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10/14/2005: "PC May Propose CP & UDC Changes"

8:45 AM Friday, October 14, in the Board of County Commissioner's Hearing Room, the Planning Commission will hold a Public hearing and deliberations on the Seven Year PC (Comprehensive Plan) and UDC (Unified Development Code) Update proposals.

As reported earlier in The Guardian, very few citizens had shown up at the Planning Department workshops for the updates. It may be fair to say that so far there has been limited interest in the proposed changes. If the future follows the past in these matters, there will be much expressed concern after the changes are adopted. While part of this may be assigned to lack of interest in proposals, it has also been stated at past hearings that the process of public participation would be better served if public hearings were held when the citizens were not at work.


While some of the possible changes being proposed are necessary to meet state mandated requirements that the Comp Plan and UDC be reviewed and updated to include any changes or additions to it that are necessary to meet GMA requirements, there are also proposed changes, that in the opinion of the staff and/or the BOCC are appropriate, based on changes in the county, or, are simply necessary in order for the County to take action on projects that under the current regulations are not allowed, such as the siting of some County projects, which are addressed in the proposed changes as being "essential".

The state mandated areas that must be addressed range from the minor ("Rename ‘environmentally sensitive areas' to ‘critical areas'") to the major changes, such as adopting a bases for the siting of essential public facilities. One of the controversial proposals is language that would allow the County to make changes outside of the normal scheduled timetable for "emergencies". Some fear has been expressed that this will allow the County to move too quickly on such projects as barge landings and the building of new dumps and county facilities in areas where they are not now permitted.