PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners have tentatively set a hearing date for updates to the Critical Areas Ordinance.
The hearing is expected to be March 2 during the regular commissioners meeting, which starts at 9 a.m. at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St.
The hearing notice is expected to be approved during the commissioners’ next meeting on Monday, Feb. 10.
The Critical Areas Ordinance drafting was started in 2014; and in 2018, the commission agreed to separate the planning for the comprehensive plan and the Critical Areas Ordinance so the comprehensive plan could move forward to completion in December 2018.
Patty Charnas, Jefferson County community development director, and Mike Nilssen, planning commission chair, presented a brief overview of the changes to the county commissioners Monday.
The commission created a Critical Areas Regulatory Reform Task Force in July “to discuss and collectively recommend refinements to the policy, regulations and environmental standards of an existing draft [Critical Areas Ordinance] update and to complete its review and deliver its recommendations to the Department of Community Development and to the Planning Commission,” the resolution said.
The task force completed its recommendations and passed them along to the planning commission, who hosted their own public hearing before finalizing the recommendations that were presented Monday, Charnas said.
“This has been a marathon and like any marathon you have to dig deep for the strength, stamina and the perseverance to bring it through the final miles as you were in when we were in the beginning miles,” Charnas said.
“We’re in the final miles.”
The recommendations include modifications to administrative provisions, agriculture, aquifer recharge, flooding hazards, geological hazards, screen buffers, wetlands and other items, said Nilssen.
“We feel you will be pleased with this work,” Nilssen said to the commissioners. “It presents to be a user friendly, clear and succinct document to assist in managing areas in this county for years to come.”
Also included in the suggested changes is that different articles have a purpose statement describing what the article addresses and why, Charnas said.
The Critical Areas Ordinance has to be approved soon or the county could lose grant funding it received from the state to go toward the Port Hadlock Urban Growth Area, Charnas said.
The commissioners discussed a tentative timeline for the last steps of the approval process, with the Mar. 2 hearing, deliberation on Mar. 9 and potential action on Mar. 16.
The full recommendations can be read at tinyurl.com/PDN-JeffersonCAO.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
