PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Planning Commission seeks feedback on plans to amend county zoning code provisions regarding agriculture.
The commission has scheduled a “listening session” for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1, in the Clallam County Courthouse commissioner’s meeting room, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Members of the public can provide feedback on a proposal by the Clallam County Department of Community Development to amend the county zoning code provisions governing agriculture, agricultural accessory uses and farm-based businesses.
One of the goals of this proposal is to allow for expanded agricultural accessory uses on the county’s agricultural zoned land, which will require adoption of the Growth Management Act’s definition for agriculture as well as the Growth Management Act’s criteria for agricultural accessory uses, the commission said in a statement.
Another goal is to develop more specific performance measures to ease interpretation of the county’s zoning code related to agricultural accessory uses and farm-based businesses.
A third goal of the project is to provide for a review process to minimize and mitigate any potential impacts of agricultural accessory uses on agricultural land and neighboring residential neighborhoods.
Such a process also would provide neighbors with an opportunity to identify potential impacts and to otherwise be heard and provide other agencies an opportunity to ensure compliance with regulations under their authority, as well as providing the applicant with a permanent vested right to proceed before investing significant time, effort and money into the activity, the commission said.
The goal of the listening session is to gather input and feedback that can be incorporated into the project at an early stage, and in a setting that will be less formal than any future public hearing.
Not a public hearing
The listening session is not a public hearing.
Public hearings by both the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners will be held on any proposed ordinance that may result from this proposal.
No proposed ordinance has been drafted, and no public hearings have been scheduled related to this project.
For more information on this project, visit www.clallam.net/RealEstate/html/agaccessoryuses.htm.
