County Council Meets Monday on Orcas for Eastsound Planning and Country Corner Hearing

Recent EPRC meeting clarifies objections to County’s LAMIRD plans for Country Corner

The County Council comes  once again on Orcas Island on Monday, Feb. 8. On the agenda are reports from the Eastsound Planning Review Committee and hearings about the proposed Country Corner commercial LAMIRD (Limited Area of More Intense Rural Development).

At its monthly meeting on Feb. 4, the EPRC again voiced its objections to the Country Corner LAMIRD being removed from the Eastsound Sub-area Plan. The removal of the 6 lots of the proposed commercial LAMIRD from the long-standing Sub-area Plan is supported by County Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord’s office; EPRC members Fred Klein and Patty Miller, while in support of establishing the LAMIRD, repeated their opposition to removal of the proposed LAMIRD from the Sub-area Plan.

Gaylord has said that the removal of the Country Corner LAMIRD would be consistent with how other “Activity Centers” on the island, such as Orcas Village and Deer Harbor, have been handled; it would also move towards making the Eastsound Sub-area boundaries  consistent with the Eastsound  Urban Growth Area (UGA) boundaries.

However, recent EPRC members and the public have voiced resistance to the removal component of the ordinance establishing Country Corner as a commercial LAMIRD. Those objecting state that the Eastsound  Sub-area Plan boundaries  were established in 1981 by Orcas Islanders intent on maintaining the rural character of the island, and that, by removing the 6 Country Corner lots from the Sub-area, land that is a “logical” area for  commercial expansion for the Eastsound  “municipal” area will be limited.

Miller said, “We as a community planned for the Eastsound Sub-area, always to provide and to anticipate and manage how change will occur and provide a tangible vision for future growth. The Sub-area Plan, with regular public meetings, has provided framework and form to grapple with local planning and land use issues that would be troublesome to deal with wholly in Friday Harbor.”

Klein added “My sense of the Sub-area Plan was that it was a defined area that the community decided was an area that needed to be looked at as we grew and as time passes. The Subarea has nothing to do with an Urban Growth Area; [those are] two different designations to deal with different issues.

“The GMA [Growth Management Act] clearly allows for subarea plans to exist, and San Juan County with its subarea plans … has adopted a subarea planning strategy. So there’s no legal requirement under GMA that a subarea be consistent with an UGA.”

EPRC Chair Gulliver Rankin added, “The Subarea boundaries were expanded to their present extent to  represent the  logical geographic areas for planning, which is expected to accommodate virtually all of its commercial growth.”

Klein proposed that, on Feb. 8, as the County Council deliberates on the creation of LAMIRD at Country Corner, the EPRC communicate that it:

• Supports fully creation of a commercial LAMIRD at Country Corner;
• Commends County staff on the public process involved;
• States its opposition to the removal of the LAMIRD from the Eastsound Sub-area Plan; and
• Recommends the Council direct the Planning Department and the EPRC to keep LAMIRD in the Sub-area and review applicable regulations.

Klein stated the EPRC’s understanding of the planned removal of the LAMIRD was based on:

1)      Desired consistency with other activity centers
2)      Belief that Eastsound  Sub-area is “a relic of previous planning”
3)      Belief that subarea boundaries  should be consistent with UGA boundaries

To which Klein suggested the EPRC reply:

1)      The Country Corner LAMIRD has differences from other activity centers – chiefly, that the area is much smaller;
2)      Subarea planning is not a relic of pre-GMA planning, but specifically addressed in state law, as recently as 2007
3)      There is  no legal requirement of UGA-Sub-area boundary conformity
4)      From a planning standpoint, the Eastsound  Sub-area boundaries should be allowed to remain where they are.

In summary, Klein proposed that the EPRC “urge the Council to keep the Country Corner area within the bounds of the Sub-area Plan.”

In addition to their position on Country Corner, the EPRC’s 2010 priorities will be presented to the County Council at 11 a.m. Miller is slated to present a report on the EPRC’s recent objectives and its 2010 work plans.

With the resignation of Mindy Kayl and Ted Tidrington, the EPRC is seeking two new members. Those interested should contact the EPRC at esplreco@yahoo.com.