Title
Deliberation: Code Amendment to Change Rezone Hearing Body
Body
Issue:
Potential change to Development Code so that the Planning Commission, rather than the Hearing Examiner, holds public hearings and makes recommendation regarding proposed changes to the zoning map when a Comprehensive Plan amendment is not required.
Staff Contact:
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner, (360) 753-8597
Presenter(s):
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner
Background and Analysis:
The Planning Commission holds a public hearing and makes recommendation to the City Council regarding most zoning map amendments. However, Chapter 18.58 of Olympia's development code provides that "privately initiated rezones" (zoning map amendments) that do not require a Comprehensive Plan amendment shall be heard by the Olympia Hearing Examiner and that the Examiner shall make a recommendation to the City Council. As required by state law, the Council makes the final decision for the City regarding all zoning and development code amendments. During the last twenty years the Examiner has rarely held such hearings because most rezones required a Plan amendment. In fact, senior staff cannot recall any examples of the Examiner holding a rezone hearing during this period.
The Commission and staff have recommended a more general Future Land Use map as part of the Comprehensive Plan update now pending before the City Council. If approved by the Council, this change in the Plan is likely to lead to more rezone proposals that do not require a Plan amendment - and thus the provision above would once again be more often applicable. When recommending the Plan update, the Commission also recommended the City reconsider whether privately-initiated zoning map amendments not requiring a Plan amendment should continue to be heard by the Examiner, or instead the development code should be changed to provide that the Commission holds hearings and makes recommendations regarding all zoning map amendments. Neit...
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