel that was rezoned did not include this parcel. Bill Sygitowicz, representing the Markwoods, stated Mr. Markwood owns three parcels, not two. There are two businesses, including the Thunderbird Vintage shop and the Markwood Kennels. The mistake is that, in looking at the rezone, the County eliminated the one four -acre parcel. Mr. Markwood has owned the parcel since 1959, and it has always been used for the commercial kennel operation. It isn't vacant land that is trying to be rezoned. The owner uses the area for training associated with the kennel. When the County looked at the property, it rezoned only the half that was being used for the kennel. Brenner stated she recalled that the Council talked about not rezoning the kennel, but the reason was because it had buildings on it. The Council compromised by rezoning the parcels with the buildings, because using the other property as a kennel could still have been done without a rezone. Sygitowicz read from a memo from Councilmember Brenner to the Executive dated 1997 regarding the Markwoods request to be included in the commercial zone. Regarding traffic, extra vehicles will happen. The area is already almost all commercial. Mr. Markwood's property is right in the middle of commercial property. He respectfully disagreed with the staff report. The indication was that there was residential property to the south, but the property to the south is commercial, and has been occupied by Turftenders for about eight years, until recently. There will be more traffic. That is why the State highway department is in the process of contracting to widen the road right now. The state is currently buying right -of -way. McShane asked what Turftenders does with its property. Sygitowicz stated that until recently, it was used as a staging area for a landscaping business. There were 50 vehicles in and out daily. They recently relocated. Brenner asked the reason for the County to not wait until the Guide is widened to consider this rezone. Sygitowicz stated this request is to correct an oversight that happened in 1997. It slipped through the cracks at the time. Fleetwood stated staff said that the present zone permits the present use. Sygitowicz agreed. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 6 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Fleetwood asked if the road widening is scheduled. Goodwin stated it is scheduled. It is subject to funding from year to year. The Guide will eventually be widened in the next couple of years. Crawford stated the Guide is funded. The properties are being bought. Caskey- Schreiber stated she wouldn't support the proposal. It is not in the county's best interest to add more general commercial zoning on an already - problematic thoroughfare. The area is already extremely dangerous. It is about .4 miles down the crest of a hill after the Guide narrows to two lanes. That is when it begins to pick up speed. It is a major corridor for trucks and everyone. Many constituents don't want it to end up like Aurora Avenue. Sygitowicz stated there is a lot of traffic now. This property has an entrance and exit from the proposed new five -lane road that is already in the plan from the State Highway Department. They have approved an exit and entrance at this property. McShane asked if the exit and entry is at Markwood kennels. Sygitowicz stated it is at the vacant parcel. There are two entrances now, and there will be three entrances. McShane moved to schedule a public hearing on the rezone. The Planning Commission recommended approval. If the committee was to recommend approval, the Council could vote on this tonight. Unless there is a desire to recommend approval, they could recommend to schedule a public hearing in two weeks and decide whether to go ahead as a Council in two weeks. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Crawford asked if the City of Bellingham will propose expansion of the urban growth area (UGA) up to Smith Road this year. Goodwin stated the City hasn't agreed to anything yet. The City is encouraging the County to wait. That will be before the Council at the next meeting. The boundary would be on the other side of the road, across from this parcel. The City wants to complete its comprehensive plan first. Crawford stated that might influence this decision in terms of urbanization of the north part of Bellingham. He questioned the General Commercial zone in that area, around the intersection of Smith Road and the Guide Meridian. He questioned whether that was included because of the existing businesses. There is Light Impact Industrial zoning from the south and east side of the Guide. That goes up to Kelly Road. Then, there is some R5A zoning. After that, there is an island of General Commercial zoning that surrounds three corners of the intersection of Smith Road and the Guide Meridian. He questioned whether that was done based on existing uses there, and the General Commercial zone best fit those uses. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 7 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Goodwin stated that is the case. That was done before she worked for the County. Many of those uses were established when there was General Protection zoning or another zone that was more permissive and allowed a variety of uses. Some of the commercial uses along the Guide were established by conditional use permit more recently. It wasn't previously designated commercial until the 1990's, when it was rezoned General Commercial. At that time, it included only the existed commercial establishments. Crawford stated he's trying to understand what would be good transition zoning between urban and rural environments. He is confused about going from the City of Bellingham's urban zone, to Light Impact Industrial, then to Rural, and back to General Commercial. It doesn't flow. He questioned why the applicant would not want a Light Impact Industrial zone at that location, since there is more of that to the south. However, there is also a section of Rural zoning. The area is a patchwork of zones. He'd like to see the area flow. This all may become a moot point in the next decade if this area all becomes City of Bellingham. Goodwin stated the proposal for the City urban growth area is on the other side of the road. Any commercial within that would not have direct access from the Guide Meridian, but would have internal circulation and internal access. Crawford stated he doubted that, in 2007, the City of Bellingham will look north. They are going to go to Northwest Road on one side, and to Hannegan Road on the other side. That is where the City of Bellingham ultimately will end up. Goodwin agreed. Staff has tried to do corridor planning for the Guide Meridian. They even hired the Whatcom County Council of Governments (COG) to provide advice on that issue. The COG provided a lot of background information, and recommended that the County develop standards to deal with the Guide, which is what staff really hired them to do. It's been a difficult long -term project to figure out what they should do with the Guide. Years ago, there was discussion of having limited access, where there would not be access to the Guide. Instead, there would be backage roads. Staff started that with Wal -Mart and Costco. Those were supposed to be backage roads, and were supposed to become roads. What has happened is that they've become an extension of the store parking lots. They are not roads. It has been a miserable failure. They have not been able to hold the line. The City of Bellingham and the County have not succeeded in achieving the limited access that they should have along the Guide. Staff talks about how they can acquire backage roads so they don't have all these direct access. If there were rezones along the Guide, the backage roads should probably be rezone conditions. However, people want direct access to the Guide. Those are the issues that need to be addressed before they have additional commercial development on the Guide. Consolidated parcels should have one joint access at a light, and the traffic should come in from the back. That would be less of a problem than all of the left- turning people with direct access. Brenner stated a main issue with growth management is leaving ample separation between cities. They are going to end up having one city along the Guide corridor. It is a problem the County needs to deal with. If the State is going Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 8 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. to widen the area, she would consider zoning areas commercial, without it having to be in Bellingham. The idea that they should increase the cities to make problems go away is scary. McShane restated the motion to set a public hearing. Motion carried unanimously. 2. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY ZONING ORDINANCE, CHAPTERS 20.10, 20.84 AND 20.90 TO PROVIDE SPECIFIC PROCEDURES FOR NOTIFYING AND OBTAINING INPUT FROM CITIES FOR ZONING AMENDMENTS AND PROJECTS WITHIN CITY UGA'S (AB2002 -061) Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division Manager, stated this is to implement the interlocal agreements the County has signed with the all of the cities within the county. The agreements are on how to process rezones, conditional use permits, Comprehensive Plan amendments, and administrative approvals within urban growth areas. The amendments are basic. When the County gets an application, it will forward the application to the cities and include city input on the staff report. The County will make sure that applications are consistent with a city comprehensive plan, and send notification so the city councils can participate in the public hearings for the issue. The one area they have a different process is with City of Bellingham. Those applications would be processed consistent with the interlocal agreement. For Bellingham, the process begins with a joint Planning Commission hearing, then it goes to the Bellingham City Council, then to the County Council. If the County Council doesn't go along with City Council recommendation, then the two councils will have a joint discussion. Ultimately, the decision is the County Council's decision. There have been failures to agree, but the process worked well. There is no point for a developer to try to get something from the County that the City won't allow, because the City will withhold water service. McShane stated the Sandell rezone was a success even though the City Council and County Council went separate ways. There was not an appeal. All the issues were addressed. Brenner stated she would like to have consistent timeframes for the different stages in the process. She suggested that each stage of the process be allowed either 15 days or 10 days. Goodwin stated that if the County tried to give a city a copy of the staff report fifteen days before the meeting, the staff report might not be done yet. The staff doesn't always have the staff report done until ten days before the meeting. The staff tried to write this so the timeframes were realistic. Regarding the notice of public hearing, they publish the notice in the newspaper fifteen days before the meeting, so staff thought it would be good to get it to the city the same time that it is in the newspaper. They publish the notice in fifteen Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 9 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. days, but they don't always have the staff report done before they publish the public notice. Brenner stated she preferred to have enough time, rather than have a variety of timeframes. She suggested amending 20.10.090(2), '...date of the public hearing at least te-R fifteen days prior to the hearing." Goodwin stated that change might require a public hearing. It is a procedural issue. McShane stated he would rather leave well enough alone. It gives staff a window of time to prepare their report. A city will already be notified that it will get the staff report. The city should be geared up for receiving and responding to the staff report. The notification is good enough. Goodwin stated that now the staff emails the report to the city, and that works well. McShane moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE PLANNING DIVISION'S MAJOR HIGH PRIORITY PROJECTS FOR 2002 (AB2002 -068) Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division Manager, submitted a list and priority rating table. The Council needs to think about how it will decide which projects are a high priority and which are not. She included ten items that should be considered when prioritizing the projects. She scored each of the projects using those criteria. She didn't include information on estimated staff hours or cost for consultants. McShane stated this should go through the Finance Committee as well, to discuss the financial considerations. Brenner stated some of the rating criteria are more important than others. Goodwin stated they could weight the criteria differently, or add more criteria. McShane stated the councilmembers could each come up with their own priority list with their own criteria. Goodwin stated a criterion of staff time or consultant cost should be included. Fleetwood questioned whether the proposed rating system would guide the process, but the Council and staff would not be bound by it. Goodwin stated they would not be bound by it. Roy stated she would support weighing the criteria differently. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 10 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Goodwin stated the councilmembers have the opportunity to docket something or not docket something. The County is required to do an extensive update on the Comprehensive Plan this year and work on the Critical Area Ordinance. The Council can direct staff to do a minimal look at it, or an in -depth look. There is a little latitude, even on the State mandated items. They could wait on some items until spring. Goodwin explained each item briefly. 1. Forest Conversion Regulations. There is a State mandate that the County develop forest regulations and take over forest conversions by the end of December 2001. Whatcom County has not done that. They did try to comply, adopted a regulation, and sent it to the State. The State took ten months to review it. By the time the State reviewed it, the State regulations were changed, and the county's plan had to be rewritten. The County doesn't have the staff or interest in redoing it. They are waiting until Skagit County and Snohomish County get theirs adopted. Once it is adopted, they will have to implement it, and they don't have a forester on staff. The County gets about 30 applications per year at $500 each. That does not total enough money to hire a forester. There is not a person on staff with the skills and knowledge of forestry to do that without contracting with someone. Also, they have to think about enforcement. Brenner asked why the County would not contract with several foresters. Goodwin stated the County could do that. For $500, they will not get very many hours of a forester's time. Brenner stated it is an under - funded mandate from the State, and it is not a high priority item if the State is not going to give the County the money to do it. 2. Purchase of Development Rights for agricultural lands. This was a high priority at the end of last year. It was a campaign issue for several councilmembers. The County now has a consultant and Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) committee working on the issue. It will be a time consuming project. Once they get it done, they will have to look at how to implement it. It does rate as a fairly high priority. It is happening now. If the County gets sidetracked on other issues, they could slow this item down. They are still trying to meet the Executive's program. The Executive committed to have a program done by April. 3. Lake Whatcom Protection. This is one of the highest rated programs. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 11 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. Crawford asked how the Council makes something a priority. Goodwin stated a Council resolution or ordinance makes an item a priority. 4. 20 -year aggregate supply /demand study. This is in the Comprehensive Plan as an action item. Within five years of adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, the County is supposed to do a study of the aggregate. Councilmember McShane is working with staff on a committee to develop a scope of work for a consultant on this project. She didn't know whether or not they will have it done by May. The Council can amend the Comprehensive Plan to extend the deadline. 5. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. Staff is working with the Port of Bellingham through a grant. The tax base and economic development make it a high priority. The grant opportunities also make it a high priority. If the County has an approved economic development strategy, it will be qualified for some grant funding that it wouldn't qualify for otherwise. She is hoping to tie it in with the Washington Community Economic Revitalization Team (WA -CERT) project. 6. Utility Advisory Committee /electrical transmission line policies. This committee has been working on gas line policies. Those policies were adopted by the Planning Commission and will come to the Council soon. She's amended this task to deal with the electrical transmission line policies. The County has several options for how to deal with this. One idea is to get some wording in place soon to deal with the amperage issues on the 115 kV lines so they can lift the moratorium and continue to work on corridor planning. One staff person is working on this task, the PDR project, and the Agricultural Advisory Committee and issues. The Planning Department has to divide that staff members time between which of those projects have the highest priority. 7. Lake Samish Protection. There is a hearing at tonight's meeting. The emergency moratorium was adopted. The direction she is looking for is whether the Council wants staff to just process the rezone application or to develop regulations similar to what they did for Lake Whatcom, which would expand the project a lot. 8. Five -Year Comprehensive Plan Update /Review. This is a Growth Management Act (GMA) mandate. They have to review and update the Comprehensive Plan by September 2002. They won't make the September deadline, but hope to have it done by November or December. That is where the County has latitude about how much detail they go into. If they try to maintain the status quo on everything that is not causing a problem and defer some of the big Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 12 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. changes until later, it would be easier. If they try to go into detail on all of those chapters, it would be very time - consuming. The Planning Commission schedule that is attached to this priority rating is to implement this one item. This one issue will keep the Planning Commission busy through August. 9. Critical Area Ordinance Update. This is a GMA mandate to be done by September 2002. She proposes to wait until fall. They will probably get permission from the State to do that if the Council approves a resolution that says when it will be done. As long as the County is making reasonable progress and trying to do a good job, they can probably get an extension. 10. 2002 Comprehensive Plan Applications. Those are being introduced tonight. The County has to accept an annual docket and look at the applications. The County Council doesn't have to initiate any of them. Every ten years, they need to evaluate the land supply and adjust the urban growth area boundaries if there is a shortage. However, the County Comprehensive Plan says that every five years they will evaluate the land supply and adjust the urban growth areas if there is a shortage. The same might be true for mineral resource lands. 11. Essential Public Facilities Policies /review process. The State requires that the County have a process for locating essential public facilities, such as airports, jails, sex offender facilities, mental institutions, and garbage dumps. A committee is working on this issue. The committee is going to have to spend more time on this issue. It will take more staff time. 12. Birch Bay Subarea Plan. There has been a weekly meeting. It is time consuming. They are hopefully going to wrap up by February or March. This is a unique plan because there are many contributions from landowners that support it. The County didn't put in even one - quarter of the funding for the plan. Birch Bay is one of the fastest growing urban growth areas of the county. 13. Lummi Island Subarea Plan. Rated lower because there are not the economic development issues and financial support for the plan. A citizen group is very interested and working on it. The citizen group wants the County to hire a consultant. Crawford stated they have to consider which comes first, ferry planning or subarea planning. The Public Works Department has deferred some decisions on the ferry issues until the subarea plan is done. There is a lot of weight being put on the subarea plan. Goodwin stated another criterion could be whether one project is related to another County project. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 13 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. 14. Mt. Baker Foothills Subarea Plan. They don't have a Mt. Baker Subarea right now. They have the South Fork Valley and the Foothills. They are talking about combining those areas into one subarea. The Mt. Baker Steering Committee wants to do additional planning for the area. A group of University of Washington graduates want to do this for very little money. The staff would work with some very talented students. It is a good project that will cost the County very little. 15. Rezones and zoning text amendments. The County usually gets about 20 requests every year. She doesn't know how many the County will receive this year because the application deadline is in June. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side B.) 16. Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program amendments. If the Council does a downzone or rezone in the Lake Samish area, it might want to consider making that area a TDR sending area. It also relates to some of the urban growth area expansions. If they are expanding the urban growth area, it may be an ideal area for the landowners who are gaining that zoning, to purchase development rights out of one of the watersheds. The City and County planning commissions both think that is a high priority. 17. Long Range Master Plan for County Facilities. This is a high priority for the Executive. The Facilities Management Division might be more appropriate division to do that. 18. Water Resources Planning and coordination with the Water Resources Division. The County Planning and Development Services Department has been working closely with Water Resources Division, which is the lead department. There are many data needs and sharing. The Lake Whatcom issue is a joint effort, and also includes the Engineering Division and the Health Department. 19. Shoreline Management Program Update. This has to be done within two years from the time the Department of Ecology (DOE) regulations are adopted. Those regulations have been appealed, so this item is on hold. 20. Guide Meridian corridor regulation revisions. No one is working on this now. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 14 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. 21. Open Space applications. There is a fee for these, but it doesn't nearly pay for the staff time. Since the department just increased the fee, and the number of applications has gone down. 22. Annexations. The County gets five or ten requests a year. Staff has to make sure the legal descriptions and boundaries are right and logical. 23. Agricultural Advisory Committee and agricultural programs. This committee is called for in the Comprehensive Plan. There has been a lot of public support for it. The committee was formed by Council ordinance. It is an economic development and resource issue. 24. Surface Mining Advisory Committee. This was also established by Council ordinance. It implements the Comprehensive Plan. There was a lot of public support for the committee when the committee members were appointed. Unfortunately, there have been vacancies on those committees, and the citizen representatives are not being filled. The committee hasn't served the purpose that was intended because of the lack of citizen participation. Staff sometimes questions whether or not it is as useful as it was intended to be. 25. Public information /education brochures and website. The Planning Division has spent a lot of time on its website. The Comprehensive Plan, applications, and information about the County are included. They are also working on informational brochures about the watershed. These are good projects for interns from Western Washington University. McShane stated they should not spend time trying to come up with a scoring mechanism. Each councilmember should have his or her own approach. At the next Planning and Development Committee meeting, they can come up with a ranking system based on what everyone has. He asked the councilmembers to rank these projects and submit them to him. The committee will come up with an overall direction of what the top priorities are. The Finance Committee could draw the line on what and how things are funded. Some projects may rank low on the list, but will get done anyway because it is an easy project that doesn't take much to do. Nelson suggested that the each of the councilmembers simply rank the projects from one to 25. That would make it easier to come up with a final priority list. Roy stated they need to come up with a consensus model as opposed to a numerical model. They need to talk about this. There are some very important projects with some very important consequences on the list. Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 15 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. McShane stated they would do that. They will end up with something that all the councilmembers are somewhat happy about. Nelson questioned whether some of the projects are ongoing and don't have a time factor. Goodwin stated the projects are ongoing because there is a committee that wants to meet periodically. That requires an ongoing commitment of staff time. Nelson questioned whether that is something that has to be done. If it is ongoing, it doesn't matter what the priority is. Goodwin stated the Council could disband the committee and repeal the ordinance that created it, or tell the committee members that they are going to be on vacation for a year. Nelson stated the Guide Meridian corridor regulation revision does not have a scheduled deadline. Goodwin stated that project is included because they are all feeling guilty about because they ought to be working on it, but they haven't been. It keeps coming up. McShane moved to recommend that each councilmember come up with a priority list, submit them to him, and request input from staff regarding staff time and costs. Motion carried unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Eric McHenry, 644 W. Lake Samish Drive, thanked the councilmembers for approving the emergency moratorium on Lake Samish, and stated he represents the Concerned Neighbors of Lake Samish. He recommended approval of Mark Herronkohl's downzone proposal. This is the best way to prevent problems faced by other communities on small lakes such as theirs, such as Big Lake and Lake Stevens. Lake Stevens has an aerator in the middle of it just to keep the fish alive. They are also aware of the issues with Lake Whatcom. Stormwater and pollution issues are being dealt with at Lake Sammamish in King County. Lake Samish residents don't want to join this club. Lake Samish is not like Lake Whatcom, with sweeping valleys leading into it. It is a self- contained lake that serves as the delicate drainage basin for the sheer mountains surrounding it. There are no major rivers diverted into it so the water is continuously flushed and replenished. It is a critical ecosystem that has a limit to what it can sustain. He urged the Council to do what it can to protect the community. The majority of the people in the Lake Samish community have repeatedly voted down allowing public water to come into the area. They are very concerned about the potential build out that would result. There are not adequate precautions and regulations in the watershed to protect the community and environment. The citizens would like to see the changes made before development gets out of control and the quality of life is Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 16 1 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 DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they are not the final approved minutes. ruined. They are not opposed to all development, only that which doesn't conform to the existing nature of the community and /or the current environmental statutes. The roads are not adequate to accommodate the increased number of cars. The schools are not prepared for the increase in the number of students. The Council should review the Comprehensive Plan to determine the correct zoning for the Lake Samish watershed. They are sympathetic to the legal issues that arise when downzoning occurs. The Council should consider the fact that most of this land that is owned on the lake has questionable value, based on the fact that no public water exists. Also, much of this land belonged to the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and was purchased from them at a very low price. People sometimes buy property as an investment to reap the profits. However, no investment has a guaranteed return. He questions that these properties could be sold as two- or five -acre estates for the same like value as the current zone permits. It would limit the growth and pollution. These are the things that would reflect and protect the rural nature of the Lake Samish watershed. The constituents of Lake Samish ask the Council to support the downzone for Lake Samish. McShane explained the process this issue will go through. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription ATTEST: Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Dan McShane, Committee Chair Planning and Development Committee, 1/29/2002, Page 17