Pasco council narrows overnight truck-habitation ordinance; keeps 80-foot gate setback

The Pasco City Council continued its review of a proposed ordinance to create and regulate an overnight truck-habitation use in Pasco, directing staff to return with revised zoning language that retains an 80-foot gate setback, reduces the residential buffer to 250 feet and eliminates several site-design requirements.

Council members said the ordinance is intended to accommodate freight and trucking operations while minimizing conflicts with surrounding uses. The council heard a staff recap that the proposal follows a planning commission recommendation and several council workshops; staff outlined changes already incorporated, including allowing the use in C-3 (general business) and industrial zones, prohibiting the I-182 overlay district, permitting gravel surfacing, shortening the proposed stay limit and removing some on-site amenity requirements.

City staff said the measure began after an inquiry about locating a trucking facility inside Pasco and received a Planning Commission recommendation on Sept. 19. Deputy Community and Economic Development Director Craig Raymond told the council the primary discussion points have been location and proximity buffers, site-design standards and on-site management. Raymond summarized staff revisions: allowance in I-1, I-2, I-3 and C-3 districts; an added prohibition for the I-182 overlay district; reduced buffer distance (staff initially to 500 feet, then reduced in later drafts); allowance for gravel surfacing; a maximum stay reduced to 48 hours in a 72-hour period; and removal of on-site management, waste-collection and landscape requirements.

Council members expressed a mix of concerns and suggested edits. Councilman Burrows urged more flexibility on setback and parking requirements and suggested an 8-foot concrete masonry unit wall as mitigation, saying the area near King City already has truck activity and an existing RV park near truck businesses. He said one of his requests was "removing the 80 foot setback for vehicle gates." Council members asked how the 80-foot gate setback would function in practice; Raymond explained the setback was meant to create a queue lane so a truck would not block adjoining properties, noting "the average length of the average, truck and trailer is about 72 feet. So 80 feet is really only gonna provide for 1 truck, to be stopped while the gate is opening." Several members said they preferred less prescriptive requirements for parking-striping and lot dimensions.

After extended discussion about appropriate buffer distances between the trucking use and residences, the council settled on a compromise buffer. Mayor Pro Tem Nolmi summarized the direction and later said, "250 it is." Several council members said they would keep the 80-foot gate setback and would remove striping and strict parking-dimension requirements while leaving other code provisions to be tightened or clarified by staff.

No formal vote was recorded during the discussion. Council members directed staff to prepare a revised ordinance reflecting the council’s consensus — keeping the 80-foot vehicle gate setback, reducing the residential buffer to 250 feet, removing striping and parking-dimension requirements, and incorporating the other code edits discussed — and to return the revised draft for formal action at a later meeting.

The discussion builds on prior workshops and the Planning Commission recommendation. Staff said the next ordinance version will reflect the council’s directions and will be scheduled for a subsequent meeting when the applicant and staff are ready.