Building and planning staff to seek grant for critical areas science as comp plan work continues

Cowlitz County Building and Planning staff asked the Board of Commissioners for permission to apply for a $75,000 grant to hire a consultant to prepare the county's critical areas ordinance using the best available science. Planning Manager Tracy (last name not specified) said the county must complete its comprehensive plan update by June 2026 under state requirements and is carrying most of the comp-plan work in house, but lacks the specific scientific expertise needed for the critical areas component.

"We have the chance to take half of that money now for this year to work on our critical areas ordinance," Tracy said. She described the funding as covering consultant work; the county would not receive the consultant fees in-house but would contract the work to pay for the scientific analysis. Tracy asked whether the board would like staff to bring the request back under miscellaneous the following week to include a commissioner who opposed the idea the prior year.

Tracy also updated the board on land-use revenue and activity: fees for land-use amendments and building permits are trending close to budget but somewhat lower than the prior year; planning staff anticipate outreach sessions and a joint Planning Commission meeting on Aug. 20 to review the draft comp plan. She said a single land-use amendment request had expanded from one parcel to about 10 parcels seeking changes from Rural Residential-5 to Rural Residential-2.

No formal board decision was recorded at the July 1 meeting; Tracy proposed bringing the grant-application matter back for board consideration at the next meeting so all commissioners could participate in the discussion.