CHIMACUM — A proposal dealing with land use issues related to the production and processing of recreational marijuana is one of four that the Jefferson County Planning Commission will consider for a possible recommendation to change the comprehensive plan.
Funding and staff capacity to review and manage the proposed amendments could limit what can be implemented by the end of the year.
There are four possible text amendments to the comprehensive plan, including one that would affect zoning for the production and processing of recreational marijuana; and one site-specific request that will go to the final docket.
Planning commissioners will conduct a public hearing on each of the proposals on the preliminary docket at 5:30 p.m. April 17 at the Tri-Area Community Center, 10 W. Valley Road in Chimacum.
They will make recommendations by May 1 to the county commissioners, who have decision-making authority.
Patty Charnas, the director of the county’s department for community development, told planning commissioners Wednesday night she doesn’t expect to have funds from the county commissioners to carry out any of the five proposals.
“Every proposed change takes time, it takes effort, it takes funding,” Charnas told planning commissioners.
“Yes, these things are important, but it’s the urgency that would really move [county commissioners] to fund us.”
Other text amendments on the preliminary docket included rescinding provisions of the forest transition overlay, the development of new regulations using “Eco-ADU” as a method for permitting multiple accessory dwelling units per parcel, and adding a priority work item to the housing element’s action plan to establish a citizens panel to discuss innovative affordable housing options.
Joel Peterson, a lead planner for the department of community development, led planning commissioners through each of the proposed amendments and how each had been categorized in terms of need, urgency, appropriateness, staff capacity to effectively review and manage, and anticipated costs.
The proposed text amendment for recreational marijuana was considered perhaps the most likely to be funded.
It would address community concerns regarding land use issues experienced with production in rural residential zones.
The planning commission has studied the issue since 2015, when the county was under a moratorium for all cannabis businesses. For six months, it held crowded meetings with both proponents and opponents.
“What we now know through experience is that these businesses have impacts beyond what community members and planning commissioners imagined, impacts that were not anticipated,” read the commission’s response to the reason for the proposal.
“We as a county now know what these facilities look like, sound like and smell like.”
The response said the impacts are significant.
“Far from being the small and inconspicuous mom-and-pop businesses that looked more like tomato farms, large production and processing facilities have been built in a variety of locations around Jefferson County, and even more have been proposed, pitting proponents with plans for large industrial facilities against quiet rural residential neighborhood communities.”
Charnas told the planning commission that county commissioners may want to pursue that text amendment.
“This might go forward,” she said, “but they’re going to have to find the money for it.”
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56052, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
