The Lewis County Board of Commissioners officially approved the majority of updates to the county’s comprehensive plan this week as it nears an end to a years-long process of updating the county’s development and zoning codes known as a periodic update.
The Board of Lewis County Commissioners, after much deliberation and a few last minute changes, approved the updated comprehensive plan unanimously during its weekly business meeting on Tuesday. Most of the updates made to the comprehensive plan are those mandated by the State of Washington. But higher profile changes led by Lewis County include new zoning for Packwood and Onalaska, rules around signs in the public right-of-way and the implementation of a short-term rental permit.
One section of the periodic update was not heard or approved and will be presented to the Board of Lewis County Commissioners separately in the coming months.
Most of the work to create the new comprehensive plan has already been done with recommendations being made by the Lewis County Planning Commission. But Tuesday's meeting gave residents a last chance to comment and commissioners a final opportunity to make changes.
Commissioners made a few last minute changes to the comprehensive plan during the meeting, including getting rid of a provision that would have banned drive-through restaurants in the Packwood area. Other changes were relatively minor and all erred on the side of pulling back regulations or restrictions.
“I just am very concerned about government overreach and property rights when we start to dictate very specific things like color palettes and roof lines,” Commissioner Scott Brummer said. “I just believe that’s not in the public's best interest, in the property owner’s best interest overall.”
Short-term rentals once again took center stage. Short-term rental regulations have been a hot button issue throughout the periodic update process, with the county originally proposing a suite of regulations. Public pushback at a hearing this summer, however, led the county to pull back those restrictions, instead moving forward with a simple occupancy limit and requirement that short-term rentals have a county permit.
Just three Lewis County residents spoke during the meeting, including one short-term rental advocate, Rob Maricle. Maricle applauded the pulling back of short-term rental regulations and urged the county to prevent closer regulation from taking place in the future.
The county has signaled that it may also convene a committee in the future to review short-term rental data and consider future regulations.
The short-term rental permitting process became the subject of debate between commissioners. Brummer, with some support from Commissioner Sean Swope, shared concerns over not yet knowing what the permitting process would look like. Brummer in particular wanted to know what the process entails before creating the requirement for a permit.
“I appreciate all your hard work, but I think we should create the processes before we enact legislation,” Brummer said. “I struggle to trust the government. That's my issue.”
Commissioner Lindsey Pollock and Lewis County Community Development Director Mindy Brooks, however, urged their support, arguing that county staff needed to have the code and know what would be required of short-term rentals by the county to develop the permitting process. Brooks added that the commissioners can also make changes to the permitting in the future if it becomes something they don't want.
“My preference would be to adopt it with an implementation date of Jan. 1, and then we will create the processes around it based on what you've adopted,” Brooks said. “And if it turns out that there's some portion of that that you'd like to strike, we can do that.”
Other public comments outside the realm of short-term rentals cited concerns over potential development of unfit land in Onalaska and limitations on child care facilities visiting the Department of Natural Resources woodlands.
The final approval of the changes to the comprehensive plan proposed by the Lewis County Planning Commission puts an end to the periodic update process, which is required by the state every 10 years. The process is meant to make sure that local building code and development is compliant with any changes to state law. It's also an opportunity for local governments to prioritize changes in line with local goals or values.
Information on the periodic update of the Lewis County comprehensive plan, including the document itself, can be found on the Lewis County website at https://tinyurl.com/yrkmr652.
