The Grays Harbor County Planning Commission just started a series of community meetings to gather citizen comment on the comprehensive plan update. I would like to invite your group's comment on the direction the update should point the county over the next 20 to 50 years. Attached is a memo that will help focus your response . Also attached is some statistical information that is pertinent to the plan update We are attempting to consider all the various views that are expressed by citizens, organizations and other public agencies.
Thank you for your participation. Also feel free to share this request.
The next community meeting will be held in the Montesano City Hall, 2nd floor, April 26 at 7:00 PM. The meeting is centered around Central Park but people have come from as far as McCleary.
Kenneth Kimura, Secretary
Grays Harbor County Planning Commission
| TO: | Interested Organizations |
| FROM: | GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION |
| RE: | COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE 1999 |
Grays Harbor County is updating its comprehensive plan. The old plan directed the county toward a future in heavy industrial manufacturing on lands surrounding the harbor, the rail lines and the major highways. Recreational use of the bay is discouraged. The hill areas around the cities are seen as places for residential expansion. The old plan discourages commercial sprawl, however it promoted commercial centers serving residential communities. The plan recommended conservation of timber lands which resulted in the 5 acre lots on general development land. It also recommended conservation of agricultural lands that is now in 40 and 10 acre agricultural zones.
The Grays Harbor County Planning Commission asks your help in updating the comprehensive plan. What course for future development should the county follow? We would appreciate your ideas about the future of agricultural lands, timber lands, industrial lands, commercial lands and residential lands. What future transportation plans should the county promote?
Please submit your response to the Grays Harbor County Planning Commission c/o Bob Witzl, Deputy Planning Director at 100 West Broadway, Suite 31, Montesano, WA 98563 or you may wish to respond by e-mail at rwitzl@co.grays-harbor.wa.us. If you with to call, the number is (360) 249-5579 ext. 436.
Thank you for your participation.
Present Summary of Grays Harbor County Land Use
Grays Harbor County's boundary is set by RCW 36.04.140. Its west boundary is the west boundary of the state in the Pacific Ocean. The state constitution establishes the west boundary under Article XXIV. The west boundary of the state is given as one marine league due west of and opposite the shore and parallel with the coast line. Within the boundary of the county, there is an estimated 1,333,000 acres or about 2,083 square miles. Excluding marine waters from the Pacific Ocean and Grays Harbor, the land area is about 1,927 square miles.
About 7% or 155 square miles of the County is marine waters at mean sea level (MSL). Grays Harbor, at mean higher high water (MHHW), is 91 square miles. At mean lower low water (MLLW), 53 square miles of tideland are exposed.
There are nine incorporated cities within the county. Ocean Shores and Westport are located on the north and south entrance of the harbor, Hoquiam, Aberdeen and Cosmopolis are located at the mouth of the Chehalis River. Montesano, Elma and Oakville are located in the Chehalis River valley and Oakville is located at the eastern end of the county along SR 8. The total land area of the incorporated cities is just over 49 square miles or 2.4% of the total county area.
The Quinault Indian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation: Two Indian reservations are located in the county. The Quinault Indian Reservation occupies a triangular area at the northwest part of the county. There are about 313 square miles in the reservation. This represents 15% of the county land area. The reservation boundaries include the water surface of Lake Quinault to the high water mark and it excludes the Pacific Ocean waterward of the low water mark as surveyed by A.C. Smith. The Chehalis Indian Reservation is in the southeast corner of the county and lies partly in Thurston County. The original area of the reservation was 4,225 acres or 6.6 sq. miles. Of this, 5.52 square miles are in Grays Harbor County. The Chehalis Indian Reservation represents .3% of the county area.
The Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest: There are 12,111 acres or 19 square miles of the 1,441.64 square mile Olympic National Park lands in Grays Harbor County. The Olympic National Park land in the county is 1.3% of the total park area and it represents .9% of the total area of the county. There are 138,502.22 acres or 216.41 square miles of U.S. Forest Service land in the county. This represents just over 10% of the total county land area.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources manages uplands and submerged lands. DNR manages 84,727 acres of uplands or 132.39 square miles within the county. The uplands represent 6.4% of the total area in the county.
In 1951, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 92.53% of Grays Harbor County was placed in three classes of forest lands. These classes were described as 1) commercial forest, unreserved, 2) commercial forest, reserved, and 3) noncommercial forest. Excluding "commercial forest, reserved" (primarily lands in the Olympic National Park) and "noncommercial forest" lands provides a comparison of commercial timber growing lands between 1950 and 1990. The Department of Agriculture reported 1,098,620 acres in "commercial forest, unreserved" or timber production. The adjusted timber growing lands represented 1,716.6 square miles or 82.42% of total area in the county. Today, timber growing lands are determined from tax codes and public agency management directives. Under current management plans, the U.S. Forest Service manages 13,738.22 acres (21.47 sq. miles) for timber. The rest, 124,763.98 acres (194.94 sq. miles) is managed for recreation, habitat and environmental protection. In a similar manner, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources manages 78,502 acres or 122.66 sq. miles (6% of total land and water area of county) for timber production. Total non-timber managed areas in Natural Area Preserves and Natural Resource Conservation units is 6,225 acres or 9.73 sq. miles (less than .5% of total county area). Table 1 below reports total land area managed for timber production from all county sources.
Table 1
| Source | Sq. Miles | % of County |
| Olympic National Forest | 21.47 | 1% |
| DNR | 122.66 | 6% |
| Grays Harbor County | 54.92 | 3% |
| Combined Cities | 19.93 | 1% |
| Classified Forest Assessments | 962.92 | 46% |
| Designated Forest Assessments | 38.06 | 1.8% |
| Timberland Classified Assessments | 3.24 | .1% |
| Total all sources | 1223.2 | 58.7% |
Total land area actively managed for timber production is estimated at 58.7%
Land in Agriculture:
The current census of agriculture reported that there were 389 active farms in 1997. The land area of these farms was reported at 42,350 acres or 3.2% of the county area. The land area currently zoned for agriculture is 56,943 acres or 4.3 percent of the county area.
Limitation of data:
The size of the county is determined from its boundary description contained in state law (Revised Code of Washington) and the state constitution. This area was given as 2082.62 square miles. Information about land use and zoning is entered in the data base by parcel records. Unfortunately, the total area of land parcels carried in the assessor's records will not total the area within the boundary of the county. The reason for this is that a parcel record is not created for all areas of the county and some parcel records only reflect an appraisal of personal property such as a building. Except for tidelands and patented oyster beds, the sea beds are not assigned parcel numbers. In addition, some types of exempt lands (lands not taxed) are not given parcel numbers. Land owned by the United States Forest Service is an example.
The Washington State Office of Financial Management annually estimates populations for all counties and incorporated places. The estimates are the basis for revenue distribution and require accuracy that will not be found in population forecasts that estimate peak demand. An example of a peak demand forecast is population projection for water systems. A water system needs to be sized for a maximum usage and forecasts will make speculative assumptions about everything from economic trends, transient populations and migration. The OFM estimate for 1998 is given in tabular form:
| Municipality | 1990 | 1995 | 1998 |
| Grays Harbor County | 64,175 | 67,700 | 67,900 |
| Unincorporated | 25,000 (39%) | 26,930 (40%) | 26,625 (39%) |
| Incorporated | 39,175 (61%) | 40,770 (60%) | 41,275 (61%) |
| Gross Density | |||
| Unincorporated | 31people/sq. mile | 33 people/sq. mile | 33 people/sq. mile |
| Incorporated | 793/sq. mile | 825/sq. mile | 835/sq. mile |
The OFM estimated high, medium and low population projections. For Grays Harbor County, including the incorporated places, the year 2020 high, medium and low projections are 97,231 people, 86,308 people and 78,822 people respectively. Historically, Grays Harbor has experienced the low side of the projections.
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