Commission says OK to Freeland plan

Published 11:00 am Saturday, October 6, 2007

COUPEVILLE — Freeland’s growth plan cleared one of its final hurdles in the would-be city’s march toward becoming an urban growth area Tuesday afternoon.

After deliberating for nearly six hours, the Island County Planning Commission signed off on the plan. They will now ask county commissioners to make Freeland a non-municipal urban growth area, or NMUGA.

“I am very glad the planning commission reached a decision today,” said Jeff Tate, director of the county’s planning department. “It is a significant milestone. Now we can move forward.”

“I think the commission members were well-versed in the issues,” he added. “I think it went as well as it could.”

Some on the commission, however, said they had a tough time with the highly detailed document that’s filled with growth policies .

“It is so complex. We have been so overwhelmed with trying to understand it,” said Val Hillers, chairwoman of the commission.

“The planning commission members spent a lot of time understanding the plan. And only yesterday, I finally felt as though I had these pieces sorted out. I feel like we really worked through it and did what needed to be done.”

The commission also recommended changes to some parts of the plan while leaving other parts alone.

The battle over whether the words “should” or “shall” would be in the growth policies was examined at length during the deliberations.

Tate identified only two areas within the plan’s current language where the use of the directive word “shall” might constrict development. The commissioners eventually voted 5-2 to leave the language in the plan as it was written originally.

The commission also tackled several contentious zoning questions.

A number of Freeland business owners had said the proposed zoning designations in the plan did not cover light industrial or manufacturing.

The commission voted to change the definition of business general to include light manufacturing and industrial use, which would allow the businesses to continue operating as-is.

Another area that also drew much interest from the Freeland community was the zoning for Freeland Hill.

The growth plan had proposed increasing the zoning to a density that could allow 60 to 90 homes to be built on the 20 acres of forested area above the Freeland Library.

But after one of the property owners asked to keep the land at low density zoning, with the potential for future small, clustered housing developments, the commission recommended that both 10 acre parcels on Freeland Hill be zoned low density residential.

The commission then deliberated on and recommended the creation of a design review committee. The group would be assembled to create design standards and write development rules for Freeland.

The commission, being an advisory panel, will send its recommendations to the county commissioners for a decision..

No date has been set for a hearing or meeting with the county commissioners, but planning department officials said it will be at least November before the recommendations could be seen by the county commissioners.

Spencer Webster can be reached at 221-5300 or swebster@southwhidbeyrecord.com.