By Garrett Harr
Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioners have extended the temporary housing facilities law for another six months, with some modifications, to allow staff to conduct more public outreach and develop a draft permanent plan.
The draft permanent plan is expected to be given to the county planning commission to consider in late February or early March with a draft ordinance to be presented to the county commissioners in late May.
“Our goal is to create an ordinance that is responsive to the community and not overly burdensome,” said Joel Peterson, associate planner, during the Dec. 13 meeting of the county commissioners.
At that meeting, commissioners approved unanimously the replacement of the Temporary Housing Facilities Ordinance that was due to expire today.
The ordinance, which is largely the same one ratified in February, also caps individual homeless encampments at 50 people but places no maximum cap on how many unsheltered people can be given housing.
The addition followed a suggestion from Barbara Morey, a housing advocate, who thanked the commissioners for extending the ordinance.
The extended law also allows up to three renewals of the 180-day permit.
Public comment is solicited, said planners and commissioners.
Several public hearings are planned in the timeline through next year and neighbors of proposed encampments are notified, they said.
“There are two different places where public feedback is important: Feedback on ordinance of neighborhoods and publicly noted posted hearings,” said Commissioner Greg Brotherton.
County resident Frank Hoffman, while commenting at the meeting, encouraged public outreach.
“It’s important that as many people in the county as have interest in the subject know that this discussion is going on,” he said.
The county law allows construction of temporary facilities in unincorporated areas of the county to provide homeless individuals with transitional shelter and services.
Although county zoning and building codes did not allow for the building and operation of temporary housing facilities — including the construction of wooden tents or tiny homes — state law authorizes religious organizations to host temporary tent encampments on properties they own.
Each one must have a sponsor and management organization overseeing it.
The original transitional housing ordinance was put into place before the installation of Peter’s Place on Faith Way in Port Hadlock.
The housing was built on land provided by the Community United Methodist Church and overseen by the Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP).
The county also set limits on how close the encampments can be to commercial properties and residential homes, requiring at least 20 feet of buffer from property lines of commercial and multi-family residences and 40 feet from single-family homes, documents said.
Temporary housing hearings and deliberations take place to provide a mechanism to contain and extend or create permits for these facilities to function to properly, officials said.
Planners also are coordinating with the city of Port Townsend’s efforts on behalf of the unsheltered, Peterson said.
Comment is welcome at county commissioner meetings, which are on Mondays four times a month. The meetings usually begin at 9 a.m. and can be watched virtually or listened to by phone.
For more information, including links for meetings, see https://co.jefferson.wa.us.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach contributed to this story.
