Cowlitz County staff urge returning private-road review to building and planning; commissioners call for more study

Cowlitz County staff raised the issue of jurisdiction over private roads at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, recommending that oversight be returned to the Building and Planning department and that the memo transferring review authority to Public Works in 2019 be rescinded.

A county staff member summarized the history: the county adopted private-road regulations in the mid-1990s, and Building and Planning administered the rules until 2019, when concerns about litigation in a different county prompted the transfer of review to Public Works by memo. “We never had a problem in Cowlitz County, but another county…had an issue,” the staff member said. The staff member recommended the memo be undone and any language in the county engineer ordinance that refers to private roads be removed so Building and Planning could resume responsibility.

Public Works and Building and Planning officials said their departments have tried to collaborate but that trust has frayed. Public Works noted that if private roads return to Building and Planning, some engineering reviews could be contracted rather than performed in-house. “That could certainly be contracted,” the staff member said, referring to engineering expertise for plan review.

Commissioners did not adopt an immediate change. Several commissioners asked for time for departments to evaluate the workload and resource needs that a transfer would require. One commissioner asked for assurances that Building and Planning would not be “dumped” with unresolved items: “I just wanna know that we don't just dump 5 boxes of junk on you and then you try to figure out what to do,” the commissioner said. County staff offered to hold a joint workshop with the Vacant Property Advisory Committee (VPAC) and to invite municipal and stakeholder representatives to participate in a collaborative session.

Staff described the practical impact of returning private-road oversight to Building and Planning: Public Works would handle fewer development reviews (staff estimated only a handful of subdivisions in recent years), and items such as excavation and grading permits would be routed differently. The county engineer ordinance likely would require amendment to remove private-road language if the transfer proceeds.

Next steps identified by commissioners and staff included scheduling a workshop to bring all parties together, having Building and Planning identify any needed engineering contract resources and providing the board with a recommendation on ordinance changes. No formal decision or ordinance amendment was made during the meeting.