Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Natural Systems topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Study session finds few substantive changes needed to Mabton’s natural systems element
Summary
COG staff told the planning commission the natural systems element mainly needs reference and map updates rather than major policy changes, citing limited mapped wetlands and streams inside Mabton and planned updates to county best available science.
COG staff walked commissioners through the natural systems element and its maps, saying the element primarily needs updated references and corrected map layers rather than broad policy rewrites. "The baseline hasn't really changed since the last periodic update," Byron said, adding that many cited studies date from the early 2000s and will be checked for newer versions.
Byron reviewed specific sections—wetlands, groundwater, soils and mineral lands—and stressed that the National Wetland Inventory and older aerial imagery can overstate wetlands. He noted that Mabton has little mapped surface water inside city limits and that critical aquifer recharge mapping shows moderate susceptibility on some eastern parcels of the UGA. Commissioners asked for updated maps and more recent watershed studies before formal draft adoption.
The session focused on technical corrections: updating BAS references, clarifying floodplain boundaries in the UGA, and ensuring air-quality indicator references reflect current EPA and Department of Ecology standards. No substantive edits to goals or policies were proposed at the meeting.
