Planning commission reviews natural environment redlines; staff to merge climate, habitat and stormwater policies

At the June 11 Liberty Lake Planning Commission meeting staff presented proposed redlines to the comp plan’s natural environment chapter and described plans to merge it with the climate/resiliency element. Director Key turned the presentation to Amy (staff), who walked commissioners through language edits, proposed new goals and policy deletions and solicited feedback on maps and cross‑chapter overlaps.

Amy asked commissioners to focus on policy language rather than formatting while the two chapters are integrated. “All I'm asking you guys to look at right now is the language itself and try not to focus too much on where things are within the chapter and just look at the language itself,” she said.

What staff proposed - Chapter merge and editing: Staff will combine the existing natural environment chapter with incoming climate and resiliency language, remove redundancies and reorganize goals and policies by topic area for clarity. - New stormwater emphasis: A new natural environment goal proposes setting maintenance and investment objectives for stormwater systems; two new policies would support that goal and reference the city’s existing stormwater master plan. - Policy deletions: Staff proposed removing dated or jurisdictionally misplaced policies, including an encouragement of permeable parking surfaces (policy considered ineffective in local climate) and a policy encouraging exploration of double metering for irrigation in new development (which staff said would fall under Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District authority and “likely would not encourage water conservation”). - Maps and critical areas: Commissioners asked for maps showing aquifer recharge, critical areas and shoreline jurisdiction; staff confirmed maps will be included in the element. Amy and staff noted that much of the city overlies the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie aquifer recharge area, and that maps are useful for public understanding and implementation.

Landfill plume and remediation matters Commissioners raised legacy land‑use questions including a closed county landfill and the remediation site associated with the former gun‑club property and their potential planning implications. Lisa (staff) said the county owns the closed landfill, that it is monitored by Spokane County and the Washington State Department of Ecology, and that the city must be cognizant of plume‑related restrictions when designing stormwater infrastructure.

Shoreline and other required elements Staff reminded commissioners that Shoreline Management Act obligations apply in areas near the lake’s ordinary high‑water mark even though much nearby shoreline and the Centennial Trail lie outside city ownership. Staff also noted the city’s existing critical areas ordinance and that wetland designations in Liberty Lake are limited and often require a biologist’s confirmation for parcel‑level determinations.

Next steps and coordination Staff will continue redline work, add maps of aquifer recharge and critical areas, reconcile the natural environment and climate chapters and return with updated language. The broader schedule for related comp plan subelements includes a greenhouse‑gas (GHG) workshop with city council and other resilience hearings in coming months; staff flagged plans to submit a working GHG draft to the Washington State Department of Commerce for review when council concurs.

Ending No formal policy changes were adopted at the meeting. Staff requested commissioner feedback on the proposed deletions and said finalized language and maps will be provided in a subsequent draft for commission and council review.