Island County to simplify its code

For years, there have been complaints that Island County’s land-use code is too complicated for both the public and planners.

Planning and Community Development staff told county commissioners Wednesday that the finishing touches of consolidating, simplifying and fixing the code’s language and layout were almost complete.

“It’s going to avoid so many problems with misunderstandings,” Commissioner Helen Price Johnson said at the meeting.

Price Johnson has been advocating for the code simplification since she ran for office in 2008, she said.

Assistant Planning Director Beverly Mesa Zendt said the main issue was the number of times the same things were referenced in different sections of the code. She said the repetition of references could lead to some areas getting missed when updates were done.

Staff encountered areas in which terms used inside the code didn’t match the definitions section, uses that had different permit types without qualifiers for when to use which type and conditional uses confusingly incorporated into standards.

The project, which started in mid-January, focused on sections related to land-use tables, zoning district standards, land-use standards and accident potential zones.

Staff created one comprehensive table to eliminate redundant references throughout the document. For example, different types of agricultural products were referenced 13 times in seven separate sections.

Staff moved all the instances of similar or the same language to one rural lands use table and consolidated the list of separate permitted uses into one: “Agricultural products — Growing, harvesting, managing, selling and processing.”

Changes were also made to address inconsistencies regarding accessory uses. Multiple definitions existed and different standards and uses were presented in different sections.

Mesa Zendt said staff is on track to bring all the changes to the county planning commission on May 5. When the changes are adopted, they will appear on the county’s online database of its ordinances.

She said the next section to undergo fixes will likely be development standards.

Island County code can be accessed at www.islandcountywa.gov/planning.