PRCAC considers going beyond character plan

By Meg Olson

Members of the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) are taking aim at a sheaf of planning requirements as they move beyond revising the former character plan guidelines.

“Do we want to look at all of Title 20.72, which includes recreational vehicles, trailers, tree retention, et cetera?” PRCAC chair Joel Lantz asked at a July 15 special meeting. “To my mind, the architectural design guidelines are not that important with what we’re doing overall here. Do we want to go back and look at the subarea plan?” The goal, he said, should be to improve the economic climate on the Point.

Committeemember David Gellatly said the county zoning code that pertains specifically to the Point, Title 20.72, needed to be considered in the context of the 2001 subarea plan (part of the county comprehensive plan) and a 1999 economic development plan commissioned by the Port of Bellingham. “If we don’t do something with those plans as well, we’re wasting our time, spinning our wheels,” he said.

A primary area of concern for committeemembers was the appropriateness of the Gulf Road corridor as the community’s commercial core, given existing building restrictions such as lot sizes and wetland issues.

Primary tasks for board members before the committee meets again August 8 will be to look at avenues to fund revisions of the outdated planning documents and encourage greater public involvement. To that end, Lantz said they would be establishing an email address at comments@pointrobertscac.org which will collect public comments and distribute them to committeemembers.