La Center planning commission forwards environment, climate resiliency drafts and Critical Areas Ordinance to city council

The La Center Planning Commission voted to forward draft updates to the city's environment and climate resiliency elements and a draft Critical Areas Ordinance to the La Center City Council for review.

Angie (staff member) presented the second draft of the environment and climate resiliency elements and the draft Critical Areas Ordinance, saying the commission's "overall goal of our night is to make a motion to move these drafts to city council for review. I'd like to reiterate, this is not for formal adoption. It's just to move these drafts forward and recommend to move forward for city council to review." The commission carried the motion in a roll-call vote; all three voting commissioners supported forwarding the drafts for city council review.

Why it matters: the updates are part of a state-required comprehensive plan update. The drafts add city-specific language and technical provisions meant to meet state Growth Management Act requirements and to align the city's code with recent technical studies, including a vulnerability and risk assessment focused on extreme precipitation and stormwater impacts.

Key provisions and staff findings - Vulnerability and risk assessment: The assessment evaluated major assets including La Center Road, Pacific Highway, 4th Street, the East Fork Lewis River bridge and the city wastewater treatment plant. Staff reported the major roadways showed the highest vulnerability to extreme…