Woodland planners say 2025 comprehensive plan already addresses tribal and state agency concerns; minor edits expected
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Summary
Planners told the City Council that comment letters from the Cowlitz Tribe, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources largely endorse Woodland’s draft 2025 comprehensive plan and request minor changes or references; staff recommended limited textual updates rather than map adoptions.
The City of Woodland held a public hearing on Ordinance 15-76, the draft 2025 comprehensive plan, after staff summarized written agency comments and recommended only modest changes.
Travis, the city planner, told the council the Cowlitz Tribe "supported the comprehensive plan" and asked that resource surveys be completed for development and that inadvertent discovery plans remain in place to protect artifacts. "We currently already require inadvertent discovery plans when a development comes in," he said, adding the city’s practice requires stopping work and bringing in an archaeologist if artifacts are found.
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife flagged guidance in the Washington Administrative Code recommending against expanding the urban-growth boundary into critical areas and encouraged strengthening language on open-space corridors and fish-passage priorities. Travis said the city is not proposing a UGB expansion in this draft and that the shoreline program and existing plan language already afford protections for riparian areas along the Lewis River and Horseshoe Lake.
The Department of Natural Resources requested that the plan reference the Cowlitz County Hazard Mitigation Plan (2023) and asked the city to add critical-area maps. Travis recommended adding a reference to the county plan and noted he would "add that underneath our sewer plan, our water plan." He said the city prefers to rely on current GIS mapping rather than adopt static critical-area maps that could become outdated.
Travis also reported the Cowlitz Council of Governments commended the plan’s alignment with the regional transportation plan and the integration of non-motorized priorities, an item that supports the Department of Commerce’s view that Woodland’s plan is consistent with the Growth Management Act.
Council members praised staff work and voted unanimously to advance the comprehensive plan on first reading. The council did not adopt new map layers during the hearing; staff said they will add the county hazard-mitigation reference and consider minor textual clarifications before the next reading.
