2021.07.26_Letter_of_Complete_Application_1
July 26, 2021
Ms. Meredith Cambre
Senior Executive Director
YMCA of Greater Seattle
909 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
RE: Notice of Complete Application and Procedures for Amending the
Comprehensive Plan
Dear Ms. Cambre:
After reviewing your Application for Amendment to the Comprehensive Plan and
the Official Zoning Map, the Lewis County Department of Community Development
deem it complete to begin review.
This request will change the designation of 643 acres from Forest Resource Land to
Other Rural Land (Non-Resource) under the Comprehensive Plan and from Forest
Resource land to an Urban Zone, Master Planned Resort, on the Official Zoning Map
under Section 17.200.030(1) LCC.
To assist you in understanding this process, I am outlining the steps that will be
necessary for the county to review your application from this point forward.
The specific processes for amending the county’s plan fall under Chapters 17.05 and
17.12 LCC. These steps include:
1. Within fourteen days from the issuance of the Determination of Complete
Application, the county will issue a Notice of Application.
a. The county will send copies of the Notice of Application to you,
owners of property within 500 feet of the parcel boundaries, county
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departments, agencies with jurisdiction (including tribal
governments), community groups or local governments that the
county identifies as having an interest in the proposal, and any other
person requesting in writing a copy of the notice.
b. The Notice of Application also will require publication in the
county’s official newspaper of record, posting on the property and
the county’s website.
2. A SEPA threshold determination will be issued after the Notice of
Application and Interagency Consultation comment periods are complete.
Please note that if the SEPA threshold decision requires further
environmental analysis or an Environmental Impact Statement, the
amendment process halts until that process is complete.
3. Lewis County will schedule one or more workshops with the Lewis County
Planning Commission. The purpose of the workshop is to allow Planning
Commission members to familiarize themselves on the proposed
amendment as well as to identify the reasoning and legal basis for an
eventual decision, including any proposals for specific modifications.
A workshop is not a public hearing and given that the application requires a
quasi-judicial decision by the Planning Commission, you, your project
representatives, and the public may not comment on the materials
presented by county staff. All parties may submit written comments to the
Department of Community Development on the proposal at any time, but
the county will not provide them to the Planning Commission until it
publishes a public hearing date.
4. Once the Planning Commission determines it needs no further workshops
on the proposal, it will schedule a date for a public hearing. The county will
then publish and circulate a Notice of Public Hearing at least fifteen days
before the hearing. The county also will circulate a draft proposal of the
amendment for review by the public, the Washington State Department of
Commerce, and other interested parties. The draft proposal will include
copies of your proposal, all materials prepared by the county, and public
comments received up to that date.
5. When the chair of the Planning Commission convenes the public hearing,
county staff will provide a presentation on the project. Planning
Commission members may ask questions of staff at this time.
The chair will then open the hearing to public testimony from any person in
attendance, including you and your project representatives. Members of the
commission may continue to ask questions of any speaker. After conclusion
of public testimony, the Planning Commission Chair will close the public
hearing to public testimony and begin deliberations on the matter. The
Planning Commission has the option to continue the public hearing to
another date if it feels additional public testimony time is necessary, rather
than close the public hearing to public testimony. Once the Planning
Commission has closed the public hearing to public testimony and began the
deliberations, it may determine additional days of deliberation are needed.
If this is the case, the Planning Commission will then continue the public
hearing for deliberation and rendering a recommendation.
6. The final step for the Planning Commission is to prepare a recommendation
on the proposal for consideration by Board of County Commissioners.
7. Upon receipt of the Planning Commission recommendation, the Board of
County Commissioners may hold one or more meetings to consider the
matters raised during the Planning Commission public hearing. The board
also has the option to hold its own formal public hearing on the issue or
remand the proposal back to the Planning Commission for further
consideration. If the board approves the proposal for amending the
comprehensive plan, it will do so by ordinance.
If you have any questions regarding these procedures, please free to contact me.
The staff of the Lewis County Department of Community Development will look
forward to working with you as this proposal moves forward.
Sincerely,
Lee Napier, Director
C: Eric Eisenberg/Amber Smith Civil Deputies