Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Comprehensive Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
La Center council forwards draft environment, climate resiliency element and updated CAO for final adoption
Summary
The La Center City Council voted Dec. 11 to forward the draft environment chapter, a new climate resiliency chapter and an updated Critical Areas Ordinance (chapter 18300) to be held for inclusion in the 2025 comprehensive plan update. The drafts revise buffers, CARA mapping and geohazard siting to meet Growth Management Act guidance.
La Center’s City Council on Dec. 11 voted to forward the draft environment element, a newly required climate resiliency subelement and an updated Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) so the package can be held for final adoption with the comprehensive plan update next year.
Alec Iguarola, the planner leading the comp-plan modules, told council the changes update chapter 9 (environment) and add chapter 11 (climate resiliency) to comply with Growth Management Act (GMA) requirements and state agency guidance from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington State Department of Ecology. Iguarola said updated critical-area definitions and mapping will affect geologically hazardous areas, critical aquifer recharge areas (CARAs), fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas and wetlands.
Iguarola described several substantive edits: revised CARA mapping to identify wellhead protection areas using Department of Health sources; an average riparian buffer width presented at about 195 feet based on WDFW guidance with context-dependent variation; proposed Option A/B wetland buffer approaches with accompanying impact-minimization measures and adjusted mitigation ratios consistent with Ecology guidance; and new geohazard siting criteria that include a 100-foot setback for critical facilities near mapped fault rupture hazard areas.
Council members asked for clarification on fault rupture mapping and whether consumer fireworks (raised during public comment) were implicated by the CAO changes. Iguarola said the single mapped fault through the city is small and that fireworks-related noise or visual impacts are part of separate environmental-impact considerations beyond the CAO’s critical-area protections.
Council member Boyle moved to forward the draft environment and climate resiliency elements along with the draft CAO to be held for future final adoption; the motion was seconded and adopted by the council.
The staff timeline calls for further refinement of the draft elements based on council comments and then packaging the full comprehensive-plan update for public hearings and adoption procedures next year.
