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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 1 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COUNTY OF KITTITAS STATE OF WASHINGTON ORDINANCE NO. 2019 - _____ 2017 – 2037 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN PERIODIC UPDATE. Whereas, this ordinance, revising Kittitas County Code and Comprehensive Plan, contains three sections of findings and one exhibit, as follows: Section I - Procedural Findings Section II - Board of County Commissioners Findings Section III - Final Decision and Signatures Exhibit A Comprehensive Plan June 2019 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 2 SECTION I – PROCEDURAL FINDINGS Whereas, Kittitas County opted into the Growth Management Act, RCW 36.70A, voluntarily on December 27, 1990, through Resolution 90-138; and Whereas, The Kittitas County GMA Comprehensive Plan was originally adopted on July 26, 1996 by the Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners; and Whereas, The first update to the Kittitas County GMA Comprehensive Plan was adopted on December 11, 2006, through Ordinance 2006-63 by the Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners; and Whereas, Appeals of Ordinance No. 2006-63 were filed with the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board (herein referred to as Hearings Board) by Futurewise, Ridge and Kittitas County Conservation Coalition (collectively “RIDGE”) and by the State of Washington Department of Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED); and Whereas, In the midst of that challenge, Kittitas County proceeded to revise its development regulations through Ordinance 2007-22 on July 19, 2007; and Whereas, Ordinance 2007-22 was subsequently challenged by RIDGE before the Hearings Board, and as a result of this appeal the Hearings Board in 2008 issued its FDO for Case No. 07-1-0015 finding that several development regulations adopted by Kittitas County did not meet requirements of the GMA; and Whereas, On November 13, 2007 Judge Scott R. Sparks issued an order granting a motion to stay the Hearings Board’s Final Decision and Order in case No. 07-1-0004c regarding those issues under appeal; and Whereas, On April 24, 2008, Kittitas County Superior Court, in Case No. 08-2-00195-7 (one of five appeals of the final decision and order in a challenge to the County’s development code before the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board) issued a stay as to four of the seven issues involved. On May 12, 2008, Kittitas County Superior Court issued a stay as to the other issues involved in the challenge to the County’s Development Code; and Whereas, Appeals were consolidated and eventually heard by the Washington State Supreme Court, which largely ruled in favor of the Hearings Board; and Whereas, The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) considered enabling documents as part of the compliance process and on February 11, 2013 did enact amendments proposed and edited to the Kittitas County Comprehensive Plan and Kittitas County Code; and Whereas, The Hearings Board considered these passed amendments, held a telephonic public hearing on April 1, 2013, and on May 31, 2013 found within its decision that the Comprehensive Plan and County Code amendments were GMA compliant with regard to Case No. 07-1-0004c Issues 6, 10, 14 and partially to Issues 1 and 11, and Case No. 07-0015 Issues 1, 3 and 7; and 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 3 Whereas, The Hearings Board indicated in its decision that Kittitas County failed to include in its amendments adequate measures to protect the Rural Character of the area as required by RCW 36.70A.070(5)(c); and Whereas, Within that same decision the Hearings Board extended the compliance period for Case No. 07-1-0015, Issue 4 related to protection of water resources; and Whereas, Futurewise, Kittitas County Conservation Coalition, and RIDGE did on June 10, 2013 file a reconsideration of the Hearings Board decision on the argument that: 1) Allowing accessory dwelling units did not protect rural character and therefore, did not meet the intent of the GMA, and 2) through amendment of the zoning code in the creation of the allowed use matrix shown in KCC 17.15.070 did amend the County’s LAMIRD regulation, and therefore should be reviewed for compliance to the GMA; and Whereas, The Hearings Board on July 12, 2013 in its reconsideration of the May 31, 2013 decision deferred review of Allowed Uses in Rural LAMIRD lands until such time as the Comprehensive Plan Measures have been adopted; and Whereas, The BOCC adopted Ordinance 2014-005 on May 15, 2014 in order to come into compliance with GMA; and Whereas, On August 13, 2014 the GMHB found Kittitas County to be in compliance with GMA and closed the remaining cases; and Whereas, RCW 36.70A requires a 20-year periodic update to the Comprehensive Plan every 8 years; and Whereas, The County’s current 20-year update was due by June 30, 2017, however pursuant to RCW 36.70A.130(6) Kittitas County was eligible for a two-year extension to this deadline based on our total population being less than 50,000 people and our ten-year growth rate or no more than 17 percent as of June 30, 2017; and Whereas, In 2015, Kittitas County began the process of the 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update with the assistance of Van Ness Feldman who also worked with the county during the compliance efforts. The BOCC directed staff to only make changes necessary to maintain compliance with the Growth Management Act in light of the county becoming compliant as of August 2014; and Whereas, Kittitas County most recently amended its Countywide Planning Policies pursuant to RCW 36.70A.210 on July 5, 2016 through Ordinance 2016-013. The policies were previously amended by Ordinance 2013-005 and Ordinance 1998-020; and Whereas, Kittitas County has complied with the requirements of RCW 36.70A.140 by adopting a Public Participation Program by Resolution 2015-109 on July 21, 2015. This effort provided for early public participation and continuous involvement through various public workshops, advisory committees, working group meetings, open houses, and public meetings spanning from 2015 through June of 2019; and Whereas, On September 15, 2015 the county approved a professional services agreement with BERK and Associates by Resolution 2015-124 to provide an estimate of population allocation projects, employment projections, and land use capacity analysis for the year 2037; and 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 4 Whereas, Project kick-off with the public began in February 2016 with four visioning workshops held across the county in Snoqualmie Pass on 2/1/16, Cle Elum on 2/2/16, Ellensburg on 2/3/16, and Vantage on 2/10/16. At theses workshops staff gave a presentation on the update process and then included a number of exercises for community input that helped form the revised County Vision Statement; and Whereas, Report back meetings from the visioning workshops occurred in Cle Elum and Ellensburg in March 2016; and Whereas, Six advisory committees, made up of stakeholders and members of the public, were formed to review the various chapters of the comprehensive plan. These advisory committees were known as the Economic Development committee, Housing committee, Land Use committee (which included land use, rural lands, capital facilities and utilities), Recreation and Natural Environment committee, Resource Lands committee, and Transportation committee. Each advisory committee was responsible for auditing portions of the existing Comprehensive Plan and help with the reformatting of the plan to switch for GPOs (goals, policies, & objectives) statements to determining which GPOs should be considered a goal and which should be considered a policy. These groups met July through October 2016; and Whereas, Two members from each advisory committee were selected to become the working group which was comprised of twelve individuals. This group met ten times from March 2017 through April 2018. At each of the meetings a chapter and/or section of the Comprehensive Plan was discussed along with the audits of the GPOs that were completed by the advisory committees. Staff reported back with changes at the following meetings. The public was invited to attend and provided an opportunity to provide comment at the end of each meeting; and Whereas, Berk and Associates presented their projections to Kittitas County Conference of Governments and the BOCC at several public meetings throughout 2016. The BOCC adopted population and employment projections for 2037 on April 4, 2017 through Resolution 2017- 068; and Whereas, In March 2017, the County entered into a contract with CREA Affiliates that allowed for commencement of consultant services effective February 27, 2017. The county terminated services effective June 2, 2017 with CREA Affiliates and re-evaluated the direction the update was headed based on the direction given by the BOCC in 2015 and re-affirmed in spring of 2017; and Whereas, In June of 2017, Kittitas County entered into a contract with SCJ Alliance for consulting services related to the preparation and completion of the 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update; and Whereas, Kittitas County Community Development Services (CDS) issued a press release on March 19, 2019 advertising two open houses and Planning Commission work sessions regarding the draft Comprehensive Plan update and associated maps. An open house was held in Ellensburg on March 26, 2019 and followed that evening by the work session with the Planning Commission. A second open house was held in Cle Elum on March 27, 2019. Public comments were accepted at both open houses; and 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 5 Whereas, Kittitas County CDS released the First Public Review draft of the 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update and associated maps on March 26, 2019 for public comment. This first draft was released as a “clean copy” with no redline changes from staff or the consultant team to honor the work that the advisory and work groups performed from 2016 through 2018. The draft documents were made readily available for review by the public in Community Development Services office and on the County’s official website; and Whereas, Kittitas County submitted its 60-day Notice of Intent to adopt our proposed 2017- 2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update and associated maps on April 4, 2019 to the Department of Commerce as required by statute and received letter of receipt on the same day stating the documents had been received and was sent to other agencies for comment; and Whereas, Kittitas County filed its SEPA checklist on April 3, 2019 and issued a Determination of Non-significance (DNS) for the periodic update on April 4, 2019 through authority of WAC 197-11-340; and Whereas, The appeal period for SEPA review ended on April 19, 2019; and Whereas, No agency or public appeals were filed on the Determination of Non-significance; and Whereas, A second Planning Commission work session was held on April 23, 2019; and Whereas, Due public notice was placed upon the County official website and in the Daily Record on April 30 and May 7, 2019; and Whereas, The Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on May 14, 2019 to hear public comment upon the draft Kittitas County 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Update documents. Four members of the public testified during the public hearing after which the chairman closed the public comment period. The planning commission then moved on to discussion and deliberations. A motion and a second to recommend approving the documents as presented by staff with some modification was made. A poll vote was called where two planning commission members voted in favor of the motion and two members voted against the motion. The motion died and the meeting was adjourned; and Whereas, On May 28, 2019, the BOCC held a special meeting to discuss the outcome of the Planning Commission Hearing Recommendation. It was determined that the public hearing scheduled before the BOCC on June 3, 2019 would continue as advertised; and Whereas, After due notice and publication on official website and Daily Record on May 16 and May 23, 2019, the Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners held an open public hearing on June 3, 2019, during which public oral and written testimony was taken from those persons wishing to be heard regarding the proposed amendments; and 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 6 Whereas, After deliberation, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the proposed amendments and instructed County staff to prepare enabling documents for their signature to adopt the 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update and associated maps; and Whereas, The Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners considered enabling documents before the public on June 18, 2019. SECTION II – BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FINDINGS General Findings: 1. The Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing on June 3, 2019 to hear testimony and accept written comments regarding the proposed amendments to the 2017- 2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update. All members of the public who wanted to testify were allowed to speak and/or submit written correspondence into the record. 2. No changes to the Urban Growth Area (UGA) boundaries and Land Use Map categories, including Natural Resource Land designations have been made. 3. The BOCC determined that after review of the Kittitas County Development Regulations, updates are not necessary and that the existing regulations are consistent and comply with Chapter 36.70A RCW and the amended Comprehensive Plan with the exception of the critical area regulations. The county is diligently working on an update to the critical area regulations with anticipated public process and adoption reaching completion in the fall of 2019. SECTION III - FINAL DECISION AND SIGNATURES BE IT ORDAINED that the Board of Kittitas County Commissioners, after due deliberation, hereby approves the updated 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update, as shown in Exhibit A. BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the Board of Kittitas County Commissioners, after due deliberation, hereby approves the associated maps which are an appendix to the Comprehensive Plan, as shown in Exhibit A. NOW, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the Board of County Commissioners, after due deliberation, hereby approves the adoption of the 2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update and associated maps as shown in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated by reference. Information Services is hereby directed to reflect these changes on the County website. The Community Development Services Director and Prosecuting Attorney are authorized to correct any scrivener’s errors without Board approval. 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 7 Adopted this ___18th_____ day of _____June______, 2019, at Ellensburg, Washington. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON Cory Wright, Chairman Brett Wachsmith, Vice-Chairman Laura Osiadacz, Commissioner ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM: ☐ Clerk of the Board- Julie Kjorsvik ☐ Deputy Clerk of the Board- Mandy Buchholz Neil Caulkins, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney signing for Gregory L. Zempel Prosecuting Attorney 2017 – 2037 Comp Plan Update Enabling Ordinance June 18, 2019 Page 8 Exhibit A June 2019 Comprehensive Plan with Appendices (2017-2037 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update)