Title
Public Hearing on Downtown Urban Infill Area State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Ordinance
Recommended Action
Hold public hearing
Report
Issue:
Whether to recommend City Council adoption of an ordinance to establish Downtown as a SEPA urban infill exemption allowance area.
Staff Contact:
Leonard Bauer, Deputy Director, Community Planning & Development, 360.753.8206
Presenter(s):
Leonard Bauer, Deputy Director
Background and Analysis:
In 2015, the City Council adopted a scope for the Downtown Strategy (DTS) which included exploring increased SEPA exemption levels for minor construction projects and/or urban infill development that is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. During 2016, the DTS planning team explored these options in light of Downtown goals. The DTS adopted by the City Council recommends designating a Downtown Urban Infill SEPA Exemption Area. The memo from the DTS explaining this recommendation is attached.
The purpose of designating an urban infill SEPA exemption area is not to reduce environmental risk assessment or mitigation. State law established the urban infill exemption option to reduce duplicative process in areas where a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was previously conducted on a Comprehensive Plan that calls for urban infill development, such as Olympia's downtown. The EIS assessed the potential environmental impacts of implementing the Comprehensive Plan.
To be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan goals, the City has adopted mitigation measures for environmental issues directly into the City's codes and development requirements, which all new development proposals must meet. Because environmental issues are addressed upfront in the development code, an additional SEPA review for each development project is duplicative. Exempting projects from that duplicative SEPA review process helps to reduce uncertain development costs and permit review times, and is a way to incentivize development that meet...
Click here for full text