Planning commission backs Marty Lake non‑project rezone to rural recreation; SEPA appeal pending

Kittitas County Planning Commission on Feb. 11 voted to forward a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners to rezone four parcels near Snoqualmie Pass from Forest & Range to Rural Recreation and to change the comprehensive-plan land‑use designation accordingly.

Staff told the commission the application covers roughly 150.9 acres across four parcels that include Marty Lake and Cole Creek. Jeremy Johnson, long-range planner, said the applicant previously submitted a proposal in 2022 that was remanded to the county and that the current application now includes a critical‑areas report and a mitigated determination of non‑significance (MDNS) under SEPA. Johnson said the SEPA determination is under appeal by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife but that the commission may still forward a recommendation to the county commissioners because the SEPA administrative appeal is a separate process.

Staff summarized the zoning change and potential development outcomes: changing from Forest & Range (20‑acre minimum) to Rural Recreation (5‑acre minimum) could theoretically allow up to 30 dwelling units by simple density calculation, although Johnson and staff said critical‑areas buffers and other constraints make that outcome unlikely in practice. Johnson told commissioners, "probably gonna be hard pressed to find somewhere for 30 units on that property, but it's not necessarily the intent." He also said some uses currently allowed in Forest & Range — including mining/excavation, rock crushing, and certain processing facilities subject to conditional use permits — would be more restricted under Rural Recreation.

Johnson said staff issued the MDNS after reviewing the critical‑areas report and that 27 mitigation measures were attached to the environmental determination. He listed typical mitigation topics in his presentation, including transportation coordination with WSDOT, noise considerations near I‑90, water and wastewater availability within the Snoqualmie Pass Utility District, stormwater controls, site‑specific delineation of streams and wetlands, and buffer protections.

Conservation Northwest senior program manager Jen Sirilitz testified in opposition to the rezone recommendation and urged the county to declare a SEPA determination of significance and prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS). Sirilitz said the parcels sit in a region the organization identifies as a statewide connectivity corridor and argued that cumulative impacts from recreational growth would undermine long‑term wildlife movement across the Cascade crest. She told commissioners: "The proposed rezoning and associated potential development and additional recreation pressures would undermine the efforts and the benefits of decades of collective work in this area and the investment of millions of taxpayers dollars to connect and restore habitat and movement capabilities through the Cascade Crest."

Representatives for the applicant and supporting speakers emphasized development constraints, the presence of usable flat land, connections to the Snoqualmie Pass Utility District for water and sewer, and the applicant’s submission of the critical‑areas report. Mark Kirkpatrick of Encompass Engineering told the commission that Kittitas County has limited developable land and that the applicant’s parcel contains some developable flat areas; he said the property’s critical‑areas constraints were identified in the submitted report and would constrain any future project-level development.

After public testimony and commissioner discussion about CEPA/SEPA process, mitigation measures and wildlife connectivity concerns, a motion to recommend approval to the Board of County Commissioners carried on a voice vote. Commissioners recorded "aye" voices and the motion passed; the recommendation goes to the county commissioners for final decision. The SEPA MDNS remains under appeal and will be adjudicated separately, which staff said could affect subsequent procedural steps on any project-level application.