A Public Hearing will be held on July 2nd at 6:00 p.m. at the Worthington Center, for the Rural Rezoning project.
Members of the public will have the opportunity to testify and provide written comment at the public hearing.
Where do you stand on the three proposals currently before the Commissioners?
Here’s what Futurewise has to say on the matter.
In 2004, Futurewise appealed the Thurston County Comprehensive Plan because Futurewise beleived the Plan promoted urban sprawl. On July 20, 2005 the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board held there were inadequacies in the county’s Plan which violate the Growth Management Act and those must be corrected; Thurston County appealed this decision. On April 3, 2007 the Court of Appeals decided almost entirely in Futurewise’s favor. According to Futurewise:
The Court of Appeals upheld the Board’s determination that Thurston County’s urban growth areas were too large by 7,000 acres and that the County must provide for a variety of rural densities, which must be less dense than 1 housing unit per 5 acres. We are now working to encourage the County to stop wasting taxpayer money and to start protecting our drinking water and rural character.
The Planning Commission sent not one, but three rural rezone proposals to the County Commissioners for their review.
Each of the proposals should be improved so that they better protect rural character, water quality and quantity, and reduce sprawl – all of which are the reasons that the County is being asked to rezone its rural lands in the first place. Here’s a quick look at each proposal in turn:
- The majority report was presented to the County Commissioners as what the county could “get away with.” Critical groundwater areas and at risk geographic areas are zoned 1 unit every 20 acres; nearly everything else is zoned 1:5. For our recommendations for improvements to this proposal, please click here.
- The minority report more closely mirrors the public comment received during the open houses and hearings. This plan rezones 39.6% and better protects rural character and habitat lands. This proposal should be expanded to include a larger percent of the rural lands so that it complies with state law.
- The third option before the Commissioners is a proposal which puts all zoning on the back of critical areas protections. As a stand alone option, this “innovative technique” will not protect Thurston’s water quality or rural character because it will not create a variety of rural densities. To read a more in depth view of this proposal, please click here.
A Public Hearing will be held on July 2nd at 6:00 p.m. at the Worthington Center.
Members of the public will have the opportunity to testify and provide written comment at the public hearing.
Written comments can be submitted in advance of the public hearing. Please address them as follows:
The Board of County Commissioners
ATTN: John Sonnen
2000 Lakeridge Drive SW
Building #1, 2nd Floor
Olympia, WA 98502-6045
Click here for Thurston County’s Growth Management Act compliance page.