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Group weighs conservation subdivisions: higher density bonuses vs. stronger environmental buffers
Summary
Members debated whether to move conservation subdivisions to conditional use review, increase density bonuses (options discussed up to 60'85% in examples), and strengthen buffers and exclusions for unbuildable lands to protect natural resources.
The committee spent a sustained portion of the meeting on conservation subdivisions, exploring whether the county's existing conservation-subdivision rules should be altered to better protect sensitive resources while also making conservation subdivisions economically feasible for developers.
Planning commissioner Darlene Bowen submitted written comments (read into the record) urging a higher minimum parcel threshold (she suggested raising the minimum from 40 acres toward 100 acres for eligibility in her example), larger road and neighbor buffers (she recommended a 500-foot setback from public streets and a 300-foot agricultural buffer in areas she cited), and stronger stream and wetland buffers. Bowen argued that many parcels in priority conservation areas lie on…
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