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Kittitas County hearing on suspending 2025–26 comprehensive-plan docket continued to March 18
Summary
County planning director recommended pausing citizen-initiated annual comprehensive-plan docket cycles for 2025 and 2026 while the county conducts a periodic update; commissioners continued the public hearing to March 18 and left the record open.
KITTITAS COUNTY — The Kittitas County Board of Commissioners continued a public hearing on whether to suspend the annual comprehensive-plan amendment docket for 2025 and 2026 to 2 p.m. March 18 and left the public record open.
Chad Vela, Community Development Services director, told the board the county is conducting a two-year periodic update that began in March and will require “numerous hearings” by the planning commission and the board. Vela said overlapping the periodic update with the annual docket would create extra hearings and workload for county staff and the county attorney’s office. He recommended suspending citizen-initiated docket items for the 2025–26 cycles while continuing to accept staff-initiated development-code and consistency amendments.
Vela cited other Washington jurisdictions that have suspended annual docket cycles and said he had spoken to the Washington State Department of Commerce. According to the staff report he distributed, the Department of Commerce recommended continuing the annual process and denying or deferring citizen requests; Vela told commissioners he opposed that approach. “I do not want to accept applications over the counter for $3,000 and tell them, you know, I'll take your money, but then I'm gonna deny or delay your request until 2026. I think that's an injustice to them,” Vela said.
After opening the hearing for public comment and hearing none, a commissioner moved to continue the hearing to March 18, 2025, at 2 p.m. and leave the record open. The motion passed by voice vote.
The matter will return to the board on March 18 for further consideration, when commissioners are expected to review additional information from staff and counsel before deciding whether to adopt a suspension for citizen-initiated annual docket items for 2025 and 2026.
Notes: The record indicates staff will continue processing staff-initiated code and consistency amendments while the board considers suspending citizen docket items for the two-year period.
