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Commission begins Critical Areas Ordinance update, flags RUE process and tribal input
Summary
Staff introduced a phased update to the Critical Areas Ordinance and commissioners raised concerns about how reasonable-use exceptions are applied and how tribal comments should be solicited and handled during the periodic update.
City planning staff introduced an incremental update to Lake Forest Park's Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO), and commissioners used the discussion to highlight exception-handling and tribal consultation as priorities for the update.
"This update is...not taking what we have and throwing it away, but it's preserving what we have and adding those new mandates," Mark, the Community Development Director, told the commission, describing a phased approach that would incorporate best-available science and targeted technical support.
Vice Chair Janne Kaje, who identified himself as an environmental scientist, said the city's CAO is generally strong but warned that exceptions could erode protections if applied too liberally. Kaje raised a current reasonable-use exception (RUE) application as an example and noted the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe had submitted a comment letter flagging concerns. "This comment letter...is a sovereign nation telling us that they have concerns about this proposal," Kaje said, and recommended the commission consider earlier, formal outreach to tribes in future code updates.
Staff explained that RUE permit review is a quasi-judicial process handled by the hearing examiner; tribal and public comments submitted through the notice of application are part of the public record and will be considered in staff reports and by the applicant's responses. Mark said staff plans a CAO primer for commissioners to review the ordinance and its application in practice before drafting amendments.
The commission agreed to schedule a roughly one-hour staff-led walkthrough of the CAO at the next meeting to build a common baseline of understanding and to focus early work on how exceptions are authorized and mitigated rather than redoing core scientific standards.
Next steps: staff will schedule the primer/walkthrough, prepare a checklist of CAO elements and propose a phased outreach plan that can include early tribal engagement as the commission frames specific amendment options.
