Planning commission continues hearing on proposed Clallam County open-space ordinance changes

The Clallam County Planning Commission on a continued public hearing considered proposed changes to the county's open-space tax classification, reviewing staff parcel analyses and draft code language while debating whether to restore a 'development-pressure' test and how audits of existing parcels should proceed.

The discussion matters because the draft would remove many small parcels from the program and re-focus the tax benefit on land that demonstrably provides public or ecological benefit. That would shift property-tax reductions now received by individual landowners to the general taxpayer where the county determines public benefit is not present.

County planner Anela presented a spreadsheet analysis of parcels currently enrolled in the open-space classification, telling commissioners the review identified roughly 75 parcels of 4 acres or less that the proposed changes would make ineligible. Anela said staff also broke out reductions by percent and lot-size: most enrolled parcels receive a 40% reduction or less, while parcels with conservation easements can receive a 90% reduction. She showed parcel examples along Lake Sutherland and the Dungeness River to illustrate where critical-area protections already limit development and where the open-space…