HomeMy WebLinkAbout032618_ra02JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
To: Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and Planning Commission
Philip Morley, County Administrator
FROM: Patty Charnas, Director
Department of Community Development (DCD)
DATE: March 26, 2018
SUBJECT: Critical Areas Update — Recommendation to Extend Adoption Date
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
The Department of Community Development (DCD) recommends taking additional time to
develop a proposal for updating the County's Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO). Updating the
CAO is required by the state's Growth Management Act. An extension past the June 30, 2018
deadline would allow the Department to continue its work with the agricultural community and
other members of the public to consider how the CAO can achieve protection of critical areas in
balance with the other goals of the Growth Management Act, most notably, such as maintaining
and enhancing agricultural, timber and fisheries industries; economic development; and others.
DCD requests that the Board of County Commissioners consider passing a motion now to
concur with continuing work on the CAO beyond June 30, 2018, to allow DCD to develop a
refined CAO proposal; and that the Board direct DCD to develop and present to the Board a
new schedule for further engagement with the agricultural community and others, and for
making refinements to the CAO prior to finalizing a draft for public hearings that would be held
by the Planning Commission and BoCC.
ANALYSIS/STRATEGIC GOALS/PROS and CONS:
During informal discussions between DCD and Commissioners at recent BoCC meetings,
Commissioners have encouraged the Department to consider additional community dialogue in
order to address community concerns, especially as relates to agriculture. The Board asked
DCD to return with its recommendations for continuing its work to refine the CAO.
DCD recommends delaying adoption of the updated CAO for several important reasons,
including:
• To provide additional time for community outreach and further dialog with stakeholder
groups
• To continue to review and analyze feedback received to date and potentially revise
current draft language
To allow DCD to continue interacting with state resource agencies as it pertains to
including best available science in CAO updates
To allow the Comprehensive Plan and the minor updates to Unified Development Code
to proceed as planned and as currently scheduled
• To address public concerns regarding adequate time and opportunities to review and
comment on the substance of the Comprehensive Plan and reserve time and opportunity
on CAO public process to a future time
A delay in updating the CAO would cause the County to be technically incomplete with respect
to its state -mandated due date. There are selected state grant, fund and loan programs that
contain an award criterion on being GMA-compliant. At the time of this writing, DCD is gathering
more specific information regarding what, if any, county programs, could be negatively impacted
such as public works, emergency management, and public health departments.
In addition, delaying approval of the CAO may result in DCD having to prepare separate
documents for review under the state environmental policy act (SEPA) rather than along with
the current set of documents that DCD is preparing with consultant assistance.
FISCAL IMPACT/COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS:
Staff work during regular work hours on the CAO beyond June 30 is already budgeted, but this
work could require additional overtime expenditures and professional services, yet to be
determined. While not meeting the June 30 deadline does not affect the County's eligibility to
apply for state funding, a long delay could affect subsequent awards. DCD is working with
Public Works, Public Health and Emergency Management to better define the timing of state
funding award cycles.
RECOMMENDATION:
DCD recommends that the Board of County Commissioners consider passing a motion allowing
continuing work on the CAO beyond June 30, 2018, so that DCD can develop a refined CAO
proposal; and that the Board direct DCD to develop and present to the Board a new schedule for
further engagement with the agricultural community and others, and for making refinements to
the CAO prior to finalizing a draft for public hearings that would be held by the Planning
Commission and BoCC.
REVIEWED BY:
Philip Mor4e, County Administrator
Date