ORDINANCE: County commissioners approve flood-hazard changes, drawing criticism from several quarters
By John Henderer,The Chronicle, The Chronicle,11/24/198
New regulations will limit - but not prohibit - Lewis County property owners from raising low-lying properties in the flood plain with fill material.
In three separate actions designed to help control flooding, Lewis County commissioners Monday approved changes to the flood hazard prevention ordinance and building codes, and adopted a new storm water ordinance.
Commissioners deleted certain provisions in the proposed ordinances, angering members of a citizen advisory flood control committee, but pleasing some business interests and home builders.
THE CHANGES CAME during three hours of public hearings in which officials sometimes became confused as to which ordinance they were discussing.
The ordinances allow filling and grading to continue in the flood plain under a variety of circumstances.
A grading permit, for example, will be required only where the applicant plans to move more than 500 truckloads of dirt around on his or her property.
Filling in the flood plain can continue, but under the new rules, the applicant must show it will have a "beneficial purpose," facilitating business or home construction and the like.
Property owners must "to the extent practicable" obtain fill material from the building site or nearby, or from within the flood plain, before hauling it down from the hills.
Commissioner Richard Graham said this provision may be onerous if fill material is not available on the site.
"I think the intent is just to minimize that," said Dennis Sabin, county building official.
BESIDES DELETING parts of the ordinances they deemed unacceptable, commissioners - under opposition from home builders - also backed off of a proposal to increase building permit fees by 55 percent.
The fee for a $100,000 home would have gone from $639.50 to $993.75.
They agreed to meet later with home builders to review the increases.
They also cut proposed plan review fees, which could have been as high as 65 percent of building permit fees.
Home builders protested they had not been consulted, and complained their fees were subsidizing other county government offices.
The county Community Development Department, which also provides code enforcement and environmental regulation, receives $900,000 from the general fund, said Ray Miller, department director.
Commissioners acknowledged the decision to scrap fee increases would likely hamper efforts to trim $1.45 million from budget requests by the week of Dec. 7.
"We may be backing ourselves into a comer," Commissioner Glenn Aldrich said.
Leslie Rowe, a Centralia-area resident, urged commissioners to stop filling in the flood plain. Her home and her neighbors' homes were not in a flood zone 20 years ago, but now they are, she said. In addition, the homes would likely sell for $30,000 less because of the flooding hazard, she said.
COMMISSIONERS VOTED unanimously Monday except in one case to delete a section in a proposed ordinance regarding hazards.
The section would have provided an administrative tool to correct existing excavation or fills that have become a hazard, granting the building official authority to order the hazard repaired or eliminated.
Members of the Lewis County Planning Commission opposed the hazard section for its perceived broad authority.
Commission Chairman Russ Wigley voted against this deletion.
Ilona Peterson, a member of the Lewis County Flood Control Zone Citizens Advisory Committee, protested the 2-1 decision.
"You have just wiped out something that could have helped protect health and safety," she said before Wigley gaveled her down.
COMMISSIONERS expressed general dissatisfaction with the proposed ordinances, but said they felt obligated to take some action.
"In my reading of the three ordinances, in every case, we're missing the point," Aldrich said, adding, "We need to have something on the record."
Graham added the county has heard "rumors" state and federal officials are displeased with the county's nearly unrestricted filling policies, while at the same time attempting to control flooding.
A $1.1 million flood-control study on the Chehalis River Basin has at least $600,000 funding from the state.
"I think we need to do something," Graham said. "Grays Harbor (officials) complain every time they come up here, they say they see new fills going in."
This makes it difficult to justify the county's claim of making a good-faith effort to control flooding, he said.
In a surprise action last year, commissioners voted in favor a moratorium against filling in the flood plain. But they reversed the decision one day later after recognizing they had not followed laws requiring public notice.
This year, commissioners declined to follow a recommendation from the Flood Control Citizens Committee to ban filling for one year, and to study effects of the practice.
The Port of Chehalis lobbied against changes to filling policies and building codes. Its comments came in a three-page letter from Heidi Pehl, port executive director.
"This is a highly emotional issue and I do not believe regulations should be based on emotion but scientific data and facts," Pehl said in the letter, although she did not speak publicly. "I would like to see your scientific data that has led you to this point."
Commissioners also approved a storm water runoff ordinance requiring plans for subdivision developments, exempting most individual family homes, as well as farming and timber development.
Exempt homes have less than 5,000 square feet of impervious surfaces roofing, parking and decking - or cover less than 15 percent of a property lot that is larger than .77 acres.
THE COUNTY will revisit the ordinances, voting at Aldrich's suggestion, to send them back to county employees for review regarding compliance with the federal Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
The storm water ordinance does not comply, according to a state official.
"For the record, I want to assure you that it is not (in compliance)," said Gary Kruger, storm water program specialist with the state Department of Ecology.
John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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