Amendments to the comprehensive plan shall be processed as a legislative review under this title. The following steps, review criteria and application requirements, where necessary, will be applied when reviewing any aspect of the comprehensive plan, except for proposed map amendments (not area-wide) within the unincorporated urban growth area which will be reviewed as outlined in the Chelan County Code.
A. The city council, planning commission and city staff will identify and track issues using a docket which arise over the course of the year which demonstrate inconsistencies and/or deficiencies in any portion of the comprehensive plan. For the purposes of this title, "inconsistencies and/or deficiencies" refers to the absence of required or potentially desirable content of a comprehensive plan. The docket shall be maintained by city staff, consisting of references to specific text and/or map change requests or additions.
B. In early January of each year, the city council and planning commission will hold a joint public workshop to decide on the issues which will be sponsored by the city during the comprehensive plan amendment process. The list of city-initiated proposals will be generated from the following sources:
1. The list of docketed issues maintained by city staff; and/or
2. Proposals from private persons, organizations, and agencies which the council and planning commission decide would serve the public interest and would therefore be appropriately sponsored by the city.
C. Proposals requested by private persons, organizations, and agencies to be sponsored by the city as described in subsection (B)(2) of this section may be submitted in the form of a written request to the city council and planning commission by December 31st of the previous year. All proposals must contain the following minimum information:
1. The name, address and phone number of the sponsor(s) and/or interested group who are presenting the request;
2. The type of proposal, as defined by LMC §
21.31.020;
3. The specific text and/or map of the comprehensive plan which would be affected by the proposal;
4. The parcel number(s), address and legal description to establish the location for any proposed map changes;
5. An explanation of why the proposal is being presented for consideration;
6. An explanation of how the proposed amendment(s) address the review criteria listed in subsection
(E) of this section; and
7. A brief discussion of how the proposal would be consistent with the Growth Management Act (Chapter
36.70A RCW), the adopted county-wide planning policies, and the Leavenworth comprehensive plan.
D. Any private person, organization or agency may apply to the city to have a map amendment, as defined in LMC §
21.31.020, included in the comprehensive plan amendment process, including those proposals which have previously been denied the request to be city-initiated. Map amendments for the unincorporated portions of the urban growth area must be submitted to Chelan County as provided for in the Chelan County Code. All required application materials must be submitted to the city by January 31st of each year, and must contain the following information:
1. All items listed in subsection
(C) of this section;
2. Additional information determined by the city as being necessary for evaluation of the proposal including, but not limited to, specific legal descriptions, mapped locations, site plans, environmental information, etc.; and
3. The applicable processing fee for comprehensive plan amendments as determined in the city's fee schedule. Said fee will be expended at the hourly rate established in the adopted city schedule resolution for the required staff time in analyzing the proposed amendment.
E. The city council will conduct a public meeting to review all city-initiated proposals, applications for proposals to amend the comprehensive plan submitted under subsection
(D) of this section, and proposed map amendments forwarded by Chelan County, for inclusion in the final list of amendments to be considered for each year. City staff will prepare a brief report on each proposal, to be forwarded to the city council seven days prior to the public meeting. For proposed city-initiated amendments, the following criteria shall be used as a basis for evaluation:
1. Is the proposed amendment necessary to resolve inconsistencies in the provisions of the comprehensive plan and/or development regulations or to address state or federal mandates?
2. Is the proposed amendment consistent with the Growth Management Act, the county-wide planning policies and the Leavenworth comprehensive plan?
3. Is the proposed amendment consistent with the existing comprehensive plan (encompassing any other documents incorporated therein), including the assumptions and/or other factors such as population, employment, land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, economic conditions, etc., contained in the comprehensive plan? If the proposed amendment is inconsistent with any existing aspects of the comprehensive plan, what new or revised assumptions, background information changes, goals, policies, objectives, etc., must be made, and what conditions have changed that warrant such modification?
4. For those proposed amendments which relate to a change in the comprehensive plan land use map, is the proposed designation adjacent to property having a similar and/or compatible designation?
5. Will the proposed amendment affect lands designated as resource lands of long-term commercial significance and/or critical areas? If so, how will the proposed amendment impact these areas?
F. For proposed amendments initiated under subsection
(D) of this section and map amendments forwarded to the city by Chelan County, a brief overview of proposed amendments will be provided in the staff report.
G. Based on the final list of proposed amendments to be reviewed, city staff will prepare a report which evaluates all of the proposed amendments, including the required environmental review. The staff report which will be an integrated and cumulative analysis will be developed. Specifically, the report will include, at a minimum, an analysis of the interrelationship of the proposed amendment(s), the criteria set forth in this chapter and the following:
1. Probable impacts of the proposed action;
2. Probable impacts of a "no action" alternative;
3. Impacts of staff-recommended and/or other alternatives, if any;
4. Possible mitigation measures;
6. Analysis of all review criteria as required in this chapter and Chapter
14.14, Chelan County Code.
H. The planning commission will begin review of the staff report and any supplemental information. The proposed amendments will be available for public review and will be forwarded to the appropriate state agencies for 60-day review as required under RCW
36.70A.106. The planning commission shall hold at least one public hearing on the amendments, and shall make a recommendation to be forwarded to the city council with appropriate findings of fact and conclusions based on the following criteria:
1. The amendment is necessary to resolve inconsistencies in the provisions of the comprehensive plan and/or development regulations or to address state or federal mandates;
2. The amendment is consistent with the requirements of the Growth Management Act and the county-wide planning policies;
3. The amendment is consistent with the overall intent of the existing comprehensive plan and the other documents incorporated therein;
4. The amendment is consistent with the assumptions and/or other factors such as population, employment, land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, economic conditions, etc., contained in the comprehensive plan;
5. The amendment is consistent with and does not adversely affect the supply of land for various purposes which is available to accommodate projected growth over a 20-year period;
6. Where applicable, conditions have changed such that assumptions and/or other factors such as population, employment, land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, economic conditions, etc., contained in the comprehensive plan have been revised and/or enhanced to reflect said conditions;
7. Amendments to the comprehensive plan land use designation map(s) are either consistent and/or compatible with, or do not adversely affect, adjacent land uses and surrounding environment;
8. The amendment is consistent with and does not negatively impact public facilities, utilities and infrastructure, including transportation systems, and any adopted levels of service;
9. The amendment does not adversely affect lands designated as resource lands of long-term commercial significance or critical areas.
I. Upon receipt of the planning commission's recommendation for amendments, the city council will begin their review process, which may include informal public workshops, forums and meetings. Prior to the end of each year, the city council will hold a public hearing to consider an ordinance to adopt the proposed amendments, either as proposed by the planning commission or as subsequently amended based on public and agency comment and the council's review, provided the criteria in subsection
(H) of this section have been considered, and the criteria as outlined in the Chelan County Code, as applicable. In no instance shall the city council adopt proposed amendments prior to the conclusion of the required 60-day review process as required under RCW
36.70A.106. After adopting the amendments by ordinance, city staff will forward the amendments to the required state and local agencies. The city shall also forward all recommendations for proposed map amendments within the unincorporated portions of the urban growth area to Chelan County for review per the requirements contained in the Chelan County Code.
(Ord. 1158 § 3, 2001; Ord. 1415 § 1 (Att. A), 2012)