Nearly 60 Onalaska community members attended a meeting at the Onalaska elementary and middle school’s multipurpose room on June 7 with Lewis County officials to discuss how they can change the town’s subarea plan.
Lewis County Senior Long-Range Planner Mindy Brooks explained the reason for having a subarea plan is to ensure residents of unincorporated communities such as Onalaska have a say in the future development of the town.
“A subarea plan does not drive growth. It’s not about driving growth. It’s not about creating development. A subarea plan is how you manage change,” Brooks said.
The community already adopted a subarea plan in 2017, but Brooks said the old plan didn’t meet all Washington state requirements for a subarea plan and needed to be updated. With a plan in place, the community will be prepared for growth over the next 20 years, Brooks said.
Distributed to every attendee that came was an application to be on the advisory committee developing Onalaska’s new subarea plan. Brooks needs a minimum of at least 10 attendees to be on the advisory committee, which will work to develop the new subarea plan and submit it to the county commissioners for approval.
In attendance at the meeting was Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer, who assured the residents that whatever subarea plan was submitted had a good chance of approval.
“I believe (subarea plan approval) is highly likely. We believe in community involvement and you guys setting the future of what you want to see out here,” Brummer said. “That’s the beauty of developing this type of plan.”
Brooks added that Packwood is awaiting approval for its own subarea plan. When looking at what to incorporate in a plan, Brooks said zoning is where she starts.
“We’re considering things like land uses. Commercial use, residential use, industrial use, where does it belong in the community?” Brooks added.
Utilities, transportation and infrastructure are all taken into account as well when creating a subarea plan, Brooks said.
During the meeting, Brooks asked residents to share concerns they currently have revolving around the future of the community outside of growth for the advisory committee to take into consideration while developing the plan.
Some were concerned about rising crime, the housing crisis, homelessness, increased traffic, lack of parking, water quality concerns and maintaining a “small-town feel.”
Onalaska Subarea Plan Advisory Committee members will now meet monthly with Brooks over the next year to develop the new subarea plan.
For more information and to view Onalaska’s old subarea plan, visit https://lewiscountywa.gov/departments/community-development/adopted-plans/.
