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 precipitation and storm damage; bridges were judged to have lower vulnerability because they are set above the floodplain; and the wastewater treatment plant showed medium sensitivity but was described as designed to accommodate increased stormwater.

- Riparian buffer averaging: Staff said the commission directed a citywide average of the riparian buffer using site potential tree height. Because buffer widths vary by soil type (staff cited a range from about 100 feet to more than 225 feet), averaging would yield a proposed citywide width of about 195 feet. Staff noted that averaging would reduce buffer widths for larger rivers (for example the East Fork Lewis River and Breezy Creek) while increasing widths for smaller streams and tributaries. The draft retains two relief mechanisms: an "exceptional use" criterion for cases where a buffer would unreasonably impair a property's economic use, and variance provisions for other circumstances.

- Wellhead protection: The draft Critical Areas Ordinance retains regulation of Group A public water system wellhead protection areas and removes restrictions on Group B wells, reflecting a prior planning-commission direction. The staff presentation included mapping of a large wellhead protection area for a Clark Public Utilities well.

- Anadromous fish and fisheries habitat: The ordinance adds provisions prohibiting new structures and land alterations in habitat that supports anadromous fish (salmon), except when strict timing and mitigation criteria are met. Staff said the update includes critical-area-report requirements for anadromous-fish habitat that follow guidance from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

- Geohazards and erosion: The draft adds mapped erosion-hazard areas based on Clark County mapping and the Washington Geologic Survey, and specifies that applicants flagged for mapped erosion hazards will generally need geotechnical reports and mitigation measures. Staff also proposed an exemption from critical-areas permitting for sites mapped only for erosion-hazard areas if applicants implement stormwater best-management practices per the city's stormwater code. The draft adds mapping and buffering provisions for fault-rupture hazard areas and proposes a 100-foot buffer for critical facilities (schools, day cares, clinics, hospitals).

Commission questions and public comment Commissioners asked multiple technical and process questions. Planning Commissioner Stephanie Clark and Planning Commissioner Paul Jones both pressed staff on implementation details and on whether the city has sufficient capacity to carry out the work that the drafts say "La Center shall" do. Commissioner Clark and others asked for follow-up with the city engineer on site-specific erosion concerns raised about a recently developed hillside (referred to in the meeting as Stevens Hillside), including how man-made cut-and-fill and landscaping practices are monitored and permitted.

A few commissioners said the timeline and the volume of redline code changes made it difficult to do a line-by-line review. Angie said staff had given commissioners a 14-day comment window after the first draft and provided a "cheat sheet" identifying the substantive changes in the second draft; staff also said it will provide drafts earlier for future modules to allow more time for review.

Action and next steps A motion was made and seconded to forward the draft environment and climate resiliency elements and the draft Critical Areas Ordinance to the City Council for further review; the motion passed on a roll-call vote with Planning Commissioner Paul Jones, Planning Commissioner Stephanie Clark and Planning Commissioner Diana McClain voting in favor and no nays or abstentions. The drafts will go to City Council in December for draft review; staff said Council review at that meeting will not be formal adoption and that the city intends to hold final adoption until a consolidated package next year to meet the state-required update deadline.

Ending Staff said the next Planning Commission meeting will present first drafts of the minor elements (economic development, urban growth and annexation, government, and historic and archaeological preservation) and that staff will continue to refine the process for distributing drafts and collecting commissioner comments.