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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning February 11 1997 Comprehensive PlanWHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Planning & Development Committee February 11, 1997 Chairman Alvin Starkenburg called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the County Council =s Committee Meeting Room. Also Present: Marlene Dawson Kathy Sutter Tom Brown Ward Nelson 1. REVIEW OF THE WHATCOM COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN (LAND USE AND CAPITAL FACILITIES, AB96 -051F) Staff Also Present: Michael Knapp, Planning and Development Services Carl Batchelor, Planning and Development Services Terry Galvin, Planning and Development Services Jeff Griffin, Planning and Development Services Dan Gibson, Prosecuting Attorney =s Office Sandy Mackay, Attorney for the Whatcom County Council The first item of business is to rezone Nooksack area from RF to... Staff will give a report from the Planning Commission. Terry Galvin: Planning Comm and Staff met, came up with a compromise and staff supports this decision. The development toward this rezone request came to the Committee with a number of mistakes. Mr. Lancasstle is not chair of the County council... Pg 1,2,3 of the Ordinance language correction. Also Secretary Michael Knapp of the Planing Comm has not signed or given his review. This covers pg 71 and 72, What Cty Plan Agency =s report, waiting for Jerry Landcastle to sign this. Third correction: Note that Michael Knapp didnot review before it was sent. The Plan Comm recommeded the east 20 ac be zoned RF the east 20 be zoned RSA. Staff will allow the RF remain comml forestry- -staff supports this - -but cautioned Committee re precedent may be set for future requests that enables R5A in areas that would otherwise be suitable for forestry. Stark: Questions from Committee? Sutter: Re 20 ac RF, is isolated, zoning -wise, surrounded by R5a on 2 sides and comml forestry on other two sides. Is this appropriate? Galvin: We think its approp for entier 80 ac to be RF, sets the stage for high- medium density residential development up to the comml forestry lands in the county. I can understand some of the arguments Mr. Thompson was making. Sutter: Why to the 40 ac north was it left comml forestry Galvin: Charac by steep, difficult slopes to use for comml forestry. There are some inconsistencies - -some forestry lands are abutted by RSA, but mainly because they are approp for comml forestry. If it has a shallow slope, it is better for RSA, R10A,... Stark: Any persons by way of ownership or representation of it have comment? Phil Circa, 400 N Comml St, rep Mr. Thompson: Mr. Thompson has 2 homes on the property, and found the designation when he went in for financing. This caused him cost, and his applic has been pending for a year. We request the Council adopt the rec of the Plan Comm. Except for the North 40 acres, which we prefer RF, rather than Comml Forest. We think 2 homes could be easily located on that. However, a CF desig means comml owner, and CF is usually desig if you are within a fire district. Third, the rural forestry provides more of a transition. We provided to you the property can perc, and there is a consultant that can give evidence of this. There are well logs, 2 wells can be put there, and road access is available. There is no opposition to the request. We would like to deelop the 2 acres for 2 units, rather than no units. Stark: Committee, please consider what the Comp Plan. Dawson: There is a similar incident that occurred that was handled as an over - the - counter correction. Didn =t we propose a change so that comml forestry requires 80 acres - -if someone is left with a piece of parcel, shouldn =t they be allowed at least one house on it? Stark: This is regarding ownership, rather than specifically size. Gibson: Minimum lot size for residence in comml forestry. Min lot size was 80 acres, and it was comml ownership. Galvin: Clarification - -in his opnion, an error was made in this rezone, but the application was made, so we can =t go back. Had we addressed this back then as an error, it could have been converted. Since application has been made for RSA, the Plan Comm. Must make a recommendation. Gordon Thompson: Property owner. There was some discussion about rectifying the problem, but there was no action taken by Planning Staff, and thats why he application was filed. Sutter: The two existing residences are on the R5A cluster? Stark: Yes. Stark: Yes, the Plan Comm recommends staying in Comml Forestry, and the applic is for rural forestry. Committee ready for decision? NO. Gibson: We are talking here about a substantial change in recommendation from the Planning Comm and also at the Council level. This type of change would require a council hearing, but it would prpobably be short because it doesn =t propose much practical prpoblems. Stark: Having a hard time making a decision on the Dawson: Makes a motion to support the rural forestry zone, because it has fire suppression, and there has been notice to the individual re this change, and otherwise is a drastic removal of a property of right. Stark: The owner is interested in the placement of two residences in the rural forestry zone? Sutter: I am inclined to suport Ms. Dawson =s motion. Stark: We accept the work of the Planning Comm and accept the 20 acres as rural forestry. Nelson: If it changes to RF, then residential units can be built in that area. Has fire district agreed to provide protection in that area? Phil Circa (rep Thompson): The property is within the service district boundaries. Thompson: Logging has been done on the hillside by Trillium, and a lightning strike occcured on the hillside. The firemen were able to access the road with any equipment needed. Stark: All in favor? AYE. Motion to propose this to full Council and staff please find whether a public hearing is needed to a address this rezone. (Meeting takes short recess at 2:05 p.m.) Stark: The next portion of this meeting is the Committee Report on our Work for the past year, specifically the past four months. This is an update and overview for the full Council. Mr. Brown and Mr. Nelson are here, but Mr. Imhoff and Ms. Brenner cannot make this meeting. What has been presented here (handouts) is work done today. We recognize that we are in a time crunch and we should probably move the public hearing back, due to staffing problems, complexity of the issues. We feel we would like to recommend to move it back, so that everything can be completely gone through before the public hearing. This would give the staff additional time. Lets have a brief discussion on this. This has not been cleared with Council staff, but we would like toh change the March I Ith date for a public hearing, not the date for final adoption. Gibson: To add more to that, there is a very serious intent to achieve this as close to the March 11 deadline as possible, because it represents 180 days from the date the Planning Commission recommended adoption. However, this is brought forward in the spirit of having adequate public notice. Sutter: I am having notices printed up to inform the public about the mandatory agricultural protection zone. Could we have a separate hearing for this on February 25th? Stark: We need to get with staff on this. Knapp: We=ll look into that. Brown: To clarify, the reason for moving the date back is to get all the recommended changes into print for public review. Knapp: In one of the handouts, within resource lands, Mineral Resources, Section II, remove those pages and insert the new 3 page Mineral Resource handout. But be sure to keep crossroads communities section. Stark: Let =s stark with Countywide Planning Policies. This is the lastest work on this, and is reflected on staff work developing interlocal agreements with the other cities. Any questions on the ctywide plan pols (dated Jan 10 94 ?): Knapp: Since the April 93 adoption of Ctywide Planning Policies, there has been updates on ...(three events).... The oversight committee has sent a great deal of time to rework these, and the cities have taken the redrafts back to their councils. Batch: Bham, Lynden, Blaine, and ? ?? have responded. Knapp: Have identified certain kinds of growth areas that are not characterized by cities, such as Cherry Point. Revisions to economic develop policies, and clarifications for water protection and other GMA policies. Included is: Staff report, highlights of changes, etc. Batch: Page 6 of the staff report, attachment 1 is a summary of each of the changes. Stark: What have we done re Land Use issues: This was compiled by Sandy Mackay -s (documents dated Jan 31 and Feb 7), which is an itemized short form of each of these issues. Bold type denotes action needed or future development. Stark had intended to cover this for the two councilmembers who have been absent, and are absent at today--s meeting. Gibson: You hae the new pop figures- -the original Plan Comm work was based on earlier figures, new figures mean that portions of the plan will have to be revised. This respresents an increase of 8000 or 220,000+ in the year 2015. Resource Conservation Plan- -Areas in the R5 or R10 zone will be allowed to remain at such a density, but clustering will encourage better efficiency of resource use. This may affect people that are currently in the process of subdividing their rural 10 acres. Mineral Resource Lands. We are seeking to address appropriate designation criteria. What is necessary to effectuate mining within that designation. Alternative recommendations will be given to the full council for their comment and public input. Comml forestry- -allow residential units within the comml forestry zone? Yes, may be permitted with adequate road and fire safety, however, no signfiicant development may be allowed -- limited developement ok. Urban and hamlet designations are mooted by more precise areas of designation, such as resort and recreational, tourist resource or comml desigs -- Kendall, Deming, Nugents Corner, etc. The idea is these are not urban areas, but to recognize existing development and not to plan for vastly expand for greater populations in that area. Suburban enclaves: Chuckanut, Bham, Lake Samish - -not urban densities, but greater than rural densities. Chuckanut is not likely to revert to forestry use, however given traffic and other constraints is not approp for greater residential development. See also Sprawl prevention recommendations. A recognition for Custer as a intermodal and rail facility, but it must be given that form before it becomes a reality. Cherry Point has been established as industrial development. Sprawl preention is important for cities - -the County must not plan or fail to plan for sprawl. Therefore, if development occurs in areas outside city services, ability to serve letters must be submitted. Short-term and long -term boundary will help achieve more orderly development within those areas -- avoiding a black -and- white determination -- allowing for development with provision of annexation that allows provision of services. Some editorial changes, and etc... Stark: There is a contested area in the water/sewer ... We don =t need to go through this ... we see as Council members what we need to take further action on. Are there any questions from members on that piece? NO. Lets move onto the next piece. There have been a great number of requests over the past few years, and we worked through those on two occasions. The requests were organized by staff, including subarea, etc ... the Committee is about 95% complete on that. My report to you is the Committee =s work has moved over to staff and legal to review for consistency and if error is found, they will report back to the Comm. Ward Nelson: In question to that last element, are those individual requests that came in during last public hearing process, in regards to Comp Plan, zone changes, etc. Stark: Yes, and some have been lingering for 4 -5 years, waiting to see how things would fit (with the new Comp Plan.) Nelson: IF people had written in for change to different zoning activity, how were they handled? Knapp: The proess we are going through is to measure the requests for density with the policies adopted by the Comp Plan, and review the zoning changes. Stark: Further clarified the remainder of requests have been addressed, but staff is looking into further substantive issues, and so on... Knapp: A master list of all the requests will be provided to you, with indication of which have and have not been resolved. Stark: A larger piece regards the Resource Lands and Agricultural Base. Please look at ... In respect to the Comp Plan, it is a balancing act, and we cannot just pick and choose- - in order to balance, we needed to look at a resource protection zone. In order to take lands for urban expansion, we must also give lands for resource protection. I would like to invite Mr. Mackay to make this presentation. (Mackay has joined the meeting at this point.) Mackay: Two questions I have been asked, Can we make the current plan consistent with the board, and are there any specific adjustments to make to resolve unique problems. Clark County is similar to Whatcom County, and out of 100 appeals in the Clark County case, mainly 5 acre tracts that have been historically farmed, using accessor maps... The Board found that if you allowed unresrained 5s to develop in the rural areas, that would take away from agricultural resource lands, and is inducive for sprawl, which is not good for growth management. In dialog with the board in other cases, they talk about the need for caps, limits to keep R5 in check. If you require one unit in 10, there is more potential for ag resource use. In What Cty, there is a great deal of R5A zoning, where ag had taken place. It is necessary to support a critical mass to conduct long -term comml zoning. There are some places where the lands will be displaces, such as for the Guide Meridian, and some where multiple uses will occur, which can mean up to 10% loss of lands. The ag protection can occur on up to 120,000 acres, but you should preserve 100,000 as the critical mass. When you get into caps and quotas... Lets take a resource protection plan approach that does mandate protection, but allows you to change the underlying zoning. You can build the units on 20% of the parcel, which could be targeted in areas of existing infrastructure, or minimum impact. As you look at the area between Cherry Pt and Ferndale, and other areas potentially impacted by urban growth, you have in the R5A area lands that are available for other uses, such as schools. In saving resource lands, 1) have you identified the land to be made available and 2) have you protected it? Clark County found under voluntary programs, you get the easiest to protect... In order to prevent incompatible uses, come back with a second stage that by defining ag use as the predominant use, create through covenants and easements the general practices found in rural commuities- -look to where they are already developed- - SCS Best Management Practices, tied to agricultural activities. 1, 2... If program is in place, a critical mass is set aside for agricultural protection, and you have continued the ability to have a degree of development in the rural areas so long as it is not incompatible with ag uses, thirdly, are adequate services available - -the letter to serve from police /school /water /fire, etc. is the responsibility of the developer to obtain. By taking those steps to make sure a significant portion is protected, you have greater freedom to create more dense R -1 and R2, or designate a heavy industrial zone, such as Cherry Point, because this does not impact the ag resources. Now that you cannot just file for R5 segregation, you have to go to a short plat or long plat process. Fair notice, covenants and easements, all help mitigate uses among the adjoining properties. Voluntary vs mandatory discussed briefly, point made to avoid cap and limits, where if a limit, all permits will be taken as soon as offered. Sutter: Reviewing handout on page 2, category 4. Define large parcel. Mackay: 20 acres or greater. Sutter: Will this affect all R5A or all RI0A zoning? Mackay: No. But we basically set off , all around the urban areas and the I -5 corridor as lands that would be diverted for some other use. A choice could be to include all lands 20 ac or greater... Stark: Lets refer to the map, so we can appropriately hold the line there. Mackay: One area sets east of Custer, half mile off fwy, set around North Bham, set off Smith Rd and along powerlines following Van Wyck Rd. A second was from Custer to Cherry Point. Leaving some areas out was due to existing developments. Sutter: comment ... If we include some properties and not others, then it may be a legal challenge. Mackay: A very strong case could be made against putting a ring of 5s around the urban development, because it becomes difficult to put roads, servcices or anything else through that. Including this land puts the County well over 100,000 long -term comml ag. Sytter: Why are we basing it on ag? Makay: Its primary objective is to confine R5 development in ag zones. There are other activities that can take place on these larger parcels that can take place, such as schools.- - looking beyond 20 years, it benefits more than ag. Sutter: Provision of property containing agricultural uses. What about family exemptions, and subdivisions for children of family farms. If you can =t get services for cluster development, then do you need to subdivide? Mackay: You need to make sure it is not so easy that people can opt out. The purchase price of an ? ?? (undeveloped) lot as a R5 is about the same. Exempt wells 5,000 gal per day. It is common to have combine drainfields on one or two acres, such as 7 drainfields on 1 or two acres. Sutter: If we tell them they have to cluster, but they can =t meet the water requirements, then are we taking the property? Mackay: No, not in the constitutional sense. Look at the levels of service- -there will be differences in requirements for urban and rural. In the resource protection area, there may be the same requirements for development for fire, water, etc. He urged the Committee to query the need for higher levels of fireflow. But you must ask if a person on a 5 acre tract entitled to better fire protection than a person on a one acre tract? Here, we give fair warning that the County will adopt service levels for an area. What is being said is the clustering is consistent with the pattern of development in the rural areas. Sutter: Urban vs rural levels of service. Stark: I would like to interrupt. Sutter yuo are bringing up all the things that need to be considered if we adopt this type of measure, but I would like to allow more time at the end of the meeting to dialog. This will then be the roadmap for amending the development regs. Knapp: We are asking all Council members to make a list of issues to be addressed in full. Sutter: I support the concept and feel it achieves the objective before us, but I have issue with the mandatory nature. Stark: So do I, but together we will try to make this plan balance, and that is the difficult part. Dawson: These are not platted lots we are putting inthis zone, and the density of development is still the same as if it were R5. Stark: Sutter is getting to the next pieces,... Nelson: The category I is prime ag area? Mackay: Prime soils are in consideration, but it is also the area historically zoned for ag uses. Nelson: Acreage? Gibson: 75,000 + 25,000 = 100,000 ac Mackay: Yes, this is an overlaying zone - -ag protect. Over time these large parcels can meet a multitude of needs, not just ag uses. Stark: We are not saying we need to have XXX acrs for agriculture, and the land base number has not been specifically determined, but this is a measure to go about making the determination. Mackay: If the Council =s recommendation was to put all of the R5 and R10 in, it would increase both totals about 10 %. Stark: Also submitted is a report from the ad hoc committee. Next is the crossroads communiteis and suburban enclaves. In the information should move in a favorable direction for the entire community. Discussion? Knapp: Some areas have not been addressed -- commercial area just to the north of Custer, gateway industrial zone, and the new comml piece on the south part of the COUnty ( Nulle Rd) and how to designate that. Mackay: Nulle Rd fell within a logical place for neighborhood comml /crossroads commercial. The old plan was trying to designate urban with the assumption that these areas becamse fully operational cities, and realistically they are small rural towns, so we tried to preserve this as the operating basis for designation. Dawson: comments... Mackay: I think it would be appropriate for you to send the memo I sent you regarding recommendations to the full Council that provides good testimony on these changes. Stark: This will not mean that I am endorsing this wholeheartedly- -but that it is close enough to represent all the discussions we have had. This is really not a worksession, but one of passing on information. Mackay: I would encourage you to take the set of these as they exist today and elicit comments from cities, public groups and all interested, so people coming to the public hearing can focus on these textual changes, for final judgement on March 11. Stark: Crossroads comml - -We went through the County and identified the various sites that seem to best signify this activity. DO you want to 660 or 330 this type of activity? Then reviewed special situations. Cain Lake, etc. Mackay: One change we made was to designate Pt Roberts more like Sudden Valley rather than Birch Bay. A study should be made to identify what are the essential elements that would warrant full citihood and how do we encourage this development. In meantime, treat it like a resort community. Stark: Pg 13C, there was a lot of issues, re small non - conforming uses. No comments on that. Cherry Point - -no comments. Custer - -give brief overview. Mackay: What has been done with Custer, which is a follow on to Cherry Point - -it will create a certain kind of demand as it develops. There is a unique circumstance where Cherry Point Rail and I -5, Canadian rail to Sumas is all connecting, and provides a special opportunity for an intermodal rail site. This activity cannot be met inside the cities, and it cannot be duplicated elsewhere. This kind of warehouse, freeway intersections... BY the same token, we don =t know how wide, where,... We looked at Lacey--s plan with similar unique needs to develop urban villages without a precedent set for specifics. So to accomplish all these activities within the light industrial zone (Cherry Point) may be prohibitive. Step 1 is an enabling ordinance, and the Master Plan with all the zoning requirement and restrictions is appropriate device to identify those issues. In other words, can we use existing rules, or do we need rules to make it fit. The same criteria as Cherry Point to preserve the large lots, and then use accessory uses to the larger use. Plan for major use, then identify appropriate accessory uses. A detailed environmental review is done in conjuction with the master plan, and it is not a light industrial zone, so no duplicaiton in Bliane or Bellingham. Knapp: The exising uses may need to have some additional consideration... Mackay: Perhaps we should add Custer to thes small towns criteria, not allowing more development to occur, but to infill. Gateway is not a good place to dairy farm, or residential zoning. Identify it as a Guide / Comml zone. Put boundaries on it so that it doesn =t unintentionally grow. Letter to serve is needed as well. Knapp: IN some comml areas discussed, you said it is ok to expand, but what about the interchange across the gateway, would that not be similar? Mackay: If you have small town, that is what you are dealing with. We =ve taken out the existing uses, .... Stark: How far should this zone run - -up to Blaine =s UGA? East portion of I -5, etc. Knapp: The focus is really on the intersection. It seems like a crossroads commercial. Ward Nelson: As an intermodal focus, then is it in the transportation element in extent of a feasibility study? DO we have to have that part of that element in the Comp Plan? Stark: WCCOG is doing a study on that. Sutter: The Custer intermodal facility doesn =t have definite size yet, in that zone R1OA, how do we keep people from building inappropriately in that area? Mackay: You could designate the 440 acres, as a potential intermodal site. Underneath that, the R10 zoning applies. This is called a floating zone -- people will be able to develop inside the 440 acres. The Master Plan is really a large scale zoning ordinance. You have the ability now to have two choices: take the 440 and confine it for the intermodal use. 2) put a star on the area, and note that it may be 440, or more /less, and at the public hearing discuss before making a final recommendation. Knapp: Once that is done, then it will be desig as urban, if so, do we include the rest of the community? Mackay: No, the rationale is this is an area incompatible with all things the city brings. You don--t want townhouses and mobile home parks next to the switching yards. This is not an intent to make it a city. Knapp: There are services that need to be there for this facility, especially comml services. Mackay: You may decide that the comml side can be handled at the crossroad conmml intersection, and you don--t want to see those activities having anything to do with the intermodal yard. Other than that, the generic comml svcs are cross roads comml. Brown: 1) Suggestion of interstate crossroads comml. 2) What happendd to floating industrial zone, in regards to rural school districts. 3) Special designation for strip of land between Portal Way, Railraod and I -5. Sark: Intersection of Birch Bay - Lynden and I -S- -what should take place out there? Some requests were made to the Committee, and we discussed that, and directed staff to address with Mackay. Knapp: Trucks would have the ability to interface with rail, which makes it truly intermodal. Mackay: Heard testimony of need to widen economic base, widen tourist and comml industry. Recommending towns with mixed use zones, that can provide tourist services, and a Sun Mtn or Skamania Lodge type of activity (providing adequate services). The industrial area is really identified with small town crossroads comml. We talked about a floating industrial zone, defined as by administrative approval up to 10 employees and by special use permit up to 50 employees, and after that it is a rezone issue that will apply to all the rural areas. See bottom of page 9, ...(source ?) It is a floating zone, so that all cities dont zone 40 acres industrial. This allows, through performance criteria for this to happen, with services avail. With respect to Gateway, two points. Gateway is a crossroads comml type. One issue raised, some cross /comml are on sidestreets, some on Guide, etc. Perhaps there should be three types to be defined by size, and using road setbacks to determine type. Ward Nelson: Comments.... road usage... Mackay: response ... get from tape... Stark: The Committee sent forward a strong signal for looking at that area on both sides, recognizing uses along I -5 corridor, and other uses as existing and potential. Ward: Industrial size... Stark: ... It is now up to each of us on the Council to formulate our thoughts and channel through the Council office, so that we can discuss among ourselves, and consider more public comment. Mackay: Take time to put this together and disseminate it as widely as possible. As three members of the Council, you brought this to a point ... it needs to be brought back now to you. Get people to understand what the changes are that have been made. These are essentially changes in the margins and addressing technical issues. Nelson: My recommendation is that if this is what you want people to see, put it into one package. Mackay: This has ...the two page summary, and the final edition (15 pgs) the longer recitation of the proposed changes, and will include an addendum to the EIS, and line -by- line changes to the Comp Plan. Knapp: We have the next step of making all the changes consistent with the entire document. Nelson: We will be reviewing a document like this with the highlights and crossouts? Stark, Knapp: Yes! As far as impact fees --I am not sure where that is going. The decision to assess impact fees and on -site mitigation needs to be included also somewhere. Mackay: ... the second piece of that puzzle is how does the County meet our responsibilities in the GMA process, and that can be done under SEPA, or under ... but that is in the development phase. That step is a second generation. The impact fee program is adopted as a subpart of the Comp Plan. Brown: I was asked about the ability to serve letter - -some people were concerned about shutting schools down. Mackay: Schools have the most elaborate planning process... What we are saying in the rural areas, uncontrolled growth poses unconscionable costs on these areas. The ability to serve says that adequate public facilities are available. The school would have the ability to veto a development, if they can show good cause. The services are a prerequisite to the development. Nan Hendrickson says stop business as usual -- giving the building permit, then hearing we don =t have enough schools to serve the new population =s children. The school district may be able to pass a bond issue to help get the development. Brown: What about putting $1000... Mackay: They need the houses to pass the bond issue... once the school has the population, they may then get funds that allows them the portable. Stark: As I understood it, we are trying to get predictability - -to a point where there will be impact fees or mitigation that will be set, and everyone will know where they are at, so no matter what direction they are coming from, they will be accommodated. Mackay: ... people need to uderstand that is the mechanism in place. This does work, without imposing undue burden. Impact fees can also be used, but that has a different set of implications, not excluding administrating an impact fee system. Nelson: Can impact fees be broken down on criteria levels? Mackay: Impact fees have two categories: Define Level of Service, and then Impose the New Level on all new growth. Churches may be exempt, but that must be picked up by the taxpayers, and therein a balance must be struck. Such as 501 C3 organizations being exempt from impact fees -- because of the benefit of having them in the community. Under the Comp Plan SEPA enables the letter of ability to serve as a measure. Stark: Any comments from you Carl? Batchelor: Implementation Outline. There are more details that can be plugged into this, depending on what we do with the Comp Plan. Stark: Adjourned meeting at 4:20 p.m. NOTE: PUBLIC HEARING IS RESCHEDULED FOR MARCH 11th.