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07/01/2025 MINUTES 2 <br />At 2:03 p.m. CHAIRMAN OSIADACZ opened a Public Hearing to consider <br />amendments to the Kittitas County Code Title 17A, Critical Areas <br />Ordinance (CAO). <br /> <br />JAMEY AYLING, PLANNING MANAGER, reviewed a Staff Report and <br />explained that in December of 2021, Kittitas County adopted <br />Ordinance No. 2021-016, the Kittitas County Critical Areas Ordinance <br />(CAO). The Yakama Nation (Petitioner) filed a petition for review <br />with the Eastern Washington Growth Hearings Board (GMHB) on February <br />11, 2022, Case No. 22-1-0002 and on July 28th, 2022, a hearing on the <br />merits was held. On September 7th, 2022, the GMHB issued a final <br />decision and order in favor of Kittitas County on each issue and the <br />Petitioner filed an appeal of the GMHB’s decision to Superior Court <br />in Thurston County. On March 20, 2023, the Thurston County Superior <br />Court certified direct review to the Division II Court of Appeals, <br />where the Division II Court of Appeals transferred review to the <br />Division III Court under Case No. 396711. In July of 2024, Kittitas <br />County and the Petitioner entered into a settlement discussions over <br />the next eleven months, which included numerous meetings and <br />correspondence from July 2024 through May of 2025. On June 9, 2025 <br />at a regularly scheduled Community Development Services (CDS) Study <br />Session Meeting, the Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners <br />(BoCC) approved Resolution No. 2025-118, concerning the settlement <br />with the Yakama Nation pertaining to the Kittitas County Code Title <br />17A, Critical Areas Ordinance. <br /> <br />On June 9, 2025, at a regularly scheduled CDS Study Session Meeting, <br />the Kittitas County BoCC adopted Resolution 2025-118, acknowledging <br />the settlement with the Yakama Nation pertaining to the Kittitas <br />County Code Title 17A, Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) and directed <br />CDS to initiate the next steps for formal approval of the Ordinance. <br />On June 17, 2025, at a regularly scheduled BoCC Meeting, the <br />Kittitas County BoCC set a Public Hearing for July 1st at 2:00 p.m. <br />to consider approval of the Amendments to the Kittitas County <br />Critical Areas Ordinance. <br /> <br />VICE-CHAIRMAN WRIGHT reviewed questions he had for Legal. He <br />questioned how this process worked from a legal perspective and <br />asked Chief Deputy Hartung to explain the process. STEPHANIE <br />HARTUNG, CHIEF DEPUTY PROSECUTOR, explained the process of how they <br />got it to the correct Court and explained that originally it was in <br />the Court of Appeals Division #2 and it needed to be in the Court of <br />Appeals Division #3. She reviewed the negotiations process with <br />Yakama Nation and the review of the best available science. She <br />noted that our record on this in Court is over 6,000 pages. She <br />explained that before they went to Court, the Yakama Nation asked if <br />they could meet and the County agreed to, however, the County kept <br />their pre-arranged day in Court. She stated that what they found out <br />and realized after meeting with the Nation was that both parties <br />were not as far apart as they originally thought, which led them to