Council, planners work on zoning ordinance

Members of the Town of Cathlamet town council and town planning commission held a joint meeting March 2 to work out differences in the proposed updates to the town zoning ordinance.

The council has at least twice sent proposed updates back to the planners for more work. After the latest rejection, planners worked on the ordinance and invited the council to meet and go over the latest draft so that objections could be identified and resolved before the draft went to a regular council meeting for action.

At the meeting, planners explained their concepts and made some changes suggested by the council. Planners talked about having another meeting to go over the proposal but later dropped that idea. Instead, they'll wait for further direction from the council.

" From what I have heard from individual planning commissioners, they seem to think that they have provided the council with enough material that can be crafted into ordinance language without further work by the planning commission," planning commission Chair Dick Swart said Monday. "I shared this with the Mayor this morning.

"At this point, there is nothing on the agenda for the commission's April 6 meeting other than approval of the minutes for the March 2 workshop meeting."

Among the issues discussed were:

--The planners added the term "barrier" to the ordinance to cover fences, hedges, walls and similar structures. They proposed that barrier heights be based on the grade of the property, not the street level as in the existing ordinance.

The planners said heights and set backs were set at the recommendation of emergency responders for sight and access safety reasons.

Front yard barriers can be 42 inches high; side and back yard heights are limited to six feet. Chain link or other fences transparent to the eye can be five feet in the front yard.

On corner lots, barriers would be limited to 42 inches and set back 15 feet from the street.

In commercial areas, transparent barriers may be five feet high in the front and eight feet high on the sides and back.

Swimming pools may be located only in rear or side yards, and they must be enclosed by a fence.

Planners initially suggested that barriers shall not be constructed of barbed or electrified wire or of material designed to injure.

Council members suggested that existing barriers be permitted by grandfathering; town Attorney Tom Doumit said he could modify the ordinance to include that provision.

The council members also said they would tour the town to examine barriers and determine how they would be affected by the proposals.

--The existing zoning ordinance includes regulations for signs. Planners had several suggestions designed to make signs uniform throughout the town, but some council members suggested the provisions could hamper businesses and needed more discussion.

Planners voted to pull the signage provisions out of the zoning ordinance and submit them later as a separate ordinance.

--The planners proposed that appeals of zoning issues brought before the town board of equalization must be made to the council within 20 days of the decision, and the council must hear the appeal at its next meeting. Council members and Mayor George Wehrfritz suggested a long period in case the council needed to do some fact finding, so the planners agreed a 60 day limit would work and bring the appeal to the table within two council meetings.

--Planners added a provision in the residential district section that declared that temporary buildings not subject to building permits shall be included in the regulations of the chapter.

--At the request of Wahkiakum PUD, the planners added a provision for commercial and industrial districts mandating that additional set back distances may be required for utility easements.