PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson commissioners have approved two public hearings next month on commercial shooting facilities ordinances and extending a moratorium on shooting range permits.
The hearings on Feb. 10 will be split with the moratorium coming first. It will be followed by a combined hearing on two ordinances for future shooting range facilities and regulations: the Health and Safety ordinance and the Unified Development Code ordinance.
The hearings will start at 1:30 p.m. with the moratorium hearing, followed by the ordinances hearing at 2 p.m. in The Commons at Fort Worden State Park, 200 Battery Way.
The moratorium would extend the end of the current moratorium on commercial shooting range permits from Mar. 23 to Sept. 23 or until compliance with the Washington State Growth Management Hearings Board’s final decision and order on the ordinances is achieved, whichever is earlier, commission documents said.
Initially, the public hearings were slated to be in three parts: the moratorium, Health and Safety (Title 8) and then Unified Development Code (Title 18).
The commissioners voted to combine the two ordinance hearings into one to ensure that all public comments for the ordinances can be taken. There was concern that a third hearing could start late or some comments would have to be omitted if they were given, for example, during the Title 8 hearing when they were about Title 18.
“I don’t want to exclude testimony,” said Greg Brotherton, commission chair.
The commissioners unanimously approved of the hearings during their regular meeting Monday after a presentation by Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Philip Hunsucker about the history and the possible options for the two ordinances.
Hunsucker provided the commissioners with five options for revisions to the ordinances, with many of the overarching changes being applied to Title 18 with smaller additions to Title 8.
The first option would allow outdoor commercial shooting facilities on forest resource lands only, while indoor facilities could be in rural/urban growth areas under commercial and industrial zoning. Both need a conditional use permit (CUP), Hunsucker said.
Option two would allow outdoor commercial shooting facilities limited by small-scale recreational and tourist (SSRT) uses, quotas and a conditional use permit, but without additional bright line regulations, Hunsucker said.
Option three would allow outdoor commercial shooting facilities limited by SSRT uses, quotas and a conditional use permit and additional bright line regulations, Hunsucker said.
Option four would follow the planning commission’s recommendations and only allow indoor commercial shooting facilities as a discretionary use in commercial zoning without bright line regulations, Hunsucker said.
Option five would also prohibit outdoor commercial shooting facilities, but indoor commercial shooting facilities would be allowed in all commercial zoning with a discretionary use permit and in forest resource lands limited by SSRT uses and a quota, Hunsucker said.
The debate on the ordinances stretches back to 2018, but more recently, the Tarboo Ridge Coalition (TRC) filed two petitions to review the Title 8 and Title 18 ordinances with the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board in December 2018 and January of 2019. The petitions were then consolidated for the hearing, with the decision by the Growth Board delivered on Sept. 16, Hunsucker said.
The Growth Board sided with the TRC and determined that it has jurisdiction over Title 8 and Title 18 — classifying them as land ordinances and deeming them invalid, tasking the county to bring both codes into compliance due to the lack of a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) on Title 8 and lack of public input on the two ordinances, Hunsucker said.
“When you boil it down, they really only busted us on public participation and SEPA,” Hunsucker said.
The commissioners referred the two ordinances to the county planning commission, which held its own public hearing, and recommended to the commissioners that no future outdoor shooting ranges be permitted.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
