North Bend planning commission recommends code amendments on critical-area buffers

North Bend Planning Commission recommended approval of a set of technical municipal code amendments tied to the city—s comprehensive-plan update at its March 18, 2025, meeting, and asked staff to add a formal definition for the term "buffer." The commission opened a public hearing, heard no public testimony, discussed tribe and agency comments and then moved to forward the package as a recommendation to the City Council.

The package presented by staff focuses on aligning city code with recent technical guidance and mapping updates used in the comprehensive-plan process. Stephanie, the guest analyst on the item, said the changes stem from the decadal review required by the comp plan: "we're required every 10 years when we do a major update," she said, and the amendments mainly update references to new manuals, state law and scientific guidance and implement minor code clarifications. Staff described a map series adopted by reference so maps can be updated more frequently…