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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-17 6:00 PM - Planning Commission Public Hearing - Minutes KITTITAS COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING MINUTES Courthouse RM 201 , ELLENSBURG Public Hearing TUESDAY 6: 00 PM March 17 , 2026 Board members present: Bruce Coe, Joseph Pearson, Judith Jackson, Pat Deneen, and Bill Hinkle . Absent: Warren Taylor and Scott Carlson Others : Jamey Ayling, Planning Manager; Jeremy Johnston, Long Range Planner; Jessica Miller, Office Administrator; Stephanie Hartung, Chief Administrative Deputy; Clay White, Kimley-Horn; Erin O' Kelley, Kimley-Horn; and eleven (11) members of the public . The meeting was called to order at 6: 00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER - Roll Call CITIZEN COMMENTS (1 min. time limit) There were no citizen comments . APPROVAL OF MINUTES COMMISSIONER JACKSON moved to approve the minutes from February loth and March loth. COMMISSIONER PEARSON seconded. Discussion - none . Motion passed 5-0 . CHAIR COE opened the public hearing. NEW BUSINESS PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER AND MAKE RECOMMENDATION TO BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ON THE 2026 PERIODIC COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE INCLUDING A NEW CHAPTER ON CLIMATE AND THE EASTON SUB AREA PLAN PLANNING MANAGER JAMEY AYLING introduced the consultants from Kimley-Horn and reviewed the procedure for today' s hearing. He stated for the record that the public comments that were previously submitted are part of the record already and included in the handouts . Staff also included in the packet the three additional comments that were received today. CLAY WHITE, Kimley-Horn, provided a brief presentation. The project and public hearing materials are available online at kittitascounty2026 . com. A summary of the 30-day comment period 2026-3-17 MINUTES 1 will be provided along with an overview of key proposed changes to the Comprehensive Plan with new Climate Element and Easton Subarea Plan. All comments received will be a part of the record and will be provided to the Board of County Commissioners for review. The Growth Management Act was adopted in 1990 and there are 15 goals that are meant to balance each other. The Growth Management Act requires that the Comprehensive Plan get updated every ten years . The annual docket process occurs once per year and then this update takes place every ten years to look forward for the next 20 years of growth. The deadline for this project is June 30, 2026 . CLAY WHITE explained the Comprehensive Plan process . He stated some Comprehensive Plans policies are implemented through development regulations, for example zoning, subdivision regulations, or uses that are allowed. With this plan staff has added an implementation plan chapter. Staff has worked with the Planning Commissioners and the Board of County Commissioners over the last year to highlight policies that are in the plan, to gather the policies that the county wants to work on over the next decade and put them in the implementation plan. The goal would be to have an annual implementation plan to discuss during budget season, make sure we have the resources, execute them and then come back the next year set up to reach the goals . CLAY WHITE discussed the upcoming schedule . The next meeting will be on April 14th, this will be a joint meeting with the Board of County Commissioners to review the development regulations, then there will be a hearing on May 12th and possibly continuing to May 13th on the development regulations . This will include the updates on the critical areas ordinance, which is a requirement as part of the periodic update and then any regulations that are required as part of the update to implement new laws and new policies . The changes proposed by the consultant and staff are meant to align with the Growth Management Act, align with regional agencies and regional plans, address the community' s feedback and community vision and address the county' s needs and reflect projects and forecasts . Public comments received prior to today' s hearing have been included in the packet and are part of the record. Any public comment received today at the hearing will also be part of the record. CLAY WHITE reviewed the public hearing process, first staff will give their briefing, the public hearing will open to accept public testimony, next the record will be closed and the Planning Commissioners will deliberate, and finally the Planning Commissioners will make their recommendation. The Planning Commissioners recommendation will be forwarded to the Board of 2026-3-17 MINUTES 2 County Commissioners (BOCC) for consideration. The public will have additional opportunities to submit written and verbal comments as part of the BOCC public hearing process . The date for the BOCC hearing has not been set yet. A summary of the proposed changes can be found in the public hearing staff report and can be downloaded at kittitascounty2026 .com. CHAIR COE closed the staff presentation portion of the hearing and opened public comment . SHELLY MCMASTER - Easton Resident - Shelly McMaster thanked Long Range Planner Jeremy Johnston and all of staff for their work and assistance with constructing the Easton Sub Area Plan. She stated she is in support of the sub area plan, especially the type three LAMIRD. DEBBIE BOGART - Easton Resident - Debbie Bogart spoke of her support of the Easton Sub Area Plan and read her written statement into the record. She emphasized the importance of preserving their LAMIRDs as they are, to continue to require conditional use permits, keeping their community informed about potential development applications, keeping their subarea plan rooted in land-use based solutions and allow their community the ability to be actively involved in developments that may be proposed. The handwritten comment was submitted into the record. MARGE BRANDSRUD - Easton Resident - Marge Brandsrud shared her disappointment with the amount of public comments in the process this far and read her written statement into the record. She stated that the comments received so far are appropriate and should be included in the discussion and implementation of the updated document being created during this process . She expressed challenges and issues that impact affordable housing and that she supports the Easton Sub Area Plan. The handwritten comment was submitted into the record. GINA PECKMAN - Easton Resident - Gina Peckman read her written statement into the record. She shared her concerns with creating policies without the infrastructure and financial analysis to support it. She requested the commissioners require a fiscal impact analysis and to not expand the LAMIRD boundaries . She expressed her support of the commissioner' s consideration of the Easton Sub Area Plan. The handwritten comment was submitted into the record. JOHN JENSEN - Easton Resident - John Jensen thanked Long Range Planner Jeremy Johnston for his hard work on the Easton Sub Area Plan. He expressed his request that their hard work not be swept 2026-3-17 MINUTES 3 under the table as it had been in the past with the community' s contribution and hard work to the 2012 upper county vision plan. CHAIR COE closed public comment . Discussion occurred between CLAY WHITE and the Planning Commissioners about the procedures of the hearing. CHAIR COE reopened public comment . COMMISSINER HINKLE asked public member Gina Peckman about her statements regarding funding for projects, he asked if she had reviewed the Capital Facilities Plan which includes funding information for county projects . Gina Peckman stated that she reviewed the red lined documents that were presented by Commissioner Deneen, the Comprehensive Plan and other documents and completed an analysis specifically on the changes that are being made to the Comp Plan and the concerns around that . COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated that the costs are required to be in the Capital Facilities Plan. COMMISSIONER DENEEN asked a question if the water district encompassed the entire sub area. Gina Peckman stated no, it does not . COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated the water district can also be a sewer district and asked if they had considered using the water district or establishing a new sewer district in Easton. Debbie Bogart stated they have considered looking at a septic system but there has been no decisions made . She mentioned the idea using the property paralleling the Northern Santa Fe railroad, that the county could acquire this property for that use . This would be a longer range plan that would cost millions of dollars . COMMISSIONER JACKSON asked public member Debbie Bogart about her comment wanting to add more rules to the hazard mitigation plan and what specific rules she has identified. Debbie Bogart stated the only one mentioned in the Comprehensive Plan is for Snoqualmie Pass fire district, she would want to include Easton, Thorp, Vantage, Ronald and the outlying areas around it . She stated the current emergency system is not adequate . Public member Shelly McMaster stated that her homeowner' s insurance doubled because of where they live and their lack of services . CLAY WHITE stated that the hazard mitigation plan is a separate plan that we wouldn' t be amending as part of this process . He stated that we will be taking some of the plans and integrating them in so that they can address them when the hazard mitigation plan is updated. 2026-3-17 MINUTES 4 COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated he feels the fire mitigation plan is the biggest problem we have . Public member Debbie Bogart shared the issue is that small rural communities have volunteer fire departments who are trained well but they are not managed at the level or have the services at the level that is needed for a major fire or wildfire . She stated they are just as vulnerable, so it needs to be a countywide plan for fire wising and fire mitigation. Public member Gina Peckman mentioned that it is also concerning about development going on in the county where the roads have one egress, one road in and one road out . Public member Sylar Bisom-Rapp discussed new construction of housing, affordability, real estate pressures from the westside, and additional insurance costs . CHAIR COE closed the public comment . CLAY WHITE discussed the public hearing process as requested by Commissioner Pearson. COMMISSIONER PEARSON moved to approve the 2026 Comprehensive Periodic Plan update including the Easton Sub Area Plan and all its appendixes with a recommendation of approval to the Board of County Commissioners . COMMISSIONER DENEEN seconded. COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated his concern in section 7 . 3 . 1 Coordination with Jurisdictions, specifically U-G1, U-P4 . It states "Encourage joint electric utility construction standards with electrical infrastructure constructed in the urban growth area. In the interim, Puget Sound Energy and the Kittitas County Public Utility District will allow the City of Ellensburg to review any new construction in the urban growth area. " COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated that he wanted to make sure that when we do this process that we have one process for applicants so that we don' t do something we shouldn' t . He also stated there was no joint planning for people who are dependent on electricity for life sustaining equipment, regarding the outages that occurred last summer. If there are going to be outages there needs to be notifications to the public. COMMISSIONER HINKLE requests an amendment to the plan that asks for the joint planning include a notification to the public during or prior to outages . CLAY WHITE stated there is a policy that states "work with energy to improve the aging reliability infrastructure during extreme heat events . " COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated that policy is not good enough and would like to propose a policy to the utilities amendment to ensure accountability and communication. 2026-3-17 MINUTES 5 COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated that with regards to the public comment by Futurewise, it makes sense to fix/add the section on table 4 .2 regarding affordable housing. CLAY WHITE stated that Futerwise' s comment basically says we are still using some allocation of 50 to 80% AMI and our response to that is that we are using Commerce' s tool and we are using the most conservative tool . Discussion occurred regarding clustering and density. COMMISSIONER DENEEN discussed the separation of rural and resource lands . CLAY WHITE stated it is just ensuring that we don' t have incompatible use allowed in rural areas that interfere with operation of agricultural lands . Discussion of affordable housing occurred. CLAY WHITE stated nothing prohibits us from creating affordable housing, but there are density limitations . CLAY WHITE read his suggested amendment regarding utility communication into the record. COMMISSIONER HINKLE moved to add the following as an amendment to the Utility Element, "Utilize a joint planning process with utility providers to better prepare for an enhanced communication during power outages" . COMMISSIONER DENEEN seconded. Discussion - none . Motion passed 5-0 . COMMISSIONER DENEEN and CLAY WHITE discussed comment 11 by Futurewise with regards to communities that are subject to receiving greater impacts from fire issues and flooding. We want to make sure that when we are making planning decisions in the Comprehensive Plan, that we are thinking about the impacts on those communities . The comments that had been discussed about fire, insurance, better planning, and being proactive integrating the hazard mitigation plan have been addressed in the climate element plan. COMMISSIONER DENEEN asked about comment 12 by Futurewise regarding drought, if we have enough in the Comprehensive Plan about how the county deals with it . CLAY WHITE stated they will review the comments and ensure it is addressed. COMMISSIONER HINKLE spoke about the comments about the wildlife connectivity from Fish and Wildlife . CLAY WHITE stated there are no changes being proposed to any LAMIRD boundaries, the policy that was being referenced is an existing policy and it comes directly from the Growth Management Act (GMA) . It states you can designate limited areas of more intense rural development, and when the GMA came about, they said there are areas that are not cities and they are not quite rural areas . If there are vacant pieces of property but they fit within the logical outer boundary, 2026-3-17 MINUTES 6 then you could potentially include those . You would want to ensure that it is part of the Capitol Facilities Plan, so that levels of service for future development were met. CHAIR COE mentioned there is a difference between conforming and non-conforming lots . CLAY WHITE stated there are different standards in rural areas versus urban areas . Those things are evaluated if any land use changes are proposed and then reevaluated when you do the development proposal . COMMISSIONER DENEEN spoke about the wastewater issue in Ronald and Thorp. CLAY WHITE stated that the GMA separately defines the role of rural governmental services and urban governmental services . According to RCW 36 . 70A. 030, the urban governmental services include those services and public facilities at an intensity historically and typically provided in cities, specifically including storm and sanitary sewer systems, domestic water system, street cleaning services, fire and police protection services, public transit services and other public utilities associated with urban areas and normally not associated with rural areas . Water is both an urban and rural governmental service but sanitary sewer systems are not . COMMISSIONER DENEEN moved that the county should permit innovative sewer systems through the formation of sewer districts in rural areas which do not constitute urban governmental services and as allowed for in Title 57 . COMMISSIONERS HINKLE seconded. Motion passed 5-0 . COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated that Scott Downes from Fish and Wildlife submitted 26 comments . He stated most of the comments should be placed in the Critical Areas Ordinance . CLAY WHITE stated that the county staff is meeting with Fish and Wildlife tomorrow to talk through the comments . COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated as the county goes more towards recreation, he would like an amendment added for a recreation staff person to help coordinate recreation. COMMISSIONER DENEEN moved to incorporate the drafted redlines proposed by Commissioner Deneen in the documents submitted to the Planning Commission on March 5th, 2026 and presented at the Planning Commission Public Hearing to the Board of County Commissioners for review. COMMISSIONER HINKLE seconded. Discussion - COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated that he and Clay White had reviewed his document prior to the hearing and made adjustments to his original comment document . Motion passed 5-0 . 2026-3-17 MINUTES 7 COMMISSIONER DENEEN moved to add a policy to the Recreation, Parks, and Open Space Element : "Kittitas County shall establish a dedicated Recreation Division led by a full-time Recreation Division Manager, to provide the professional coordination, planning, permitting, and promotion necessary to responsibly manage the county' s rapidly growing recreation and agri-tourism economy across all four seasons and throughout both the upper and lower county. This position should be established in either the Kittitas County Public Works Department or the Kittitas County Community Development Services Department . " COMMISSIONER PEARSON seconded. Discussion - COMMISSIONER JACKSON asked how the position would be funded. CLAY WHITE stated that would be a decision to be made if approved. Motion passed 5-0 . CLAY WHITE read number 52 of Commissioner Deneen' s comments into the record. COMMISSIONER DENEEN moved to add a policy to the Recreation, Parks, and Open Space Element : "Kittitas County shall authorize agri-tourism, eco-tourism, and nature-base recreational enterprises on Commercial Agriculture and Commercial Forest lands as compatible secondary uses, including but not limited to : equestrian parks and trail riding operations; farm stays, rural retreats, and outdoor educational programs; guided hunting, fishing, and wildlife observation services; harvest festivals and agri-tourism events; and outdoor authorized where they support the long- term economic viability of the resource designation and do not impair the primary resource use . " COMMISSIONER HINKLE seconded. Discussion - COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated he fully agrees with adding this policy. Motion passed 5-0 . COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated that Public Works Director Josh Fredrickson provided comments about the transportation plan and he recommends we put it into the Comprehensive Plan. COMMISSIONER DENEEN moved to add the changes provided by the Kittitas County Department of Public Works submitted to the Planning Commission on March 17th, 2026 with a recommendation of approval to the Board of County Commissioners . COMMISSIONER HINKLE seconded. Discussion - COMMISSIONER HINKLE asked how the document relates to the Comprehensive Plan. CLAY WHITE stated these are edits to Commissioner Deneen' s comments . Motion passed 5-0 . 2026-3-17 MINUTES 8 CLAY WHITE stated if there are no more amendments, the Planning Commissioners would then vote on the original motion. COMMISSIONER HINKLE commended staff, Planning Commissioners, and the public for their detailed work and participation. COMMISSIONER PEARSON also thanked the staff for listening to the Planning Commissioners' input . CHAIR COE called for the vote on the original motion with amendments . Motion passed 5-0 . PLANNING MANAGER JAMEY AYLING stated the Findings of Fact will be drafted and be brought back to another Planning Commission meeting. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business . OTHER BUSINESS - No Action to be taken There was no other business . CHAIR COE concluded the Kittitas County Planning Commission public hearing. Public Hearing ended at 8 : 13 pm. 2026-3-17 MINUTES 9