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Resident urges Lewis County to broaden public notice and criticizes planning responses on floodway property
Summary
A resident urged Lewis County commissioners to broaden meeting notifications beyond the county newspaper and described repeated unsuccessful attempts to get written confirmation from planning staff that a riverfront property is limited to non-development uses because it lies in shoreline/floodway areas.
During the public-comment period at the Feb. 4 Lewis County Board of County Commissioners meeting, a resident identified as Julie (last name not specified) urged the commissioners to do more to inform the public about meetings and expressed frustration over the county's planning responses regarding a property subject to shoreline and floodway restrictions.
Julie said she wants commissioners to "be really proactive" about state legislation she said could affect county residents, then turned to county notification practices. She told the board she finds it "really frustrating" to have to check many outlets and urged the county to publish notices in multiple newspapers to increase public awareness of special meetings. "I noticed that you're 1 that you actually only publish your notifications in the Lewis County news," she said, and asked the county to broaden distribution.
A county staff member responding to the comment explained that the county will solicit bids for the newspaper of record (the East County Journal was the prior year's winner) and that legal notices are posted online and sent to area media. "The county is required to have a legal newspaper of record...we also send notice to all of the area newspapers and radio stations when we have special meetings," the staff member said.
Julie also described repeated attempts to obtain written confirmation from the planning department about development restrictions on a property she had investigated. She said planning staff told her the parcel lies in the shoreline and floodway and that no permits would be granted for development (other than limited seasonal RV parking), but she said her follow-up emails (three attempts) went unanswered. "My frustration comes from...I've sent 3 emails to the planning department saying, okay. These are the points we talked about...3 times I've never gotten any answer," she said.
A commissioner responded that the county does not give special treatment to developers and that processing times reflect workload; the commissioner said some developments are controlled by city jurisdictions if they fall inside city limits, which can affect who has regulatory authority.
The resident's comments were recorded during public comment and did not prompt further board action at the meeting. The county clerk's bid process for the newspaper of record, presented later on the agenda, establishes a deadline for bids and was approved by the board as a separate item.
