Kittitas County approves four-code amendments to allow rural school expansion, ADU updates and storage rules

Kittitas County commissioners approved a package of four land development code amendments at a public hearing after staff reviewed each change and a member of the public raised questions about short-term rentals.

Jeremy Johnson, the county's long-range planner in Community Development Services, told the board the package addresses several code gaps and state alignment. "Our 4 land development code amendments, we're requesting chair signature on the ordinance that is attached," Johnson said, and added he would "go through each 1 of these." The package covers (1) allowing schools in Rural 5 zones with conditions, (2) defining nonaccessory storage structures for properties without residences, (3) adjustments to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) rules to conform with Washington House Bill 1337, and (4) adoption of missing public-works standard plan drawings.

The first amendment would change the county's allowed-use tables to permit schools in Rural 5 zones. Johnson said this is intended chiefly to let school districts expand on land they already own where the school use is currently considered nonconforming. New schools in those zones would require a conditional-use permit, and staff proposed deleting an obsolete agricultural overlay-zone footnote.

The second amendment adds a definition in Title 17.08 to allow nonaccessory storage structures on parcels that do not have a residence. Johnson told commissioners the change formalizes a practice that had been occurring but was not explicitly addressed in the code. He said the allowance is not intended to enable commercial mini-storage operations and that such structures would remain subject to dimensional standards and access requirements.

The third amendment implements updates related to Washington House Bill 1337 (adopted July 2023), which encourages ADU production by reducing certain development standards. Johnson said the county will eliminate an internal code distinction between "accessory living quarters" and ADUs, remove some off-street parking requirements, and expand allowances in the areas cited by state law so county definitions align with the statute.

The fourth update, from Public Works, adopts standard road-plan drawings omitted from the county's 2024 code update so the public-works code section is complete.

During public comment a resident who identified herself as Laura asked, "How it's gonna relate to the short term rentals because it will add to it," and also raised a concern that HOA rules might conflict with newly defined storage-structure permissions. Johnson replied that homeowners associations can continue to enforce their covenants and that short-term rental policy questions would be decided by the county's short-term rental committee when those rules are considered.

After brief commissioner discussion thanking staff for clarifying changes, a motion to approve the ordinance package was made and carried on a voice vote. The chair declared, "The motion passes." Staff requested the chair's signature on the attached ordinance and said the amendments will bring the county's code into closer alignment with state requirements while addressing local technical gaps.

What happens next: the ordinance package will be signed by the chair as requested by staff; additional rulemaking on short-term rentals will be handled by the designated committee when those regulations are on its agenda.