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Cowlitz County to revisit BPAC draft on private-road standards; legal and code changes likely
Summary
County staff told commissioners they will revisit a BPAC draft governing private roads after adopting short-plat revisions, and that many of BPAC’s requested standards will require county code amendments and legal review.
Cowlitz County staff told the Board of Commissioners they will return to a Building and Planning Advisory Committee (BPAC) draft that sets standards for private roads, but said portions of that draft would require formal county code changes and legal review before adoption.
The matter matters because the BPAC draft contained design standards commissioners and staff say would raise construction and safety expectations for private developments. Staff said they recently completed a short-plat revision and paused further changes while the short plats were processed, but now seek direction on next steps for private-road standards.
County Engineer Susan Eugenis and planner Tracy Jackson briefed commissioners that BPAC had produced a draft that many stakeholders supported at one point, but county attorneys identified conflicts with state law (RCW) and other obstacles. County staff said the likely path forward is to use the BPAC document as a starting point, identify which provisions can be implemented administratively and which require code amendments, and then work through legal and licensing concerns before returning a formal package to the board.
Staff identified the immediate scope as type-B and type-C private roads; type-A roads remain county roads and type-D roads were removed from the proposed package. Commissioners and staff discussed design items BPAC raised, including design speeds and curve standards, and agreed the process will take time because it likely involves ordinance and code revisions followed by public hearings if required.
To keep momentum, staff proposed circulating the BPAC draft to the county attorney’s office and the prosecuting attorney’s (PA) office and asked whether the PA could draft a resolution the way it did for the short-plat changes. Commissioners agreed to ask staff to reconvene BPAC for an interim meeting, and to receive monthly status updates on processing and outstanding items.
The board asked staff to return with a clearer estimate of what code language must change, and staff said they will present options and timelines once legal review is complete. No formal action or vote was taken on code changes during the meeting.
Ending: Staff said they will schedule a mid-cycle BPAC meeting to review the BPAC draft, share the draft with legal staff, and provide monthly status reports to the board to track outstanding private-road review items and any necessary ordinance work.
