The Okanogan County planning commissioners want the comprehensive plan to emphasize recreation, access to public lands, and wildfire safety, and to direct growth to areas with enough water.
Environmental impact assessment also underway
Access to public lands and bodies of water. The importance of recreation. Adequate water for development. Wildfire protection and safety.
These were the big themes as the Okanogan County planning commissioners began their in-depth review of the current draft of the county’s comprehensive plan on Monday night (June 10) with Okanogan County Planning Director Perry Huston and his staff.
The planning commission is weighing in on a draft created by the county commissioners in November. That draft is part of the county commissioners’ commitment to take a fresh look at the county’s 2014 plan. They agreed to revisit the plan after a lawsuit claimed it didn’t protect water quality and quantity or address wildfire risk.
Since recreation is such a big economic driver in the county — and one of four quadrants in the county’s logo — planning Commissioner George Thornton wants the plan to emphasize the importance of recreation.
Older versions of the comp plan put more emphasis on recreation, said Huston, who said he’d provide the section to the planning commissioners. The county also has a separate recreation plan, he said.
The commissioners explored the extent to which the county can require construction, landscaping and road access for wildfire safety. They discussed fire-resistant buffers and landscaping, building codes for nonflammable roofing, and ingress and egress for emergency vehicles. They considered who should shoulder the cost of providing fire protection in remote areas.
Huston noted that the county is about to begin the revision of its Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Planning Commission Chair Albert Roberts asked how much the county can use the comp plan to protect lands for agriculture, forestry and mining.
“In my brief years on this earth, access to public lands has become gradually more restrictive,” said Thornton. “If we have public lands, we should guarantee some level of access, or what’s the point?” he said. Planning Commissioner Dave Schulz said he’d like to ensure access to rivers and lakes.
Public access is addressed in the 2014 comp plan in a section about coordinating with state and federal agencies, said Huston. The plan can include more detail about public access and provide incentives for developers to include public access, he said.
Planning Commissioner Gina McCoy wants the county to direct growth to areas where there’s enough water, and to take into account local variations in precipitation and evaporation.
The comp plan is the philosophical basis for the county’s zoning code, which contains specific zones for particular types of development and lot sizes.
Based on these zones — which designate areas for towns, commercial and industrial use, and rural areas, among other things — the zoning code includes a detailed list of acceptable uses. That list includes everything from asphalt plants to dairy farms to wineries. McCoy suggested making the list more practical by emphasizing compatible land uses.
Environmental review
Huston is working on the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the comp plan, which he hopes to complete by the end of June. The EIS will emphasize water, roads, wildfire and critical areas such as wetlands, said Huston. It will also include a section on climate change.
The EIS will compare four alternatives — one that allows growth in the county to be driven by the real estate market, one that links growth to transportation and other infrastructure, and one that creates even greater specificity to direct growth to areas that can support it. One alternative is the “no-action” alternative, which leaves the 2014 comp plan as is.
The EIS will incorporate suggestions from an alternative proposed by the Methow Valley Citizens Council. That alternative directs growth to cities and towns and designates areas where intensive residential, commercial, and industrial development would be discouraged. Those areas would be preserved for farming, forests and mineral uses.
The county is currently accepting feedback on the comp plan. There will be a formal 45-day comment period on the EIS and the plan itself, most likely with a public hearing at the planning commission’s July meeting, said Huston.
The working draft of the comp plan is available on the Planning Department website at www.okanogancounty.org/planning under “Comprehensive Plan Update” and then “Draft Comprehensive Plan.” The county’s 2014 plan is also available at that link.
Comments can be sent to Huston at phuston@co.okanogan.wa.us.
