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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3151 OrdinanceORDINANCE NO,, 3,1. .5 / AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES AND ADDING A NEW TITLE 4T0 THE MUNICIPAL CODE WHEREAS, the Regulatory Reform Act (Chapter 347 of the Laws of Washington) requires the City to establish a permit review process that provides for (1) consolidated review and decisions on two or more project permits relating to a proposed action, (2) combined environmental review with other permits, (3) no more than one open record hearing and one - closed record appeal on development actions, except for appeal of a determination of significance, and for the issuance of the City's final decision within 120 days after submission of a complete application, and WHEREAS, the Act requires the City to adopt such permit review process by March 31, 1996 NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASCO, WASHINGTON DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS Section 1 There is hereby added a new Title 4 to the Pasco Municipal Code to read as follows CHAPTER 402 PERMIT PROCESS 4 02 010 PURPOSE The purpose of this Title is to establish a mechanism for implementing the provisions of Chapter 36 70A RCW regarding compliance, conformity, and consistency of proposed projects with adopted comprehensive plans and develop regulations In order to achieve this purpose the City Council finds that (1) Given the extensive investment that public agencies and a broad spectrum of the public are making and will continue to make in comprehensive plans and development regulations, it is essential that project review start from the fundamental land use planning choices made in these plans and regulations If the applicable regulations or plans identify the type of land use, specify residential density in urban growth areas, and identify and provide for funding of public facilities needed to serve the proposed development and site, these decisions at a minimum provide the foundation for future project review unless there is a question of code interpretation The project review process, including the environmental review process under Chapter 43 21C RCW and the consideration of consistency, should start from this point and should not reanalyze these land use planning decisions in making a permit decision (2) Comprehensive plans and development regulations adopted by the City under Chapter 36 70A RCW and environmental laws and rules adopted by the State and Federal government have addressed a wide range of environmental subjects and impacts These provisions typically require environmental studies and contain specific standards to address various impacts associated with a proposed development, such as building size and location, drainage, transportation requirements, and protection of critical areas When the City applies these existing requirements to a proposed project, some or all of a project's potential environmental impacts will be avoided or otherwise mitigated Through the integrated project review process described in subsection (1) of this section, the Director will determine whether existing requirements, including the applicable regulations or plans, adequately analyze and address a project's environmental impacts Project review should not require additional studies or mitigation under Chapter 43 21C RCW where existing regulations have adequately addressed a proposed project's probable specific adverse environmental impacts (3) Consistency should be determined in the project review process by considering four factors found in applicable regulations or plans The type of land use allowed, the level of development allowed, such as units per acre or other measures of density, infrastructure, such as the adequacy of public facilities and services to serve the proposed project, and the character of the proposed development, such as compliance with specific development standards The City intends that this approach should be largely a matter of checking compliance with existing requirements for most projects, which are simple or routine, while more complex projects may require more analysis (4) When an applicant applies for a project permit, consistency between the proposed project and applicable regulations or plan should be determined through a project review process that integrates land use and environmental impact analysis, so that governmental and public review of the proposed project, by development regulations under Chapter 36 70A RCW, and by the environmental process under Chapter 43 21C RCW run concurrently and not separately (5) The project review process should address consistency between a proposed project and the applicable regulations or plan, and include (a) A uniform framework for the meaning of consistency, (b) An emphasis on relying on existing requirements and adopted standards, with the use of supplemental authority as specified by Chapter 43 21C RCW to the extent that existing requirements do not adequately address a project's specific probable adverse environmental impacts, and The identification of three basic land use planning choices as contained in Section 4 02 040(2)(a)(b)(c), made in applicable (c) -2- regulations or plans that, at a minimum, serve as a foundation for project review and that should not be reanalyzed during project permitting 4 02 020 APPLICABILITY The provision contained in this Title shall apply to processing all applications and permits subject to review under the following Titles of the Pasco Municipal Code (1) Title 5 Business Licenses and Regulations (2) Title 16 Building and Construction (3) Title 17 Sign Code (4) Title 19 Mobile Homes (5) Title 21 Plats and Subdivisions (6) Title 22 Zoning (7) Title 23 Environment Additionally, these provisions shall apply to any related regulations, ordinances or resolutions that implement any of above referenced Titles Unless another department is the primary agency in a permit process, the Community and Economic Development Director administers those Titles and may adopt such rules as will assist in administering these provisions Where the provisions of this Title conflict with the provisions of other Titles, this Title shall prevail 4 02 030 DEFINITIONS Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this Title (1) "Closed record appeal" means an administrative appeal on the record following an open record hearing on a project permit application when the appeal is on the record with no or limited new evidence or information allowed to be submitted and only appeal argument allowed (2) "Director" means the Director of Community and Economic Development unless another department or agency is in charge of the project permit in which case it refers to the chief administrative office of that department or agency (3) "Open record hearing" means a hearing, conducted by a single hearing body or officer that creates the record through testimony and submission of evidence and information An open record hearing may be held prior to a decision on a project permit to be known as an "open record predecision hearing " An open record hearing may be held on an appeal, to be known as an "open appeal hearing," if no open record predecision has been held on the project permit (4) "Project permit" or "project permit application" means any land use or environmental permit or license required from the City for a project action, including but not limited to subdivisions, planned unit developments, conditional uses, shoreline substantial development permits, permits or approvals required by critical area ordinances, site-specific rezones authorized by a comprehensive plan or subarea plan, but excluding the adoption of -3- amendment of a comprehensive plan, subarea plan, or development regulations except as otherwise specifically included in this subsection (5) "Public meeting" means an informal meeting, hearing, workshop, or other public gathering of people to obtain comments from the public or other agencies on a proposed project permit prior to a decision A public meeting may include, but is not limited to, a design review of architectural control board meeting, a special review district or community council meeting, or a scoping meeting on a draft environmental impact statement A public meeting does not include an open record hearing The proceedings at a public meeting may be recorded and a report or recommendation may be included in the local government's project permit application file 4 02 040 SCOPE OF REVIEW (1) Fundamental land use planning choices made in adopted comprehensive plans and development regulations shall serve as the foundation for project review The review of a proposed project's consistency with applicable development regulations, or in the absence of applicable regulations the adopted comprehensive plan, under Section 4 12 050 shall incorporate the determinations under this section (2) During project review, the Director or any subsequent reviewing body shall determine whether the items listed in this subsection are defined in the development regulations applicable to the proposed project or, in the absence of applicable regulations the adopted comprehensive plan At a minimum, such applicable regulations or plans shall be determinative of the ( a) Type of land use permitted at the site, including uses that may be allowed under certain circumstances, such as planned unit developments and conditional and special uses, if the criteria for their approval have been satisfied, (b) Density of residential development in urban growth areas, and (c) Availability and adequacy of public facilities identified in the comprehensive plan, if the plan or development regulations provide for funding of these facilities as required by Chapter 36 70A RCW (3) During project review, the Director shall not reexamine alternatives or take applications for appeals on the items identified in subsection (2) of this section including issues of code interpretation (4) The Director may determine that the requirements for environmental analysis and mitigation measures in development regulations and other applicable laws provide adequate mitigation for some or all of the -4- project's specific adverse environmental impacts to which the requirements apply (5) Nothing in this section limits the authority of the City to approve, condition, or deny a project as provided in its development regulations adopted under Chapter 36 70A RCW and in its policies adopted under RCW 43 21C 060 Project review shall be used to identify specific project design and conditions relating to the character of development, such as the details of site plans, curb cuts, drainage swales, transportation demand management, the payment of impact fees, or other measures to mitigate a proposal's probable adverse environmental impacts, if applicable 4 02 050 PROJECT CONSISTENCY (1) A proposed project's consistency with development regulations adopted under Chapter 36 70A RCW, or, in the absence of applicable development regulations, the appropriate elements of the comprehensive plan or subarea plan adopted under Chapter 36 70A RCW shall be determined by consideration of (a) The type of land use, (b) The level of development, such as unit per acre or other measures of density, (c) Infrastructure, including public facilities and services needed to serve the development, and (d) The character of the development, such as development standards (2) In determining consistency, the determinations made pursuant to Section 4 02 040 of this chapter shall be controlling (3) For purposes of this section, the term "consistency" shall include all terms used in this chapter and Chapter 36 70A RCW to refer to performance in accordance with this chapter and Chapter 36 A RCW, including but not limited to compliance, conformity, and consistency (4) Nothing in this section requires documentation, dictates procedures for considering consistency, or limits the Director from asking more specific or related questions with respect to any of the four main categories listed in subsection (1) (a) through (d) of this section 4 02 060 NOTICE OF COMPLETE APPLICATION (1) Within twenty-eight days after receiving a project permit application, the Director shall mail or provide in person a written determination to the applicant, stating either (a) That the application is complete, or - 5 - (b) That the application is incomplete and what is necessary to make the application complete To the extent known by the Director, he shall identify other agencies of local, state or federal governments that may have jurisdiction (2) A project permit application is complete for purposes of this section when it meets the City's procedural submission requirements and is sufficient for continued proceeding even though additional information may be required or project modifications may be undertaken subsequently The determination of completeness shall not preclude the Director for requesting additional information or studies either at the time of the notice of completeness or subsequently if new information is required or substantial changes in the proposed action occur (3) The determination of completeness may include the following as optional information (a) A preliminary determination of these development regulations that will be used for project mitigation, (b) A preliminary determination of consistency, as provided under section 4 02 050, or (c) Other appropriate information (4) (a) An application shall be deemed complete under this section if the Director does not provide a written determination to the applicant that the application is incomplete as provided in subsection (1)(b) of this section (b) Within fourteen days after an applicant has submitted additional information identified as being necessary for a complete application, the Director shall notify the applicant whether the application is complete or what additional information is necessary 4 02 070 DETERMINING TIME LIMITS (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, the Director shall issue a notice of final decision on a project permit application within one hundred twenty days after notifying the applicant that the application is complete, as provided in Section 4 02 060 In determining the number of days that have elapsed after the Director has notified the applicant that the application is complete, the following periods shall be excluded -6 - (a) (1) Any period during which the applicant has been requested to correct plans, perform required studies, or proved additional required information The period shall be calculated from the date the Director notifies the applicant of the need for additional information until the earlier of the date the Director determines whether the additional information satisfies the request for information or fourteen days after the date the information has been provided, (11) If the Director determines that the information submitted by the applicant under (a)(1) of this subsection is insufficient, he shall notify the applicant of the deficiencies and the procedures under (a)(1) of this subsection shall apply as if a new request for studies had been made, (b) Any period during which an environmental impact statement is being prepared following a determination of significance pursuant to Chapter 43 21C RCW, (c) Any period for administrative appeals of project permits, if an open record appeal hearing or a closed record appeal, or both, are allowed The time period for considering and deciding shall not exceed (i) Ninety days for an open record appeal hearing and (11) sixty days for a closed record appeal The parties to an appeal may agree to extend these time periods, and (d) Any extension of time mutually agreed upon by the applicant and the Director (2) The time limits established by subsection (1) of this section do not apply if a project permit application, (a) Requires an amendment to the comprehensive plan or a development regulation, (b) Requires approval of a new fully contained community as provided in RCW 36 70A 350, a master planned resort as provided in RCW 36 70A 360, or the siting of an essential public facility as provided in RCW 36 70A 200, or (c) Is substantially revised by the applicant, in which case the time period shall start from the date at which the revised project application is determined to be complete under Section 4 02 060 (3 ) If the Director is unable to issue its final decision within the time limits provided for in this section, written notice of this -7- fact shall be provided to the project applicant The notice shall include a statement of reasons why the time limits have not been met and an estimated date for issuance of the notice for final decision 4 02 090 PUBLIC NOTICE (1) The Director shall provide a notice of application to the public and the departments and agencies with jurisdiction as provided in this section If the Responsible Official has made a determination of significance under Chapter 43 21C RCW concurrently with the notice of application, the notice of application shall be combined with the determination of significance and scoping notice Nothing in this section prevents a determination of significance and scoping notice from being used prior to the notice of application (2) The notice of application shall be provided within fourteen days after the determination of completeness as provided in Section 4 02 060 and include the following in whatever sequence deems appropriate (a) The date of application, the date of the notice of completion for the application, and the date of the notice of application, (b) A description of the proposed project action and a list of the project permits included in the application and, if applicable, a list of any studies requested under Section 4 02 060 or Section 4 02 070, (c) The identification of other permits not included in the application to the extent known, (d) The identification of existing environmental documents that evaluate the proposed project, and, if not otherwise stated on the document providing the notice of application, such as a City land use bulletin, the location where the application and studies can be reviewed, (e) A statement of the public comment period, which shall not be less than fourteen nor more than thirty days following the date of notice of application, and statements of the right of any person to comment on the application, received notice of and participate in any hearings, request a copy of the decision once made, and any appeal rights The Director may accept comments at any time prior to the closing of the record of an open record predecision hearing, if any, or, if no open record predecision hearing is provided, prior to the decision on the project permit, The date, time, place, and type of hearing, if applicable and scheduled at the date of notice of the application, A statement of the preliminary determination, if one has been made at the time of notice, of those development regulations - 8 - that will be used for project mitigation and of consistency as provided in Section 4 02 050, and (h) Any other appropriate information (3) If an open record predecision hearing is required for the requested project permits, the notice of application shall be provided at least fifteen days prior to the open record hearing (4) The Director shall use reasonable methods to give the notice of application to the public and agencies with jurisdiction and may use its existing notice procedures The Director may use different types of notice for different categories of project permits or types of project actions If not otherwise specified, the Director shall use the methods provided for in (a) and (b) of this subsection Examples of reasonable methods to inform the public are, (a) Posting the property for site-specific proposals, (b) Publishing notice, including at least the project location, description, type of permit(s) required, comment period dates, and location where the complete application may be reviewed, in the newspaper of general circulation in the general area where the proposal is located or in a local land use newsletter published by the local government, (c) Notifying public or private groups with known interest in a certain proposal or in the type of proposal being considered, (d) Notifying the news media, (e) Placing notices in appropriate regional or neighborhood newspapers or trade journals, (f) Publishing notice in agency newsletters or sending notice to agency mailing lists, either general lists or lists for specific proposals or subject areas, and (g) Mailing to neighboring property owners (5) A notice of application shall not be required for project permits that are categorically exempt under Chapter 43 21C RCW (6) The Director shall integrate the permit procedures in this Title with environmental predecision hearing as required (a) Except for a determination of significance, the Director may not -issue a threshold determination, or issue a decision or a recommendation on a project permit until the expiration of the public comment period on the notice of application (b) If an open record predecision hearing is required and the threshold determination requires public notice under Chapter -9- 43 21C RCW, the Director shall issue its threshold determination at least fifteen days prior to the open record predecision hearing (c) Comments shall be as specific as possible (7) The Director may combine any hearing on a project permit with any hearing that may be held by another local, State, Regional, Federal, or other agency provided that the hearing is held within the geographic boundary of the City Hearings shall be combined if requested by an applicant, as long as the Joint hearing can be held within the time periods specified in 4 02 070 or the applicant agrees to the schedule in the event that additional time is needed in order to combine the hearings (8) The Director shall cooperate to the fullest extent possible with other agencies in holding a joint hearing if requested to do so, as long as (a) The agency is not expressly prohibited by statute from doing so, (b) Sufficient notice of the hearing is given to meet each of the agencies' adopted notice requirements as set forth in statue, ordinance, or rule, and (c) The agency has received the necessary information about the proposed project from the applicant to hold its hearing at the same time as the City's hearing (9) An administrative appeal of the project decision, combined with any environmental determinations, shall be filed within fourteen days after the notice of the decision or after other notice that the decision has been made and is appealable The appeal period shall be extended for an additional seven days, if state or local rules adopted pursuant to Chapter 43 12 21C RCW allow public comment on a determination of nonsignificance issued as part of the appealable project permit decision (10) The applicant for a project permit is deemed to be a participant in any comment period, open record hearing, or closed record appeal 4 02100 PERMIT PROCEDURES (1) All project permits and project permit applications, except zone changes, plats, street vacations, and other legislative decisions, shall be processed and reviewed in the following manner, upon receipt of a completed application (a) For an application requiring legislative action or which is illegal, the application shall be denied or processed in accord with subsection (2) -10- (b) For applications which involve more than one permit, the City will prepare a temporary schedule for review by all interested agencies, departments, and the applicant The schedule will be prepared during the application completion determination in accord with Section 4 02 060 (c) Depending upon the scope of the project, the City will schedule necessary public meetings to coordinate the permit process and gather information following appropriate notification as provided in 4 02 090 (d) Unless otherwise required, no open record hearing will be held unless there is a bona fide objection to some portion of the permit or from some determination made during the course of the permit processing When required, only one open record hearing will be held The open record hearing will be before the officer or body having jurisdiction over the matter in dispute or over the matter requiring the open record hearing If the matter disputed or for which an open record hearing is required falls within the jurisdiction of more than one department or agency, a joint hearing will be held if practical (e) A decision or joint decision if possible, shall be issued and notice given thereof, including the time for appeal and the person or body to whom the appeal must be made Unless another time is provided, an appeal must be filed within ten days of the decision The longest appeal period following a joint hearing controls if there are multiple appeal periods The body or bodies with appellant jurisdiction shall hold a joint closed record appeal An open record appeal may be held for matters for which no open record hearing has previously been held The decision of the person or bodies hearing the appeal may be joint or separate Every effort shall be made in the event of separate decisions to ensure that they are issued simultaneously Any review of the decision or decisions must be made to the superior court within 21 days In the event that no appellant body is designated for a matter, the matter shall be heard by the Hearing Examiner (2) If the decision on an application must be made by the Pasco City Council, the application will normally be denied until legislative approval has been obtained Except for comprehensive plan amendments which may never be processed other than as part of the annual review, an applicant may request combined processing in accord with subsection (1) of this section (3) The actual costs of any hearing or appeal not otherwise required will be borne by the person requesting the review or objecting to a decision Security for the costs must be posted prior to the setting or notice of hearing or appeal The failure to post security is a waiver of any objection (f) (g) ) Section 2 This ordinance shall be in full knee and effect five days after its passage, approval and publication as required by law 1996 PASSED by the City Council of the City of Pasco this day of March ATTEST Catherine Seaman, Deputy City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM Leland B Kerr, Interim City Attorney -12 - r f , 6,` VO• v P0 BOX 2608 ACCOUNT NO 0550 PASCO WASHINGTON 99302 2608 ...... PHONE (509) 582 1500 DATE 0:/1°/736 LEGAL ADVERTISING INVOICE LEGAL NO #41.7 DESCRIPTION #41: ORDINANCE NO 7151 AN TIMES 001 INCHES 9r) "70 SOLD TO FASCO, CITY OF LEGALS P.O. BOX 297 PASCO WA 99301 T T LS 1 .0S2 INIOTICE This is an invoice for legal advertising space Please pay from this invoice as no statement will be rendered Please detach at perforation and return with payment FE A RT OF PUUCATUM COUNTY OF BENTON SS STATE OF WASHINGTON RECEOVED tu' WAR 14 MG MANCE DEPT. im Bezold , being duly sworn, deposes and says, I am the Legal Clerk of the Tr-City Herald, a daily newspaper That said newspaper is a legal newspaper and has been approved as a legal newspaper by order of the superior court in the county in which it is published and it is now and has been for more than six months prior to the date of the publication hereinafter referred to, published countinually as a daily newspa- per in Benton County, Washington That the attached is a true copy of a #417 ORDINANCE NO 7151. AN as it was printed in the regular and entire issue of the Tr-City Herald itself and not in a supplement thereof, 1 time(s), commencing on 07;/10/9e , and ending on 07/10/9f: , and that said newspaper was regulary distributed to its subscribers during all of this period SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN BEFORE ME THIS I a+r---- DAY OF `--Maite,K___ , igq0 1/4-Assl—k z Notary public in and for the State of Wash- ington, residing at I- etinewicl- WA COMMISSION EXPIRES 07 iciPi 74 - - _ ORDINANCE NO 3151 AN ORDINANCE RELAT ING Te ADMINWTRATIVE PROCEDURES AND ADDING A NEW TITLE 4 TO THE MUNICIPAL CODE WHEREAS the Regulatory Reform Act (Chapter 347 of the Laws of Washington) requires the City to estab- lish a permit review process that provides for (1) con- solidated review and deci- sions on to or more pro- ject permits relating to a proposed action (2) com- bined environmental review with other permits (3) no more than one open record hearing and one closed record appeal on develop ment actions except for I appeal of a determination of I significance and for the issuance of the City s final l decision within 120 days after submission of a com- plete application and WHEREAS the Act requires the City to adopt such permit review process ' I by March 31 1996 NOW ' 401 LEGALS 40 LEGALS 601 LEGALS 65© LEGALS appeal hearing or a closed record appeal or both are allowed The time period for considering and deciding shall not exceed (i) Ninety days for an open record appeal hearing and (ii) sixty days for a closed record appeal The parties to an appeal may agree to extend these time periods and (d) Any extension of time mutually agreed upon by the applicant and the Director (2) The time limits estab lished by subsection (1) of this section do not apply if a project permit application (a) Requires an amend- ment to the comprehensive plan or a development reg- ulation (b) Requires approval of a new fully contained com- munity as provided in ROW 36 70A 350 a master planned resort as provided in ROW 36 70A 360 or the siting of an essential public facility as provided in ROW 36 70A 200 or (c) Is substantially revised by the applicant in which case the time period shall start from the date at which the revised project a appli- cation on is determined to be complete under Section 4 02 060 (3) If the Director is unable to issue its final decision within the time limits provid- ed for in this section written notice of this fact shall be provided to the project applicant The notice shall include a statement of rea- sons why the time limits have not been met and an estimated date for issuance of the notice for final deci- sion 4 02 090 PUBLIC NOTICE (1) The Director shall pro- vide a notice of application to the public and the depart ments and agencies with jurisdiction as provided in this section If the Responsible Official has made a determination of significance under Chapter 43 21C ROW concurrently with the notice of applica tion the notice of applica tion shall be combined with the determination of signifi cance and scoping notice Nothing in this section pre- vents a determination of significance an scoping notice from being used prior to the notice of application (2) The notice of application shall be provided within fourteen days after the determination of complete ness as provided in Section 4 02 060 and include the following in whatever sequence deems appropri- ate (a) The date of application the date of the notice of completion for the applica- tion and the date of the notice of application (b) A description of the pro- posed project action and a list of the project permits included in the application and if applicable a list of any studies requested under Section 4 02 060 or Section 4 02 070 (c) The identification of other permits not included in the application to the extent known (d) The identification of existing environmental doc- uments that evaluate the proposed project and if not otherwise stated on the document providing the notice of application such as a City land use bulletin the location where the application and studies can be reviewed (e) A statement of the pub- lic comment period which shall not be less than four- teen or more than thirty days following the date of notice of application and statements of the right of any person to comment on the application received notice of and participate in any hearings request a copy of the decision once made and any appeal rights The Director may accept comments at any time prior to the closing of the record of an open record predeciston hearing if any or if no open record predecision hearing is pro vided prior to the decision on the project permit (f) The date time place and type of hearing if applicable and scheduled at the date of notice of the application (g) A statement of the pre- liminary determination if one has been made at the time of notice of those development regulations that will be used for project mitigation and of consisten- cy as provided in Section 4 02 050 and (h) Any other appropriate information (3) if an open record prede- cision hearing is required for the requested project permits the notice of appli cation shall be provided at least fifteen days prior to the open record hearing (4) The Director shall use reasonable methods to give the notice of application to the public and agencies with jurisdiction and may use its existing notice pro- cedures The Director may use different types of notice for different categories of project permits or types of project actions If not other- wise specified the Director shall use the methods pro- vided for in (a) and (b) of this subsection Examples of reasonable methods to inform the public are (a) Posting the property for site specific proposals (b) cPublishing notice including at least the project location description type of permit(s) required corn- ment period dates and location where the com- plete application may be reviewed in the newspaper of general circulation in the general area where the pro- posal is located or in a local land use newsletter pub- lished by the local govern- ment (C) Notifying public or pri- vate groups with known interest in a certain propos al or in the type of proposal being considered (d) Notifying the news media (e) Placing notices in appro- pnate regional or neighbor- hood newspapers or trade journals (f) Publishing notice in agency newsletters or sending notice to agency mailing lists either general lists or lists for specific pro- posals or subject areas and (g) Mailing to neighboring property owners (5) A notice of application shall not be required for project permits that are cat- egorically exempt under Chapter 43 21C ROW (6) The Director shall inte- grate the permit procedures in this Title with environ mental predecision hearing as required (a) Except for a determina- tion of significance the Director may not issue a threshold determination or issue a decision or a rec ommendation on a project permit until the expiration of the public comment period on the notice of application (b) If an open record prede cision hearing is required and the threshold determi- nation requires public no ice under Chapter 43 210 ROW the Director shall issue its threshold determination at least fif- teen days prior to the open record predecision hearing (C) Comments shall be as specific as possible (7) The Director may com- bine any hearing on a pro- ject permit with any hearing that may be held by anoth- er local State Regional Federal or other agency provided that the hearing is held within the geographic boundary of the city Hearings shall be combined if requested by an appli- cant as long as the joint hearing can be held within the time periods specified in 4 02 070 or the applicant agrees to the schedule in the event that additional time is needed in order to combine the hearings (8) The Director shall coop- erate to the fullest extent possible with other agen- cies in holding a joint hear- ing if requested to do so as long as (a) The agency is not expressly prohibited by statute from doing so (b) Sufficient notice of the hearing is given to meet each of the agencies adopted notice require ments as set forth in statue ordinance or rule and (c) The agency has received the necessary information about the pro- posed project from the applicant to hold its hearing at the same time as the City s hearing (9) An administrative appeal of the project deci sion combined with any environmental determina- tions shall be filed within fourteen days after the notice of the decision or after other notice that the decision has been made and is appealable The appeal period shall be extended for an additional seven days if state or local rules adopted pursuant to Chapter 43 12 210 ROW allow public comment on a determination of nonsignifi cance issued as part of the appealable project permit decision (10) The applicant for a pro- ject permit is deemed to be a participant in any com- ment period open record hearing or closed record appeal 42 02100 PERMIT PRO- CEDURES (1) All project permits and project permit applications except zone changes plats street vacations and other legislative decisions shall be processed and reviewed in the following manner upon receipt of a completed application (a) For an application requiring legislative action or which is illegal the appli- cation shall be denied or processed in accord with subsection (2) (b) For applications which involve more than one per- mit the City will prepare a temporary schedule for review by all interested agencies departments and the applicant The schedule will be prepared during the application ' completion determination in accord with Section 4 02 060 (C) Depending upon the scope of the project the City will schedule neces- sary public meetings to coordinate the permit process and gather infor- mation following appropri- ate notification as provided in 4 02 090 (d) Unless otherwise required no open record hearing will be held unless there is a bona fide objec- tion to some portion of the permit or from some deter- mination made during the course of the peralit pro- cessing When required only one open record hear- ing will be he held The open record hearing will be before the officer or body having jurisdiction over the matter in dispute or over the matter requiring the open record hearing If the matter disputed or for which an open record hearing is required falls within the jurisdiction of more than one department or agency a joint hearing will be held if practical (e) A decision or joint dect sion if possible shall be issued and notice given thereof including the time for appeal and the person or body to whom the appeal must be made Unless another time is provided an appeal must be filed within ten days of the decision The longest appeal period following a joint hearing controls if there are multiple appeal periods (f) The body or bodies with appellant jurisdiction shall hold a joint closed record appeal An open record appeal may be held for matters for which no open record hearing has previ- ously been held The deci- sion of the person or bodies hearing the appeal may be joint or separate Every effort shall be made in the event of separate decisions to ensure that they are issued simultaneously Any review of the decision or decisions must be made to the superior court within 21 days (g) In the event that no appellant body is designat- ed for a matter the matter shall be heard by the Hearing Examiner (2) If the decision on an application must he made by the Pasco City Council the application will normally be denied until ,Jegislative approval has been obtained Except for corn prehensive plan amend ments which may never be processed other than as part of the annual review an applicant may request combined processing in accord with subsection (1) of this section (3) The actual costs of any hearing ore appeal not oth- erwise required will be borne by the person requesting the review or objecting to a decision Security for the costs must be posted prior to the set- ting or notice of hearing or appeal The failure to post security is a waiver of any objection Section 2 This ordinance shall be in full force_ and effect five days after its pas- sage approval and publica- tion as required by law PASSED by the City Council of the City of Pasco this 4 day of March 1996 s- Charles D Kilbury Mayor Attest s- Catherine Seaman Deputy City Clerk Approved as to Form -s Leland B Kerr Interim City Attorney #413 3/10/96 F4 TRI-CITY HERALD SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 1996 (VD) I LEGALS THEREFORE THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASCO WASHINGTON DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS Section 1 There is hereby added a new Title 4 to the Pasco Municipal Code to read as follows CHAPTER 402 PERMIT PROCESS 4 02 010 PURPOSE The purpose of this Title is to establish a mechanism for implementing the provi- sions of Chapter 36 70A RCW regarding compli ance conformity and con sistency of proposed pro- jects with adopted compre- hensive plans and de relop regulations In order to achieve this purpose the City Council finds that (1) Given the extensive investment that public agencies and a broad spec trum of the public ate mak mg and will continue to make in comprehensive plans and development regulations it is essential that project review start from the fundamental land use planning choices made in these plans and regula tions If the applicable regu- lations or plans identify the type of land use specify residential density in urban growth areas and identify and provide for funding of public facilities needed to serve the proposed devel- opment and site these decisions at a minimum provide the foundation for future project review unless there is a question of code Interpretation The project review process including the environmental review process under Chapter 421C R OW and the con- sideration of consistency should s art from this point and should not reanalyze these land use planning decisions n making a per- mit decision (2) Comprehensive plans and development regula- tions adopted by the City under Chapter 36 70A RCW and environmental laws and rules adopted by the State and Federal gov ernment have addressed a wide range of environmen- tal subjects and impacts These provisions typically require environmental stud- ies and contain specific standards to address vari- ous impacts associated with a proposed develop- ment such as building size and location drainage transportation require- ments and protection of critical areas When the City applies these existing requirements to a proposed project some or all of a pro jects potential environmen- tal impacts will be avoided or otherwise mitigated Through the integrated pro ject review process described in subsection (1) of this section the Director will determine whether existing requirements including the applicable regulations or plans ade- quately analyze and address a project s environ- mental impacts Project review should not require additional studies or mitiga- tion under Chapter 43 21C RCW where existing regu- lations have adequately addressed a proposed pro- ject s probable specific adverse environmental impacts (3) Consistency should be determined in the project review process by consid enng four factors found in applicable regulations or plans The type of land use allowed the level of devel opment allowed such as units per acreor other rrdaa sures of density infrastruc tune such as the adequacy of public facilities and ser- 40 LEGALS vices to serve the proposed project and the character of the proposed development such as compliance with specific development stan- dards The City intends that this approach should be largely a matter of checking compliance with existing requirements for most pro- jects which are simple or routine while more com- plex projects may require more analysis (4) When an applicant applies for a project permit consistency between the proposed project an applic- able regulations or plan should be determined through a project review process that integrates land use and environmental impact analysis so that governmental and public review of the proposed pro ject by development regu- lations under Chapter 36 70A RCW and by the environmental process under Chapter 43 21 RCW run concurrently and not separately (5) The project review process should address consistency between a pro- posed project and the applicable regulations or plan and include (a) A uniform framework for the meaning of consisten cy (b) An emphasis on relying on existing requirements and adopted standards with the use of supplemen tal authority as specified by Chapter 43210 RCW to the extent that existing requirements do not ade- quately address a project s specific probable advsrse environmental impacts and (c) The identification of three basic land use plan rung choices as contained in Section 4 02 040(2)(a)(b)(c) made in applicable pagulations or plans that at a minimum serve as a foundation for project review and that should not be reanalyzed during project permitting 4 02 020 APPLICABILITY The provision contained in this Title shall apply to pro- cessing all applications and permits subject to review under the following Titles of the Pasco Municipal Code (1) Title 5 Business Licenses and Regulations (2) Title 16 Building and Construction 3) Title 17 Sign Code 4) Title 19 Mobile Homes 5) Title 21 Plats and Subdivisions (6) Title 22 Zoning (7) Title 23 Environment Additionally these provi- sions shall apply to any related regulations ordi- nances or resolutions that implement any of above ref- erenced Titles Unless another department is the primary agency in a permit process the Community and Economic Development Director administers those Tales and may ,adopt such rules as will assist in administer- ing these provisions Where the provisions of this Title conflict with the provisions of other Titles this Title shall prevail 4 02 030 DEFINITIONS Unless the context clearly requires otherwise the def initions in this section apply throughout this Title (1) Closed record appeal means an administrative appeal on the record follow ing an open record hearing on a project permit applica tion when the appeal is on the record with no or limited new evidence or informa- tion allowed to be submitted and only appeal argument allowed 0 (2) Director means the Director of Community and Economic Development 40 1 LEGALS unless another department or agency is in charge of the project permit in which case it refers to the chief administrative office of that department or agency (3) Open record hearing means a hearing conduct- ed by a single hearing body or officer that creates the record through testimony and submission of evidence and information An open record hearing -nay be held pnor to a deci- sion on a project permit to be known as an open record predecision hear- ing An open record hear- ing may be held on an appeal to be known as and open appeal hearing if no open record predecision has been held on the pro- ject permit (4) Project permit' or pro- ject permit application means any land use or environmental permit or license required from the City for a project action including but not limited to subdivisions planned unit developments conditional uses shoreline substantial development permits per- mits or approvals required by critical area ordinances site-specific rezones autho- rized by a comprehensive plan or subarea plan but excluding the adoption of amendment of a compre- hensive plan subarea plan or development regulations except as otherwise specif- ically included in this sub- section (5) Public meeting means an informal meeting hear- ing workshop or other public gathering of people to obtain comments from the public or other agencies on a proposed project per- mit prior to a decision A public meeting may include but is not limited to a design revtew of architec- tural control board meeting a special review dtstnct or community council meeting or a scoping meeting on a draft environmental impact statement A public meeting does not include an open record hearing The pro ceedings at a public meet ing may be recorded and a report or recommendation may be included in the local government s project permit application file 4 02 040 SCOPE OF REVIEW (1) Fundamental land use planning choices made in adopted comprehensive plans and development regulations shall serve as the foundation for project review The review of a pro- posed project s consistency with applicable develop- ment regulations or in the absence of applicable regu lotions the adopted com- prehensive plan under Section 4 12 050 shall incorporate the determina- tions under this section (2) During project review the Director or any subse- quent reviewing body shall determine whether the items listed in this subsec- tion are defined in the development regulations applicable to the proposed project or in the absence of applicable regulations the adopted comprehensive plan At a minimum such applicable regulations or plans shall be determinative of the (a) Type of land use permit- ted at the site including uses that may be allowed under certain circum- stances such as planned unit developments and con- ditional and special uses if the criteria for their approval have been satisfied (b) Density of residential development in urban growth areas and (c) Availability and adequa LEGALS cy of public facilities identi fled in the comprehensive plan if the plan or develop ment regulations provide for funding of these facilities as required by Chapter 6 70A RCW (3) During project review the Director shall not reex- amine alternatives or take applications for appeals on the items identified in sub- section (2) of this section including issues of code interpretation (4) The Director may deter- mine that the requirements for environmental analysis and mitigation measures in development regulations and other applicable laws provide adequate mitigation for some or all of the pro- ject s specific adverse envi- ronmental impacts to which the requirements apply (5) Nothing in this section limits the authority of the City to approve condition or deny a project as provid- ed in its development regu lotions adopted under Chapter 36 70A ROW and in its policies adopted under ROW 43 210 060 Project review shall be used to identify specific project design and conditions relat mg to the character of development such as the details of site plans curb cuts drainage swales transportation demand management the payment of impact fees or other measures to mitigate a pro posal s probable adverse environmental impacts if applicable 4 02 050 PROJECT CON SISTENCY (1) A proposed projects consistency with develop- ment regulations adopted under Chapter 36 70A ROW or in the absence of applicable development regulations the appropriate elements of the campre- hensive plan or subarea plan adopted under Chapter 36 70A ROW shall be determined by consider- ation of (a) The type of land use (b) The level of develop- ment such as unit per acre or other measures of densi- ty (c) Infrastructure including public facilities and services needed to serve the devel- opment and (d) The character of the development such as development standards (2) In determining consis- tency the determinations made pursuant to Section 4 02 040 of this chapter shall be controlling (3) For purposes of this section the term consis- tency shall include all terms used in this chapter and Chapter 36 70A RCW to refer to performance in accordance with this chap- ter and Chapter 36 A RCW including but not limited to compliance conformity and consistency (4) Nothing in this section requires documentation dictates procedures for con- sidenng consistency or lim- its the Director from asking more specific or related questions with respect to any of the four main cate- gories listed in subsection (1) (a) through (d) of this section 4 02 060 NOTICE OF COMPLETE APPLICA- TION (1) Within twenty eight days after receiving a project per- mit application the Director shall mail or provide in per- son a written determination to the applicant stating either (a) That the application is complete or (b) That the application is incomplete and what is nec essary to make the applica ton complete LEGALS To the extent known by the Director he shall identify other agencies of local state or federal govern ments that may have juns diction (2) A project permit applica- tion is complete for purpos- es of this section when it meets the City s procedural submission requirements and is sufficient for contin- ued proceeding even though additional informa- tion may be required or pro- ject modifications may be undertaken subsequently The determination of corn- pleteness shall not preclude the Director for requesting additional information or studies either at the time of the notice of completeness or subsequently if new information is required or substantial changes in the proposed action occur (3) The determination of completeness may include the following as optional information (a) A preliminary determine tion of these development regulations that will be used for project mitigation (b) A preliminary determine ton of consistency as pro- vided under section 4 02 050 or (C) Other appropriate infor- mation ra An application shall be deemed complete under this section if the Director does not provide a written determination to the appli- cant that the application is Incomplete as provide in subsection (1)(b) of this section (b) Within fourteen days after an applicant has subs mined additional informa- tion identified as being nec- essary for a complete appli- cation the Director shall notify the applicant whether tne application is complete or what additional informa- tion is necessary 4 02 070 DETERMINING TIME LIMITS (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section the Director shall issue a notice of final decision on a project permit application within one hun- dred twenty days after noti- fying the applicant that the application is complete as provide in Section 4 02 060 In determining the number of days that have elapsed after the Director as notified the applicant that the appli- cation is complete the fol- lowing periods shall be excluded (a) (1) Any period during which the applicant has been requested to correct plans perform required studies or proved addition- al required information The period shall be calculated from the date the Director notifies the applicant of the need for additional informs tion until the earlier of the date the Director deter- mines whether the addition al information satisfies the request for information or fourteen days after the date the information has been provided (ii) If the Director deter- mines that the information submitted by the applicant under (a)(i) of this subsec- tion is insufficient he shall notify the applicant of the deficiencies and the proce- dures under (a)(i) of this subsection shall apply as if a new request for studies had been made (b) Any period during which an environmental impact statement is being pre pared following a determi- nation of significance pur- suant to Chapter 43210 iRCW (C) Any period for adminis- trative appeals of project permits if an open record