Moratorium may be temporary answer
for Lopez UGA questions
posted 04/01/02
After two deadline extensions, time is running out for the county's response to the Growth Management Hearings Board May 7, 2001 ruling concerning the Urban Growth Areas in Lopez Village and Eastsound. The board told the county it needed to complete a capital urban facilities and services analysis before the boundaries of the UGAs could be established. WIth the question of water availability in Lopez Village still unanswered, county staff are suggesting a moratorium on development in parts of the village.
Since the work was not finished in time, planner Pat Mann is worried the hearings board will throw out the entire UGA and the village will revert to a rural designation. If that happened the allowable density would change to one unit per five acres. By voluntarily imposing a moratorium while the county finishes up its analysis of water availability, the county could preserve the UGA. Without the UGA it will be virtually impossible to provide the affordable housing necessary for Lopez Island according to Mann. He estimates the county will have enough information about water availability in six months.
The core of Lopez Village is not included in the proposed moratorium. (The red hatched area on the mao shows the proposed moratorium. The black jagged line is the UGA boundary.) "We are proposing the core be allowed to develop at urban densities in the meantime, since the area is served by water and sewer," he told the county Planning Commission at its March 15, 2002 meeting. In the area affected by the moratorium, Mann recommends:
Development on a parcel in the moratorium area is limited to one residential unit, or nonresidential development with water use not more than that of two residential units, subject to requirements of the Unified Development Code.
Any property owner who has already received preliminary subdivision approval would not be affected by the moratorium.
The issues regarding the boundaries of the Eastsound UGA include an airport overlay district.
A consultant hired by the county recommended scaling back the size of the Eastsound UGA. A 25 percent market factor was recommended by the consultant. The county is looking at a 100 percent market factor. A map of areas which could be dropped or added to the Eastsound UGA is available on the county's Web site. The market factor refers to the amount of land beyond what is necessary to meet the needs. By having more, the prices are not artificially inflated.
Mann told the planning commission, "Our recommendation is to keep the boundaries where they are. It is a strategic move to push the boundary forward for consideration and have a fall back position." The reasons for inclusion or exclusion of each of the 30 to 50 sub-areas will be documented he said.
The Board of County Commissioners will hold a worksession at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2002 to discuss the Eastsound and Lopez Village UGAs. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 8:45 a.m. Friday, April 5 in the commissioners' hearing room in the county Courthouse. The BOCC's public hearing is set for April 16, 2002.
The county is required to act on the changes by May 2, 2002. Because of a requirement for a 60 day review by the state prior to adoption of the comp plan changes, the deadline will not be met. A draft was sent to the state on March 20, 2002. The first day the BOCC can make a decision is May 20, 2002 according to Mann.
|
