Laserfiche WebLink
COMMISSIONER DENEEN stated he feels the fire mitigation plan is <br /> the biggest problem we have . Public member Debbie Bogart shared <br /> the issue is that small rural communities have volunteer fire <br /> departments who are trained well but they are not managed at the <br /> level or have the services at the level that is needed for a major <br /> fire or wildfire . She stated they are just as vulnerable, so it <br /> needs to be a countywide plan for fire wising and fire mitigation. <br /> Public member Gina Peckman mentioned that it is also concerning <br /> about development going on in the county where the roads have one <br /> egress, one road in and one road out . <br /> Public member Sylar Bisom-Rapp discussed new construction of <br /> housing, affordability, real estate pressures from the westside, <br /> and additional insurance costs . <br /> CHAIR COE closed the public comment . <br /> CLAY WHITE discussed the public hearing process as requested by <br /> Commissioner Pearson. <br /> COMMISSIONER PEARSON moved to approve the 2026 Comprehensive <br /> Periodic Plan update including the Easton Sub Area Plan and <br /> all its appendixes with a recommendation of approval to the <br /> Board of County Commissioners . COMMISSIONER DENEEN seconded. <br /> COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated his concern in section 7 . 3 . 1 <br /> Coordination with Jurisdictions, specifically U-G1, U-P4 . It <br /> states "Encourage joint electric utility construction standards <br /> with electrical infrastructure constructed in the urban growth <br /> area. In the interim, Puget Sound Energy and the Kittitas County <br /> Public Utility District will allow the City of Ellensburg to review <br /> any new construction in the urban growth area. " COMMISSIONER HINKLE <br /> stated that he wanted to make sure that when we do this process <br /> that we have one process for applicants so that we don' t do <br /> something we shouldn' t . He also stated there was no joint planning <br /> for people who are dependent on electricity for life sustaining <br /> equipment, regarding the outages that occurred last summer. If <br /> there are going to be outages there needs to be notifications to <br /> the public. COMMISSIONER HINKLE requests an amendment to the plan <br /> that asks for the joint planning include a notification to the <br /> public during or prior to outages . CLAY WHITE stated there is a <br /> policy that states "work with energy to improve the aging <br /> reliability infrastructure during extreme heat events . " <br /> COMMISSIONER HINKLE stated that policy is not good enough and would <br /> like to propose a policy to the utilities amendment to ensure <br /> accountability and communication. <br /> 2026-3-17 MINUTES 5 <br />