Consultant outlines Whitman County Critical Areas Ordinance update and compressed grant timeline

The Whitman County Planning Commission heard a high-level briefing March 4 from consultant Dan Nickel of Facet about proposed updates to the county Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO), the county code that governs wetlands, streams, geologic hazards, aquifer recharge areas and fish and wildlife habitat. Nickel said his team had completed draft best-available-science and gap-analysis documents and planned to present draft code amendments to the commission in April.

"Our objective here is to keep this work as minimal as possible," Nickel told the commission, noting much of the 2019 update remains valid and many proposed changes are clarifications to align county text with state guidance. He described required elements such as a 'no net loss' standard, mitigation sequencing (avoid, minimize, compensate), and use of qualified professionals for wetland and geologic assessments.

County Planner Alan Thomson emphasized funding constraints for the consultant: "The funding that we have and the timeline that we have is set. And we need to have it finished by June 30th for the Critical Areas Ordinance." Nickel said the team aims to send a 60-day notice to the Department of Commerce in late April, hold a Planning Commission public hearing in May and seek Board of County Commissioners consideration in June, subject to agency review and public comment.

The consultant’s gap analysis recommends mainly technical updates: update wetland rating references to Ecology’s 2023 system, add explicit 'no net loss' language to variance and administrative procedures, tighten the county’s reasonable-use exception criteria (replace a broadly permissive "OR" test with a stricter standard), expand review distances to match the largest applicable buffer, and insert preservation options into mitigation-ratio tables. Nickel characterized these edits as largely clarifying rather than creating new prohibitions.

Next steps: the consultant will submit a track-changes draft of the proposed CAO amendments prior to the April Planning Commission meeting, provide crosswalks to the gap analysis for each change, and coordinate with Ecology, Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Health during the Commerce review. The commission and staff agreed to schedule follow-up review and public-notice steps consistent with the Department of Commerce timeline.