Draft still going through revisions
Okanogan County is working on a revision to its zoning code, with a goal of adopting the updated code by July.
The zoning code contains regulations based on concepts in the county’s comprehensive plan, which is the philosophical underpinning for land use and growth. The purpose of the zoning code is to implement the comp plan and promote the public health, safety and welfare of inhabitants of Okanogan County.
The county commissioners and planning director have been going over changes suggested by consultant Oneza & Associates, a firm that specializes in planning and land-use matters in Washington.
For now, the zone code draft is a work in progress, with recommendations from county staff and Oneza, Planning Director Pete Palmer said. It is still evolving and additions, deletions and wordsmithing are expected before they produce a draft for public review. That draft will go through a legal review before the formal public-comment process, she said.
In addition to complying with laws and guidelines and the comp plan, the revised zoning code will reflect changing local circumstances and improved data, according to the Planning Department.
The zoning code outlines districts throughout the county, such as agricultural residential, commercial and neighborhood use. One section details regulations for the Methow Review District, which tend to be more restrictive than in other areas in the county. It contains regulations for things like bed and breakfasts, cannabis operations and airports.
The code describes lot sizes, the types of buildings that are permitted (and how big and tall they can be), and what permits are required for development in specific areas.
The district use chart is a detailed list of potential uses from apiary farms to parking lots to exercise clubs to kennels. For each zone in the county, it shows whether those uses are permitted, require a special permit, or are prohibited.
Both the county commissioners and the county’s planning commissioners have been going over the proposed changes and making their own recommendations. In the past two weeks, the county commissioners reviewed the section on planned developments and discussed parts of the district use chart with an eye toward compatible uses. Some changes have been made to make the use chart consistent with the text of the code, Palmer said.
The commissioners also discussed the possibility of guidelines to make homes more resilient to wildfire, the visual impacts of development, and possible additions to the use chart such as cryptocurrency enterprises and electric-vehicle charging.
Court agreement
The county is updating the zoning code to comply with a 2017 court stipulation that required it be revised as soon as the commissioners adopted a new comprehensive plan.
The agreement grew out of lawsuits filed separately by the Yakama Nation and by the Methow Valley Citizens Council (MVCC) and Futurewise. The lawsuits contended the county’s plans didn’t adequately protect water resources.
The Yakama Nation claimed that the current zoning code threatens the tribe’s fishing rights because it fails to protect the quality and quantity of groundwater. It also says the code allows for more parcels than can be supported by available water resources, particularly in the Methow Valley.
MVCC and Futurewise contended the plans didn’t protect water and farmland and that they failed to protect against wildfire risk.
Although the county missed multiple deadlines set by the court, all three plaintiffs initially agreed to give the county more time to revise the plans.
In 2019, the Yakama Nation sought to vacate the stipulation, but Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Henry Rawson said the county was working on the updates and that dismissing the agreement wouldn’t accomplish the Yakamas’ goals.
The county’s existing zoning code, adopted in 2016, was the first update in almost four decades. The new zoning code is slated to be adopted by July 1, after a public-comment process and further revisions.
The zoning code is Chapter 17A of the Okanogan County Code. The existing code can be viewed online through the county website at okanogancounty.org under “Documents and Forms.”
People can follow the update process by listening to county commissioner discussions with Palmer, generally held on Mondays, and to the planning commission, which meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m. People can attend the meetings in person or via Zoom, or watch an archived video on the commissioners’ page on the county’s website under “Livestream Meetings.”
