Planning commission recommends Board adopt administrative variance process, expands staff-level thresholds

The Clatsop County Planning Commission on Thursday recommended that the Board of Commissioners adopt Ordinance 26-05, which establishes an administrative variance process and streamlines procedures for modifying approved permits. The commission voted unanimously to forward the ordinance with the amendments discussed at the hearing.

The ordinance, presented by Gail Hendrickson, community development director, would create additional administrative tools intended to save staff time and reduce costs for applicants. “The ordinance that's before you today is the same as the ordinance that we brought before you last month for discussion and review,” Hendrickson said, noting the Board of Commissioners had supported the approach in prior work sessions.

Commissioners focused on numeric variance thresholds during questions and debate. Staff originally proposed a 2% administrative lot-size variance; commissioners argued that small lots and local practice warranted larger thresholds. After cross-jurisdiction comparisons and discussion of criteria and appeal rights, the commission agreed to recommend raising multiple administrative thresholds to 20%—including lot-size variances, lot width, lot depth, lot coverage, setbacks and parking standards—while leaving certain protections outside the administrative track.

Notably, the commission directed staff to exclude oceanfront properties from administrative building-height variances to preserve view protections; staff also confirmed that variances affecting required riparian buffers and Goal 16 shoreland protections would not be processed administratively. Staff emphasized statutory limits: “That 2 acre minimum is set by state statute, and so we cannot waive that,” Hendrickson said.

Staff described the practical effect of the administrative pathway: reduced public hearing scheduling, fewer published advertisements, a shorter processing timeline and lower fees in some cases. Staff estimated administrative review could save roughly a month compared with conditional-use procedures in some circumstances and noted the earlier public-notice and hearings steps would be reduced for eligible applications.

The commission opened the hearing for public testimony; no members of the public spoke. After closing testimony, a motion to recommend adoption with the discussed amendments was made and seconded. A roll-call vote recorded affirmative votes from Commissioner Wagner, Commissioner Linder, Commissioner Sutanovich, Vice Chair Johnson and the Chair; the motion passed unanimously. Staff read appeal instructions, noting interested parties have 21 days to file a notice of intent to appeal to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).

Next steps: staff will incorporate the commission’s amendments into the ordinance language and forward the recommendation to the Board of Commissioners for final action.