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Whitman County Planning Commission forwards amended Critical Areas Ordinance to commissioners after adding Fish & Wildlife comments
Summary
The Planning Commission voted May 20 to enter Department of Fish & Wildlife comments into the record, authorized the county planner to incorporate those edits into the CAO draft, and recommended the updated ordinance to the County Commissioners for final action.
The Whitman County Planning Commission voted May 20 to forward an updated Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) to the Whitman County Board of County Commissioners, adding a late memo from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to the public record and authorizing staff to incorporate the agency's suggested wording into the draft.
Consultant Douglas Yormick of Facet told the commission that the CAO update had gone through a Department of Commerce 60‑day review and a SEPA determination of nonsignificance on April 23. He said Fish and Wildlife’s comments, received the day before the hearing, were “mostly just refining, clarifying some of the text” — suggestions that included tying the CAO more explicitly to the county’s Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP), strengthening mitigation-plan language to reflect the county’s “no net loss” objective, and clarifying that reports assessing functionally disconnected buffers be prepared by a qualified professional (as defined in the draft).
Commissioner Weston Kane moved to enter the Fish and Wildlife memo into the record as an exhibit; the motion passed unanimously. Commissioner David McKeirnan then moved to authorize County Planner Alan Thomson to amend the draft ordinance to reflect Fish and Wildlife’s recommendations and forward the revised draft to the Board of County Commissioners. The motion passed by voice vote.
Chair Brian Davies read the staff-prepared Findings of Fact (citing the Growth Management Act, RCW 36.70A, the CAO’s statutory timeline and the SEPA decision) and the commission adopted Findings 1–16 as read. Following the hearing, the commission closed public comment and formally recommended that the BOCC amend Chapter 9.05 consistent with the draft ordinance and the agreed edits.
“Alan is most certainly a qualified professional,” consultant Douglas Yormick said when commissioners asked whether the planner’s review would be sufficient; the motion that followed explicitly authorized the planner to incorporate the agency wording and return the revised draft for the BOCC hearing. The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to hold its public hearing later in June; staff said additional agency comments submitted before June 18 would be recorded and that the BOCC retains authority to act on or further revise the ordinance.
