Planning commission delays vote on comprehensive plan after residents raise notice failures

The Clallam County Planning Commission voted to continue its public hearing on the countywide comprehensive plan after multiple residents told the commission they had not received reliable notice and urged more time for public input.

Chair (speaker 2) opened the meeting and accepted public comment, during which several speakers — including Heather Cantu, Renee Paradis and Arian Goodson — said outreach for the Western Region plan had been inadequate. "I strongly believe that there has been a lack of public input, both according to the county's own policy, but also state requirements," Heather Cantu said, noting she had submitted a 55-page packet for the record.

Planning department staff acknowledged a failure in the county's email-notification list. Staff described press releases, legal notices and a public survey with roughly 470 responses as other outreach steps taken, but said the email subscription system "was not functioning" and that staff were "very embarrassed about it," and recommended extending the public comment period to allow people to catch up and review newly posted documents.

Commissioners debated options and then voted to continue the public hearing to the commission's next meeting. During the vote commissioners also noted county bylaws allow a person speaking on behalf of a group to be allotted up to 10 minutes; the commission agreed to invite Heather Cantu to use that time at the next hearing and requested that she submit any written material in advance (staff said she had already provided a packet by email).

The continuation means the commission will accept additional written and oral testimony at the scheduled follow-up meeting. Staff said it will remedy the email list problem and examine alternative outreach methods; commissioners asked staff to report back on steps taken to improve notification and to consider nonnewspaper notification strategies, including social media and library distribution of maps.

The public comment period and the decision to continue the hearing were the meeting's central developments. Commissioners asked staff to compile the new materials and to include any substantive public submissions in table 3, the staff response table that summarizes testimony and proposed policy responses.

The commission moved from the hearing into a scheduled work session on detailed edits to the plan (table 3 and the Commerce checklist) and said it would pick up unfinished table items at the next meeting.