Drafter
Clerk 06/08/2021
Title
A MOTION requesting the executive review rural industrial uses and lands as part of the 2024 King County Comprehensive Plan update.
Body
WHEREAS, King County enacted the 1994 King County Comprehensive Plan to meet the requirements of the Washington State Growth Management Act ("the GMA"), and
WHEREAS, 2016 marked the fifth major review and update of the Comprehensive Plan. Under the county's policies and regulations, the 2016 review constitutes an eight-year amendment, and
WHEREAS, in RCW 36.70A.130, the GMA requires cities and counties to update their comprehensive plans once every eight years. The GMA authorizes, but does not require, cities and counties to amend their comprehensive plans annually. For King County, the next required GMA deadlines is 2024, and
WHEREAS, K.C.C. 20.18.060 requires the county to adopt a scope of work for the 2024 King County Comprehensive Plan in September 2022, and
WHEREAS, in the 2020 midpoint point update for the Comprehensive Plan, the county reviewed policies and regulations related to "Non-Resource Industrial Uses in the Rural Area," but ultimately, no changes to those policies were adopted as part of the 2020 update as they were more extensive than allowed as part of the limited scope midpoint update, and
WHEREAS, a full review of the industrial uses in the Rural Area land use designation and zoning classification will take additional time, beyond the time anticipated in the King County Code for development of the executive’s recommended 2024 Comprehensive Plan, which is required to be transmitted to the council in July 2023, and
WHEREAS, recent permit applications have demonstrated the need for a robust evaluation of the industrial land use classifications, zoning designations and related policies, permitted uses and development regulations;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A. The council requests that the executive prepare, in collaboration and coordination with councilmembers whose districts include rural unincorporated areas, a study that evaluates the appropriateness of industrial land uses, zoning, and development in rural unincorporated King County.
B. The study should include the following elements:
1. Definitions of industrial use, industrial land use designations and industrial zoning, and how the county's existing policies, designations, classifications and regulations fit within those definitions;
2. An inventory of parcels that currently have an industrial land use designation or zoning, or both and a description of the permit or legal nonconforming status of each;
3. An inventory of uses that, under the King County Code, are considered permitted industrial uses, and identification of what zoning classifications those industrial uses are permitted in;
4. An inventory of current industrial uses in the rural area or natural resource lands and a description of the permit or legal nonconforming status of each; and
5. Evaluation of whether there are conflicts between industrial land uses with the GMA, existing Comprehensive Plan policies, such as compatibility with the surrounding area, critical area regulations or other development regulations; and
6. Proposed policy, map or development regulation amendments to mitigate or eliminate those conflicts.
C. The recommendations from the study shall inform the scope of work for the 2024 King County Comprehensive Plan in regards to the policies and regulations related to those uses.
D. No later than March 1, 2022, the executive should electronically file the rural industrial land study and a motion that should acknowledge receipt of the study, with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the electronic copy and provide an electronic copy
to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff, the chief policy officer and the lead staff for the mobility and environment committee, or its successor.