Title
2021 Code Amendments - Briefing
Recommended Action
Information only. No action requested.
Report
Issue:
Discussion on the revised draft 2021 Code Amendments.
Staff Contact:
Joyce Phillips, Principal Planner, Community Planning and Development, 360.570.3722
Presenter(s):
Joyce Phillips, Principal Planner, Community Planning and Development
Background and Analysis:
The Olympia Municipal Code (OMC) is made up of several Titles, Chapters, and Sections that pertain to a wide variety of topics related to laws and requirements. The Planning Division of the Community Planning and Development Department deals primarily with Title 14 (Environmental Protection), Title 16 (Buildings and Construction), Title 17 (Subdivisions), and Title 18 (Unified Development Code) of the OMC.
It can be challenging to keep code sections consistent with each other and to update the code when clarification is needed or to correct errors. In some cases, such as for the new sign code that was adopted in early 2019, staff seeks amendments related to questions that have come up over the course of using the new code for a year or two. In addition, sometimes a code amendment is desired but by itself does not warrant the time it takes to go through the code amendment process. City staff keep a list of these types of code amendments, generally thought of as minor or of a housekeeping nature, and periodically compiles the proposals into a set of code amendments for review. The last set of such code amendments were proposed in 2019. Staff estimates that these types of amendments will generally occur every two to three years.
The proposal consists of amendments to two chapters in Title 16 related to tree protection measures. These amendments are primarily at the request of the City's Urban Forester. The remainder of the proposed amendments are to Title 18, to a variety of chapters at the request of multiple city planners.
In an attempt to make the proposed amendments easy to follow,...
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