HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-09-06 PC - 02 Planning Commission Minutes621 Sheridan St. P: 360-379-4450
Port Townsend, WA, 98368 PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us
Public Comment: When the Chair recognizes you to speak, please begin by stating your name and address. Please
be aware that the public comment period is three minutes.
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MEETING MINUTES
JEFFERSON COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
Regular Meeting (Virtual) – August 2, 2023
5:35 PM Welcome Chair and Overview Presentation
1. Call to Order/Roll Call
District 1 District 2 District 3
Vacant Sircely ✓ Hull ✓
Coker ✓ Smith – Excused Absence Nilssen ✓
Koan ✓ Richert ✓ Llewelyn – Unexcused Absence
One Vacancy; 6 of 7 Commissioners Present; Quorum = 5; Majority vote for tonight’s business = 4
2. Approval of Agenda – Agenda Update (Chairman Hull): The one public comment period will be
for agenda items.
3. Approval of Minutes
Motions
Motion # Motion 1st 2nd Yay Nay Abstain
1 Motion to Approve minutes Koan Nilssen 5 0 1
2 Motion to Approve consent agenda Sircely Coker 6 0 0
PUBLIC COMMENT
4. Planning Commission Updates: L.D. Richert, “Has there been any talk on the PC about the county
procuring land around the landfill?” Respondents: “No, there has not been any talk on the PC.”
5. DCD Staff and Director Updates (5 minutes): Josh Peters (DCD Director), “Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll start. First, I'll answer the question posed by L.D., as Cynthia mentioned it is something that the
county is doing, however it's not an issue at this stage and I'm actually unaware of at what stage
it would be. It’s possibly not a planning commission related issue, it's more of a project that's
being conducted by the Solid Waste program within the Department of Public Works. I did put a
link in the comments to the page that discusses the project to find or to analyze alternate sites for
additional landfill capacity. So, if anyone's interested, it's there. I just want to say briefly that I
appreciate the flexibility of the commissioners for going to a virtual only meeting this week. I
listed the reasons in some correspondence to you and I hope you understand. I think it's a good
choice for tonight for the reasons I laid out.” Mr. Peters continues, “We had just the one topic to
discuss, really, in addition to some logistical things and I was not sure how long it would take. So, I
was hoping to save you a trip to Chimacum. But the other factor is that we continue to have staff
capacity issues as well. We just continue to have staff capacity issues here at DCD and every time
It seems like we make progress on that we suffer a setback. In this case, it's the lead planner to
the Planning Commission who has simply been unavailable. So, it's just an extra body of work that
we need to handle with the other staff that we have who are also doing other things or had
previously been assigned to do other things. I do want to give kudos to both George Terry and
621 Sheridan St. P: 360-379-4450
Port Townsend, WA, 98368 PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us
Public Comment: When the Chair recognizes you to speak, please begin by stating your name and address. Please
be aware that the public comment period is three minutes.
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Alex Henley for stepping up to assist with this meeting, as well, of course, to our consultants who
have prepared some materials for us this evening. So, that's the extent of my report.”
6. Comments from the public. Three minutes per speaker:
• Jan Wold - Jefferson County resident
o About 30% of all Puget Sound tidelands are under permit for shellfish farms.
o Of all shellfish farming, geoduck farming is the most destructive.
o Geoduck/shellfish farming should require a conditional use permit.
o CUP is consistent with Kitsap CO SMP.
o Concerned with development within the 150 ft shoreline buffer.
o Emphasized the county’s SMP mission of considering global warming and sea level
rise.
• Kim Thompson – Executive Director, Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association (PCSGA)
o Shellfish growers are highly dependent on healthy ecosystems and water quality to
support their livelihoods and they support the SMP process as a mechanism to
keep those systems healthy.
o Shellfish farming provides many benefits to local communities and society at large,
including a source of nutritious food that uses almost no land or fresh water and it
will support a more resilient food future in the changing climate.
o Shellfish farming provides an important source of jobs, particularly in rural coastal
communities.
o Concerned that the current version of the SMP has significant changes for
aquaculture and it was presented for the first time in June which was during the
busy summer harvest time for growers.
• Sissy Brook – Environmental Planning Biologist, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
o The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe supports commercial aquaculture for local food
production and restoration projects involving aquaculture activities to protect the
local resources, improve water quality in our area, and to protect the tribe’s treaty
rights.
o Tribal elders have expressed increased interest in pursuing aquaculture for both
food sovereignty and maintaining traditional practices of seafood harvest and
commerce.
o The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe agrees that aquaculture operations shall utilize
best practices.
o The permitting and installation of mooring buoys needs to be tracked to ensure
that a density of 10 boats per 10 acres does not trigger a marina designation.
o Our other comments address confusing wording and onerous requirements within
the SMP. These may inhibit small, minimal impact growers and resource
practitioners such as the tribe and groups like the Puget Sound Restoration Fund
from obtaining permits.
• Lisa Carleton-Long – Operations Manager, Rock Point Oyster Company
o Presently Rock Point provides 20 to 25 jobs to Jefferson County's workforce. The
success of Rock Point depends on the continued health and well-being of our
watersheds in our environment.
621 Sheridan St. P: 360-379-4450
Port Townsend, WA, 98368 PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us
Public Comment: When the Chair recognizes you to speak, please begin by stating your name and address. Please
be aware that the public comment period is three minutes.
3
o Rock Point has a long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship in
addition to complying with all state, local, and federal regulations.
o Rock Point conducts monthly beach cleanups and partners with environmental
NGOs on research.
o The most recent changes to the aquaculture sections of the SMP only became
available to Rock Point in June, which is also during one of their most active
harvesting times because of the summer tides.
o Rock Point is still processing the proposed SMP language and working to
understand what these changes mean for their business. They anticipate having
questions for the consultants working on the project.
• Marilyn Showalter - Jefferson County resident
o Comments are focused on geoduck farming, not all shellfish farming.
o The SMP draft does require a conditional use permit for new operations. A
conditional use permit does not dictate the outcome of what happens. It simply
allows interested parties to present evidence.
o Time to move forward with the public hearing as the SMP draft has been
tentatively approved.
o Time for the Planning Commission to move it along and there will be future
opportunities for revisions.
• Gordon King – Taylor Shellfish
o The initial SMP draft in 2020 seemed thoughtfully written as was the document
that was presented to the public in June, 2021.
o Afterward, the process of updating the SMP went dark with no minutes or meeting
recordings until October, 2021.
o At that point, I got to see the draft and found that the aquaculture section had
been butchered at the same meeting the draft was sent to Department of Ecology.
o A small group of Shine waterfront property owners with a badly run geoduck farm
in their neighborhood had carried out a considered lobbying campaign to make it
as difficult as possible to permit and grow shellfish in Jefferson County. They, of
course, have a right to put their point of view forward, however, significant parts
of what they told the Planning Commission was not balanced or accurate.
o Additionally, they started submitting public comments before the public comment
period was open and continued after the public comment period was closed.
o The SMP draft, as it now stands, is a set of regulations that will negatively impact
the shellfish agriculture industry, which is an important economic driver in rural
Jefferson County and has been for more than a century.
• Sue Corbett - Jefferson County (Shine) resident
o There is not much oversight for a lot of geoduck farms. There aren't many people
around to see what's going on so here we just happen to be in front of the farm
and can see what actually goes on.
o Hydraulic hoses liquefying acres of tidelands doesn't seem like a very good thing
for the creatures that live within the tidelands.
o May of 2021, sent in a letter with 42 signatures from neighbors in this area asking
that you include an opportunity for a public review and a requirement for a
621 Sheridan St. P: 360-379-4450
Port Townsend, WA, 98368 PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us
Public Comment: When the Chair recognizes you to speak, please begin by stating your name and address. Please
be aware that the public comment period is three minutes.
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conditional use permit before any tide lands not previously used for geoduck
farming are used for geoduck cultivation.
• Adam James – Hama Hama Oyster Company
o Believes that these changes to the SMP are going to have some negative impacts
on the rural economy in Jefferson County and points farther.
o Farming in Jefferson County, and its cold waters, has become critical to our
operations here in Mason County and even outside the state.
o Our customers rely on the product that we grow there. Our employees in Jefferson
County rely on the income generated from the sales of that product. We hope that
you all take that into consideration while you're reviewing this plan.
• Reed Gunstone – G&G Gunstone Clams Inc.
o Poor audio quality/connection, the Chairman requested a written comment.
CONSENT AGENDA
7. General Information Items to read and receive:
a. BERK Consultants update for SMP Periodic Review project
b. BERK memorandum re: shoreline setback information and policy options
REGULAR BUSINESS
8. Topic: BERK and Shoreline Master Program (SMP) updates:
a. Project Timeline
i. It starts from the Department of Ecology (DOE) initial determination of
consistency. They took a year to get to that point. Then, the county secured some
grant funds and the consultant team (BERK) was brought back on board to
respond to those ecology comments.
ii. That grant went through June 30, 2023. PC had 2 meetings in June including an
open house. BERK was at the June 29, 2023 PC meeting where the PC discussed
some of the questions and key topics that led to the packet material that is the
focus of tonight’s meeting.
b. Addressing changing local circumstances, eliminating redundancies, and improving clarity.
c. Consistency with regulatory reform and the constraints of the legal framework and
staffing capacity.
d. BERK making revisions to the SMP to reflect key input and address the DOE’s request for a
cumulative impacts analysis addendum that includes some particulars that DOE wants to
see.
e. Modest home and common line provisions, minor residential expansions of
nonconforming structures, and beach access structures.
f. Updated periodic checklist and creating a uses checklist.
g. Draft shoreline user guide that was the subject of a related grant. The idea being to help
improve the understanding and use of the SMP.
h. The most important thing is to get the SMP provisions to a hearing draft format.
621 Sheridan St. P: 360-379-4450
Port Townsend, WA, 98368 PCommissionDesk@co.jefferson.wa.us
Public Comment: When the Chair recognizes you to speak, please begin by stating your name and address. Please
be aware that the public comment period is three minutes.
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9. Potential dates for SMP public hearing: September 20, 2023 or October 4, 2023. (PCSGA Annual
Conference 9/19-9/21)
10. Opportunity for Commissioners to tour Taylor Shellfish.
11. Deadline for Comprehensive Plan docket is in December.
12. PC Retreat tentatively planned for some time “before it snows”.
13. Cancellation of August 16, 2023 PC meeting.
7:22 PM ADJOURNMENT
The next Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for September 6, 2023, at 5:30. To attend virtually
please use the following link or dial in using your phone by calling: +1 (646) 749-3122; Access Code:
883-126-605. Link is
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88671047253?pwd=OU8vTWZGWTVRRGNRVEQ1c2k0WDVadz09 and the
passcode is 894561
To learn if in-person attendance is possible, please view the next meeting agenda.
These meeting minutes were approved this ____________ day of_____, 2023.
____________________________
Richard Hull, Chair A. George Terry, Secretary