2022-10-07_Ordinance1337_ReadAhead
Date: October 7, 2022
To: Lewis County Board of County Commissioners
From: Mindy Brooks, Community Development
RE: Read Ahead – BOCC Process for Comprehensive Plan Map Amendments
There are seven proposed amendments to the Lewis County Comprehensive Plan map that must be heard by BOCC concurrently and a single action taken on the entire package (36.70A.130 RCW). Staff recommend holding the public hearing over two days (November 1 and 8), which means recessing after the first day and continuing the hearing to the second day, as well as waiting to make the final decision on all proposals until after the close of the hearing on the second day. If BOCC is comfortable with this approach, the Notice of Hearing (to be published on October 18) will specify which proposals are anticipated to be heard on each date (see table below). This will make it easier for the public to participate in the process. PROPOSED SCHEDULE Date & Time What Items Oct 11 @ 11am Workshop Process, Schedule and Approval Criteria
Oct 18 @ 10am Resolution Notice of Hearing
Oct 26 @ 9am Workshop De Goede rezone Adna Grocery rezone Mining Opt-in rezone Centralia UGA amendment
Nov 1 @ 10am Public Hearing (recess) De Goede rezone Adna Grocery rezone Mining Opt-in rezone Centralia UGA Nov 2 @ 9am Workshop Chehalis Breen UGA amendment Chehalis Westlund-Enbody UGA amendment YMCA rezone Nov 8 @ 10am Public Hearing (continued) Chehalis Breen UGA amendment Chehalis Westlund-Enbody UGA amendment YMCA rezone DECISION on all proposals
2 of 2
QUASI-JUDICIAL AMENDMENTS Each of these proposals is a site-specific change to the comprehensive plan map designation and associated zoning designations. Therefore, these are quasi-judicial actions (42.26.010 RCW) and subject to the appearance of fairness doctrine (42.36 RCW). Four important things to keep in mind:
1. All information that comes to the BOCC must be at an open public meeting. Commissioners may not attend meetings hosted by the applicant or by the community.
2. If a commissioner has previously attended a community meeting on any of the proposed amendments, they must disclose the information at an open public meeting.
3. If a commissioner hears information about a proposal and that information is not already in the public record (e.g., news report), they must disclose the information at an open public meeting.
4. The public may only provide comments as written testimony, when the record is opened on October 18, or as oral testimony during the public hearing (table above.) Oral testimony will not be taken at the workshops. If a commissioner receives comments that fall outside of this, please notify Mindy Brooks.
APPROVAL CRITERIA Lewis County Code 17.12.100 provides the approval criteria that the BOCC must use when making a final decision on the proposals. The Exhibit A to the ordinance, in Packetwriter, includes findings of fact against each criterion and staff will summarize findings at the workshops. POTENTIAL ACTIONS There are four options that the BOCC may choose from when making a final decision on the proposals: 1. Adopt the ordinance as presented. The ordinance represents the Planning Commission’s recommendation.
2. Adopt a modified ordinance. The BOCC may modify the ordinance to take a different action than was recommended by the Planning Commission. This could include approving or rejecting any of the amendments. This option will require additional findings of fact.
3. Reject the ordinance as presented. The BOCC can reject all of the Planning Commission’s recommendation.
4. Remand one or more of the items to Planning Commission. Under options 2 and 3, BOCC may ask the Planning Commission to rehear an item(s) to consider additional information and make a new recommendation for BOCC to consider. Note – This option will mean moving the proposal to the 2024 docket and pushing the decision out one full year.
Staff can provide draft motions for the BOCC to consider after the close of the hearing on November 8, 2022.