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County attorney: ordinance wording leaves public-sewer loophole; staff to reconcile codes
Summary
County legal staff told commissioners the land-use code and building code were not 'squared up,' leaving a gap where public sewer could enable smaller lots; Building & Development will review proposed language to close the gap.
The county attorney explained that county lot-size rules are tied to water source but that existing ordinance language did not explicitly incorporate public sewer, creating a gap between the land-use and building-code sections.
"Because those two weren't squared up, that left this little loophole that once we were made aware of it, we wanted to get a moratorium in and fix it," the county attorney said. The attorney described current minimums cited in the record: "You have to have 0.75 of an acre to build a home on" with on-site systems requiring what the transcript phrases as "an acre and 0.5." The attorney cautioned the transcript phrasing reflects how the requirement was described during the meeting.
Staff said proposed ordinance changes have been sent to Building & Development to check coverage and to draft amendments reconciling land-use section 44 with building code chapter 18. The county attorney noted the multi-family dwelling ordinance is separate and the moratorium as recorded does not apply to apartment complexes that comply with multifamily rules.
