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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning July 16 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 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. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Planning and Development Committee July 16, 2002 The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by Committee Chair Dan McShane in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington, Present: Absent: Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Seth Fleetwood Also Present: Sam Crawford COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING VARIOUS LAKE WHATCOM WATERSHED ISSUES, INCLUDING CLARIFICATION OF BOUNDARIES AND POSSIBLE LIFTING OF THE MORATORIUM ON ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FOR SUBDIVISIONS OF LAND INTO PARCELS SMALLER THAN FIVE NOMINAL ACRES (AB2002 -227A) Caskey- Schreiber asked if they are keeping the moratorium in place until the downzone regulations take effect. Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division Manager, stated that at the last meeting, this committee discussed the fact that they may be able to lift the downzone if all the development regulations are now in place because most of the areas are five - or two -acre zones. If they kept the downzone in place, everything that the Council zoned rural, one unit per two acres (R2A) is, in fact, zoned rural, one unit per five acres (R5A) because someone can't divide a parcel below five acres. The committee said it wanted to talk about lifting the downzone if it feels that the development regulations are adequate. One issue that the staff is concerned about is that the stormwater development regulations are not signed yet. They are being held up because there is no staff to implement them. Staff was hoping the staffing issue would be included in the supplemental budget request in two weeks. One issue is to not lift the moratorium tonight until the Executive signs the standards. The Executive won't sign until there is someone to implement the standards. There are other things staff has discovered during the day -to -day implementation of the moratorium. McShane stated that in the interim zone, only a few areas could be subdivided anyway. Not many lots would be affected. Goodwin stated all of those R2A areas cannot be divided below five acres if they didn't lift the moratorium. Planning and Development Committee, 7/16/2002, 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 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. Kurt Baumgarten, Planning Technician, stated there is a question regarding the use of pavers. As long as the pavers are laid on a base that allows infiltration, they would be fine. He wants to make sure that latitude is allowed. The interlocking space allows the water through. Another question that has come up is about the seasonal limitation on clearing activity. The question is whether or not they still allow septic fields to go in. Staff feels that can be part of the process prior to October 1. Septic fields, unless it is for an emergency repair, can still create as much sediment. He hasn't seen that septic designers or installers are any more careful than any other contractor. Don't give them preference. A byproduct of the downzone is the changed amount of allowed impervious surfaces. As long as people are aware of the changes, it is fine. Regarding the workload, staff doesn't know how much will come in due to Drayton Harbor being more actively enforced. When the workload gets heavy, staff will prioritize between Lake Samish, Lake Whatcom, and Drayton Harbor. One idea is to keep doing Lake Whatcom and Lake Samish. If the workload for staff gets heavy, look at areas that are close to critical areas. Other areas would just get an office review. He is talking about the site visit follow -up. He needs direction on that prioritization. Bruce Roll, Water Resources Division Manager, stated they need to choose a map to use for planning and development activities. Previous maps were generated in 1989. When the Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 1 process began, his division contracted with the U.S. Geographic Society (USGS) to update the drainages. They used the ten meter digital elevation. At that time, one of the first technical teams took all the data from the USGS and all of the drainages and made modifications. There was also an attempt to compare this data with the 1989 map to decide where the boundaries are. From that work, the WRIA Planning Unit approved a map for purposes of the WRIA watershed management project. Since then, there has been one update to the map. The issue today is the differences in the map for the boundaries, particularly for the Lake Whatcom area. It has bearing on policy and zoning. McShane stated it seems they should go with the WRIA 1 boundary. Roll stated that map represents the best available science. It has had an enormous amount of scrutiny. Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division Manager, stated this affects about 200 feet of Paul Isaacson's property. The area to the north of the watershed boundary is his property. Mr. Isaacson feels that the County should stick with the old boundary rather than the WRIA boundary because it would downzone considerably more of his property and make him subject to seasonal clearing and land regulations. She told Mr. Isaacson that he could do whatever field work is needed to show that the Planning and Development Committee, 7/16/2002, 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. water flows the other direction. In the absence of that, staff would base the land use regulations on whatever the most currently adopted boundary is. Mr. Isaacson's concern is that, when the County Council adopted the Lake Whatcom overlay, it didn't have a map attached to it. She recommended that, whatever the Council decides, they decide by ordinance. At the same time, address Lake Samish and Drayton Harbor. Lake Samish applies to the Friday Creek sub -basin of the Lake Samish watershed, but that boundary is not mapped. The same situation exists with Drayton Harbor. There may be property owners on the edge who may be in or out, depending on the boundary the County uses. Staff wants to clarify the boundaries on maps. Staff would prepare an ordinance. The WRIA map is probably more accurate. It is newer, and it is based on a higher resolution. McShane stated they will defer continuing this discussion until later in the meeting when Mr. Isaacson arrives. Roll stated that all of the quality, quantity, instream flow, and habitat modeling scenarios will be based on the WRIA map. The plan will come forward. The County's obligation is to implement those things that are related in the plan and related to the decision - support system. It is too late to swap maps in the WRIA process. They've based all their work on the new map. Caskey- Schreiber asked if the boundary follows a stream, and if that is the reason the boundary changed. Roll stated the boundary is based on the topographic information that is more accurate. They look at elevation. USGS topographic maps used to be accurate to 30 meters. These new maps are accurate to ten meters, which is a much higher level of accuracy. That doesn't mean these maps are perfect. It is the best science they have at this point. There will always be a debate as more information comes in. They have acquired all the data they need to work with two -foot contours for all the urbanized areas around Lake Whatcom. That is another consideration because it will have some bearing on this also. That was done in anticipation of some of the stormwater issues. Caskey- Schreiber asked if the flow goes predominantly into basin one. Roll stated it does. Caskey- Schreiber asked if this area is pretty densely populated. Roll stated it is one of the areas that has the most potential for build -out, but it is not that dense at this point. Some formal map should be adopted post haste. McShane stated the interim zoning will affect some of that property within the new boundary. Goodwin stated the issue is mostly the overlay and seasonal restriction on land clearing. The downzone is not as much of an issue. A map was attached to the downzone, and it was based on the old boundary. After this interim zoning period is forward and staff comes forward with a recommendation on the final boundary, it should follow property lines, not a watershed boundary line. Most of that is rural forestry or rural zoning, which is not affected by the downzone. The Planning and Development Committee, 7/16/2002, 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. biggest impact is that lot consolidation is treated differently in the watershed, and the seasonal restriction on land clearing is the biggest concern for Mr. Isaacson. Baumgarten stated that if Mr. Isaacson goes with a class III forest practices permit, the County regulations would not apply to him. If Mr. Isaacson does a conversion, he will. Caskey- Schreiber asked what Mr. Isaacson's current zone is. McShane stated one area is zoned rural, one unit per five acres (R5A) and would not be affected by the zone change. (Clerk's Note: Discussion continued below.) OTHER BUSINESS McShane stated he's been working on lot consolidation rules. He asked Ms. Goodwin to take a look at it. He hopes to introduce it to the Council on July 30. He would like input from the Planning staff. The issue is that, in the Geneva area, there were lots that were created before 1955. Those lots are subject to forced lot consolidation and the boundaries would be erased. They would be consolidated to a density of three houses per acre. If they change the zoning to one house per two acres, then they would be consolidated to create two -acre lots. There are a number of folks in the Geneva area that would be impacted. The County Charter says they can't unduly burden property owners who have a reasonable expectation of development in the short term. He's aware of three individuals who are ready to develop, except for the sewer moratorium. They had a reasonable expectation of building in the short term. Baumgarten stated that he was under the impression that part of the downzone was to address stormwater. If that hasn't been dealt with in Geneva, he's not sure how that would work. McShane stated he doesn't want to have spot areas of rural density surrounded by urban density. If a lot was created any time after 1955, it doesn't get consolidated. There are areas that have been completely built out, creating an island of non -urban density. Another approach may be to draw the zoning lines so they make sense. Create cohesive areas that are urban and cohesive areas that are rural. Go with the blanket zoning. It is an interim zoning, so this could be done on an interim basis also. It takes care of those people who are ready to develop. They could sunset the condition also. It is mostly to avoid the situation in which someone who is really committed to development would not be prevented from it. He's not comfortable doing that. Alternatively, if people want to protect the lake and are worried about people developing in the short term, the city could put up some money to reduce density or create stormwater facilities that are needed. The zoning has never been a complete solution. Other factors have to be considered. Planning and Development Committee, 7/16/2002, 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. Ginger Essex, citizen, read the change in the proposal. She has a client who put in sewer and water lines eight years ago because Water District 10 required it for development. He plans to develop nine lots. The only reason her client hasn't been able to develop is because he has to wait for Sudden Valley to be done. Now, he's put out this money based on what he was told he had to do, and he found out that he now has two lots. That is why she is concerned. She would be comfortable with a sunset clause. Crawford asked how phosphorus loading and seasonal clearing works. He asked for an explanation of phosphorus, what it is, and what it does that is bad for the water. He's trying to understand what winter phosphorus loading ultimately does in the summer when they have the greatest impact from algae blooms. He asked if algae blooms could happen in the wintertime. Bruce Roll, Water Resources Division Manager, stated there could be algae blooms in the wintertime. Biological organisms are limited in their capacity to grow by the nutrient, which is the limiting factor in the environment. In the case of Lake Whatcom, the limiting factor that prevents widespread growth is phosphorus. The phosphorus cycle is complex. Phosphorus might be in the sediment, which is stirred up by boats. There are a number of potential phosphorus contributors in the lake. It's almost impossible to identify a single event as the cause of all the problems. Utah State University is spending a lot of time identifying the events that would produce a significant amount of load into the lake, such as storm events. From his experience in Maine, land disturbance events could contribute huge amounts of sediment and subsequent algae blooms. He hasn't studied that issue enough here. He's not sure about the types and forms of phosphorus in the soils here. It depends on the soil types. It's not a simple answer. If there is one large event over a large area that contains a certain amount of slope, soil, and rain, then they can estimate the relative amounts of nutrients and phosphorus that are washed into the lake. That is more difficult in Lake Whatcom when there is a constant drizzle of rain. Crawford stated it seems like, based on water temperature, they generally have a cleaner lake in the winter than in the summer. The problems they tend to notice are in late summer. Roll stated there are generally certain times of the year when there are more algae blooms. That doesn't mean they could only happen during one time of the year. Another factor is that it varies depending on the source of the bloom and types of organisms in the bloom. Some people from the city may be doing some algae identification on the source water to anticipate blooms. They are difficult to predict. Crawford asked if the concept of limiting land disturbances in the winter makes sense. Roll stated it does make sense. Even the best of the best management practices (BMP's) will not handle all the runoff in the winter if there is a lot of land disturbance. Planning and Development Committee, 7/16/2002, 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 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. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 2. DISCUSSION REGARDING CONTINUING THE MORATORIUM ON ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FOR SUBDIVISIONS OF LAND INTO PARCELS SMALLER THAN FIVE NOMINAL ACRES IN THE LAKE SAMISH WATERSHED (AB2002 -063B) McShane stated this moratorium ends at the end of this month. Sylvia Goodwin, Planning Division, stated it expires August 28. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the downzone on July 25. It will come forward with the batch of the Comprehensive Plan amendments. It is unlikely that the Council will get to it by the time it expires. Staff recommends continuation. Caskey- Schreiber moved to recommend continuing the interim moratorium. McShane stated they would schedule a public hearing on July 30 to extend the moratorium. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Motion carried unanimously. 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING VARIOUS LAKE WHATCOM WATERSHED ISSUES, INCLUDING CLARIFICATION OF BOUNDARIES AND POSSIBLE LIFTING OF THE MORATORIUM ON ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FOR SUBDIVISIONS OF LAND INTO PARCELS SMALLER THAN FIVE NOMINAL ACRES (AB2002 -227A) (Clerk's Note: Discussion continued from above.) McShane stated that he would talk to Mr. Isaacson later. He moved to recommend that an ordinance be prepared to adopt the Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 1 boundary. Goodwin stated that would apply to Lake Samish and Drayton Harbor, too. They would need to do further division for Lake Samish because all of the Friday Creek watershed flows south into the Samish River. There is no Lake Samish watershed. It's all part of the Samish River. Staff drew a line based on topography between the two. A part of the water from Cain and Reed lakes flows south into Skagit County and not into Lake Samish. They need to establish that also, now that the overlay is going to pertain to Lake Samish. Motion carried unanimously. Planning and Development Committee, 7/16/2002, Page 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 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. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 3:52 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, 7/16/2002, Page 7