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Home My WebLink AboutPlanning April 2 1996WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Planning and Development Committee April 2, 1996 The meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m. by Committee Chair Alvin Starkenburg in the Council Committee Room, 311 Grand Avenue. Also Present: Marlene Dawson Kathy Sutter Absent: None COMMT]rTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL. 1. ORDINANCE AMENDING LAND CLEARING REGULATIONS IN TITLE 20, THE OFFICIAL WHATCOM COUNTY ZONING ORDINANCE (AB96 -074) Terry Galvin, Planning and Development Services, reviewed the latest draft of revisions to the clearing regulations. Those also speaking included: Karen Frakes, Prosecuting Attorney's Office Bill Florea, Public Works Pat Jones, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Tom Brown, Council Member Sherilyn Wells Skip Richards Kathy Bovenkamp Dereck Holzl, TAC Nate Kronenberg Barbara Brenner, Council Member Galvin commented regarding additional language of Waiver of Six Year Moratorium .............. .............. (page 3): "...County Executive when the owner agrees � to bring the site into full :i' :.:::" i::::.... ....' 3::i: ....:i::. ... compliance C with Whatcom County p : : : : : : :.1 ..... n' codes... ". Planning Minutes, 4/2/96, Page 1 He also reviewed Applicability, page 1: "... In Exemptions, page 1: "...forest practices, other than a Class IV General, regulated under RCW 79.09, surface mining_ , , shall be... ". Karen Frakes and Bill Florea commented. Another Planning recommendation was to eliminate all reference to "Suburban" throughout the document (e.g., page 1, (4)A.) Galvin noted that the language under Vegetation Maintenance, page 9, will be deleted because it is unnecessary: "Vegetation and other normal land maintenance activities irrvolving cutting, removal or planting of vegeta by manual, niechanicai, ot chen�icaf methods that do not iesult in exposure of soils to wind or water: Discussion followed regarding the purpose statement, page 1. Pat Jones recommended "...avoid or minimize" instead of "prevent ". Kathy Bovenkamp suggested "...The purpose of this ordinance is to establish reasonable standard for clearing land... ", deleting the last half of the first sentence and the first half of the next sentence. Sutter and Dawson also commented. Nate Kronenberg raised a procedural concern regarding conflict of interest. He suggested Starkenburg disqualify himself from these proceedings because of his interest in surface mining. Starkenburg replied he would discuss this issue later today with counsel. Sutter raised a question regarding applicability: "...meeting the submittal requirements contained herein... ". Jones replied and suggested: "...meeting the submittal requirements Dawson noted she is often involved in clearing properties and should perhaps disqualify herself also. Under exemptions, Sutter thought "and" and "Whatcom County Code" should be added: ..RCW 79.09x[; : °:;:t.::::.: t:. >> surface mining = regulated under, shall be... . Brown suggested changing slopes from 20% to 30% (page 1, (4)A., B.(a), (b) and (c). Jones commented. Planning Minutes, 4/2/96, Page 2 I Wells suggested that if Council decides to change the slope, an environmental analysis be 2 performed of the impacts of making the change. 3 4 Sutter suggested language change on page 2, Site Specific Requirements: "...and/or the 5 mitigation of hazardous or potentially hazardous of site conditions. ". Frakes suggested ......................... 6 ...hazardous conditions that pose site.:. . ....::......:..... . 7 8 Wells was concerned with consistency in language on page 2, (6)A. and B., and suggested 9 language changes specific to prevention first and minimization second: "...E 10 erosion/sedimentation, and other impacts ... activity shall be €€g, 11€ .:1 on the site... ,and::. ,..,xl;.f land clearing.: ...,.., ..:......::....:.:.:. g ...::....:.......:..p......:.,. ::::::....:....,.... :...,..1. ,:,...:... 12zaate off -site physical... ". Jones commented. 13 14 Wells requested Starkenburg define "significant" in the above - mentioned paragraphs. 15 Discussion followed. Galvin suggested possible language:_int1 16a ;:: .. ". .::�':.::.::.: Wit. 17 18 Discussion followed regarding (7)A. and B. Wells suggested deleting B. Further 19 discussion followed. Galvin suggested (7)A.: "...allow the landowner who is oblivious to 20 regaimtory jurisdiction and clears his or her land without a eounty pel to seek a... ". 21 22 Sutter requested clarification in (9), Posting Authorization, (page 4): "...must be posted 23r€ac> 24 25 Wells commented regarding using a standard of minimum disturbance and protection of 26 the resources [(13), page 5]. She again stressed consistency, suggesting in (13)A.: "The purpose 27 of a Special Management Area in this chapter is to first avoid then minimize damage to off -site 28 property and public resources by establishing a more stringent standard." and "...exhibit clear ......... ............................... 29 evidence fi of degradation correlated... ". Discussion followed. ..:..:....:. . 30 31 Special Management Area was then discussed, specifically whether to add Lake Samish to 32 the Special Management Area Designation, which will be discussed at tonight's meeting. 33 34 Wells felt that the threshold was too large concerning page 5, (13)Ci(e), 10,000 Square 35 Feet Threshold in Urban and Suburban Zoning Districts. Jones also commented, as did Richards. 36 37 Wells then spoke to (13)Ciii(a), page 5, Cover Protection. She urged Council not to 38 create inconsistencies where none need be. 39 40 Discussion followed on page 6, Land Disturbance. Sutter questioned "land disturbance" 41 and suggested "development activity". Galvin responded, as did Jones, Richards, Florea and 42 Frakes. After discussion, it was decided to use "clearing ". 43 Planning Minutes, 4/2/96, Page 3 On page 7, Frakes commented regarding (3), violation language deleted at her request. She stated evidence must be examined on a case -by -case situation. An artificial date must not be established for the beginning of the violation. Brown, Florea, and Bovenkamp commented. Notice of Violation and Stop Work Order, page 7, (4), was then discussed. The following language was recommended: "...to be delivered to the responsible person or his or her agent, or 1 116 X to be conspicuously posted at this site, ... ". Sutter pointed out that on page 7, (5), Notice of Penalty, the section should be 200, not 210: "...provided in Section 2+0 24. shall be imposed by a notice... ". Sutter suggested on page 7, (7)B., Repeat Offense, changing the language: "...who .......................... ............................... commits an offensesubsegaentto a first offense... ". Sutter suggested on page 8, Development, to add "excavation". Jones recommend using "grading" instead of "fill and grade ". Discussion followed. Galvin suggested deleting "Land Disturbance Activity"; "stream" (the definition is evolving now in the Critical Areas Ordinance [CAO]); "suburban"; and "vegetation Maintenance" on page 9. Discussion followed. Wells commented regarding the lack of time lines. Discussion followed. Discussion followed regarding the definition of "clearing activity ". ADDENDUM 2. CONSIDERATION OF HEARING EXAMINER'S RECOMMENDED APPROVAL OF A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT FILED BY EIFORD AND EIFORD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY FOR "BANNER BUSINESS PARK" (PUD95 -0002) (GBS95 -0002) (AB96 -096) Craig Eiford and Ted Gazek, Eiford and Eiford Development Company, were present to answer any questions. Starkenburg moved to recommend approval. Motion carried unanimously. Planning Minutes, 4/2/96, Page 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ADJOURN The meeting was Bennett, ATTEST: t~ rP at approximately 5:15 p.m. WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Alvin Starkenburg, Council Me er Planning Minutes, 4/2/96, Page 5