Chapter 14.15
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT PROCESS
Sections:
14.15.020 Types of amendments.
14.15.040 Emergency and other amendments.
14.15.010 Purpose.
A. The purpose of this chapter is to establish procedures for guiding the review of comprehensive plan amendments and/or revisions, pursuant to the authority granted to the city for that purpose in Chapters 35A.63 and 36.70A RCW. Because it is the policy guideline for several aspects of government operations, including capital budget decisions, it is important that the comprehensive plan be regularly evaluated and revised as necessary to remain an accurate blueprint for the city.
B. In order that the cumulative effects of various proposals can be determined, the city will consider such proposed amendments concurrently and not more frequently than once a year, except under the following circumstances:
1. The initial adoption of a subarea plan;
2. The adoption or amendment of a shoreline master program under the procedures set forth in Chapter 90.58 RCW; and
3. The amendment of the capital facilities element of a comprehensive plan that occurs concurrently with the adoption or amendment of the city’s budget.
C. Additionally, at the discretion of the city council, the comprehensive plan may be amended or revised whenever an emergency exists, or to resolve an appeal of an amendment filed with the growth management hearings board or with the court. At a minimum, the comprehensive plan shall be reviewed and revised as necessary at least every five years. (Ord. 973 § 1, 2000).
14.15.020 Types of amendments.
Any proposed amendments and/or revisions to the comprehensive plan will be categorized into one of the following types:
A. “Area-wide amendment” is a proposed change or revision which has general applicability throughout the community. Within this type of amendment, there are two categories: (1) “text amendment” to change or revise the goals, policies, objectives, assumptions and/or standards described in the plan; and (2) “map amendment” to change or revise one or more of the maps of the comprehensive plan. In either instance, the proposal is comprehensive in nature and may be geographically distinctive or have unified interest within the city. While an area-wide map amendment typically includes several separate properties under various ownership, it is possible that it would apply to a single, specific piece of property under a single ownership.
B. “Capital facilities amendment” is a proposed change or revision specifically related to the capital facilities element of the comprehensive plan which affects capital budget decisions.
C. “Emergency amendment” is a proposed change or revision to any part of the comprehensive plan which arises from a situation that necessitates the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare.
D. “Urban growth area amendment” is a proposed change or revision to the location of the designated urban growth area. The adoption of any change in the location and/or boundary of the urban growth area is within the regulatory authority of Chelan County, and is therefore not subject to the provisions of this chapter. The county will consider and attempt to reach agreement with the city on the location for the urban growth area, pursuant to RCW 36.70A.110. (Ord. 973 § 1, 2000).
14.15.030 Review process.
Amendments to the comprehensive plan shall be processed as a legislative review under this title. The following steps, review criteria and application requirements, where necessary, will be applied when reviewing any aspects of the comprehensive plan.
A. The city council, planning commission and city staff will use a docket to identify and track issues that arise over the course of the year which demonstrate inconsistencies and/or deficiencies in any portion of the comprehensive plan. For the purposes of this title, inconsistencies and/or deficiencies refers to the absence of required or potentially desirable content of a comprehensive plan. The docket shall be maintained by the city administrator, consisting of references to specific text and/or map change requests or additions.
B. The general public will be made aware in November and December of the upcoming comprehensive plan amendment process through newspaper articles, during regular city council and/or planning commission meetings, and through any other opportunities and/or means deemed necessary.
C. At the regular February meeting of each year, the planning commission will hold a public workshop to decide on the issues, which will be initiated by the city during the comprehensive plan amendment process. The list of city-initiated proposals will be generated from the following sources:
1. The list of docketed issues maintained by the city administrator; and/or
2. Proposals from private persons, organizations, agencies which the council and planning commission decide would serve the public interest and would therefore be appropriately sponsored by the city.
D. Proposals requested by private persons, organizations, agencies to be sponsored by the city as described in subsection (C)(2) of this section may be submitted in the form of a written request to the planning commission, or may be submitted through an oral presentation at the February planning commission workshop. All proposals must contain the following minimum information:
1. The name, address and phone number of the sponsor(s) and/or interested group who are presenting the request;
2. The type of proposal, as defined by CMC 14.15.020;
3. The specific text and/or map of the comprehensive plan which would be affected by the proposal;
4. Where appropriate, a parcel number, address and/or legal description to establish a general location for any proposed map changes;
5. An explanation of why the proposal is being presented for consideration;
6. A brief explanation of how the proposed amendment(s) address the initial review criteria listed in subsection G of this section; and
7. A brief discussion of how the proposal would be consistent with the Growth Management Act and the Cashmere comprehensive plan.
E. Any private person, organization or agency may apply to the city to have a proposal included in the comprehensive plan amendment process, including those proposals which are denied the request to be city-initiated proposals. Such proposal must be submitted in writing to the city administrator by the last business day of February of each year, and must contain the following information:
1. All items listed in subsection G of this section;
2. Additional information determined by the city administrator as being necessary for an initial evaluation of the proposal including, but not limited to, specific legal descriptions, mapped locations, site plans, environmental information, etc.; and
3. The applicable processing fee for comprehensive plan amendments as determined in the city’s fee schedule.
F. For proposed amendments affecting the unincorporated portions of the city’s UGA, applications from the public shall be submitted to Chelan County by the first business calendar day of March of each year, and will then be forwarded by the county to the city by March 15th. Said applications must be consistent with the provisions of subsections (E)(1), (2) and (3) of this section.
G. At the second regular meeting in March of each year, the city council will conduct a public meeting to review all city-initiated proposals as well as applications for proposals to amend the comprehensive plan submitted under subsections E and F of this section for inclusion in the final list of amendments to be considered for each year. The city administrator will prepare a brief report on each proposal, to be forwarded to the city council seven days prior to the public meeting, using the following criteria as a basis for evaluation:
1. Is the proposed amendment necessary to resolve inconsistencies in the provisions of the comprehensive plan and/or development regulations or to address state or federal mandates?
2. Is the proposed amendment consistent with the Growth Management Act, the county-wide planning policies and the Cashmere comprehensive plan?
3. Is the proposed amendment consistent with the existing comprehensive plan (encompassing any other documents incorporated therein), including the assumptions and/or other factors such as population, employment, land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, economic conditions, etc., contained in the comprehensive plan? If the proposed amendment is inconsistent with any existing aspects of the comprehensive plan, what new or revised assumptions, background information changes, goals, policies, objectives, etc., must be made, and what conditions have changed that warrant such modification?
4. For those proposed amendments that relate to a change in the comprehensive plan land use map, is the proposed designation adjacent to property having a similar and/or compatible designation?
5. Will the proposed amendment affect lands designated as resource lands of long term commercial significance and/or critical areas? If so, how will the proposed amendment impact these areas?
These criteria will assist in determining the amount of work associated with each proposed amendment. The decision to include or not include each proposed amendment on the final list shall be based on available city resources to accomplish the necessary review as projected from the above evaluation.
H. For those proposals initiated under subsection E of this section which are included on the final list of proposed amendments, and for those proposals initiated under subsection F of this section, the applicant will be required to submit information as requested by the city administrator, and will be required to remit the established fee to be utilized as reimbursement for required staff time in analyzing the proposal. Said fee will be expended at the hourly rate established by the city’s fee schedule resolution.
I. Based on the final list of proposed amendments to be reviewed, staff will prepare a report that evaluates all of the proposed amendments, including the required environmental review. The staff report will be an integrated and cumulative analysis that is developed and reviewed with input from the planning commission. Specifically, the report will include, at a minimum, an analysis of the interrelationship of the proposed amendment(s), the criteria set forth in this chapter and the following:
1. Impacts of the proposed action;
2. Impacts of a “no action” alternative;
3. Impacts of staff-recommended and/or other alternatives, if any;
4. Possible mitigation measures; and
5. Unavoidable impacts.
J. The planning commission will review the staff report and will develop out of this review a package of proposed amendments. This package of amendments will be offered for public review by May 1st of each year, beginning the formal public review by the planning commission. At the regular June meeting of each year the planning commission shall hold at least one public hearing on the package of amendments, and shall make a recommendation to be forwarded to the city council, as well as to the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development and other state agencies for the required 60-day review as required under RCW 36.70A.106. The city shall act as lead agency pursuant to the State Environmental Policy Act and CMC Title 18 for those proposals affecting the unincorporated portions of the UGA area. The package of proposed amendments will be evaluated by the planning commission and subsequently forwarded to the city council with the appropriate findings and conclusions based on the following criteria:
1. The amendment is necessary to resolve inconsistencies in the provisions of the comprehensive plan and/or development regulations or to address state or federal mandates;
2. The amendment is consistent with the requirements of the Growth Management Act and the county-wide planning policies;
3. The amendment is consistent with the overall intent of the existing comprehensive plan and the other documents incorporated therein;
4. The amendment is consistent with the assumptions and/or other factors, such as population, employment, land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, economic conditions, etc., contained in the comprehensive plan;
5. The amendment is consistent with and does not adversely affect the supply of land for various purposes which is available to accommodate projected growth over a 20-year period;
6. Where applicable, conditions have changed such that assumptions and/or other factors such as population, employment, land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, economic conditions, etc., contained in the comprehensive plan have been revised and/or enhanced to reflect said conditions;
7. Amendments to the comprehensive plan land use designation map(s) are either consistent and/or compatible with, or do not adversely affect, adjacent land uses and surrounding environment;
8. The amendment is consistent with and does not negatively impact public facilities, utilities and infrastructure, including transportation systems, and any adopted levels of service;
9. The amendment does not adversely affect lands designated as resource lands of long term commercial significance or critical areas.
K. Upon receipt of the planning commission’s recommendation for amendments, the city council will begin their review process, which may include informal public workshops, forums and meetings. Prior to the first regular meeting in August of each year, the city council will hold a public hearing to consider an ordinance to adopt the proposed amendments, either as proposed by the planning commission or as subsequently amended based on public and agency comment and the council’s review, provided the criteria in subsection G of this section has been considered.
L. The city council shall develop a final draft of the proposed amendments along with a final draft of findings of fact and conclusions, and shall direct staff to prepare a report forwarding the city’s recommendation on the unincorporated portions of the UGA to Chelan County. The city will then participate in Chelan County’s review process and advocate the city’s official position on the status of the proposed amendments affecting the unincorporated portions of the UGA.
M. Final adoption of the ordinance implementing the city’s decision on the proposed amendments shall occur prior to the adoption of the city’s annual budget for the next year, and in no instance shall the city council adopt proposed amendments prior to the conclusion of the required 60-day review process. After adopting the amendments by ordinance, the city staff will forward the amendments to the required state and local agencies. (Ord. 973 § 1, 2000).
14.15.040 Emergency and other amendments.
Pursuant to Chapter 36.70A RCW and as defined in CMC 14.15.020(B) and (C), certain amendments to the comprehensive plan may occur outside of the time lines described in this chapter. These amendments will be initiated by the city council, evaluated and analyzed by staff and will be reviewed by the planning commission at a public hearing, from which a recommendation on the proposed amendment(s) will be forwarded to the city council. The city council will evaluate these amendments based on the criteria found in CMC 14.15.030(G), as applicable, and take action on the proposed amendment(s) at a public hearing. (Ord. 973 § 1, 2000).