Planners reviewing zone changes

The Whatcom County Planning Commission has started its review of changes to a Whatcom County Code specific to Point Roberts (WCC 20.72) being proposed by the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC).

On October 8, the planning commission will hold a public hearing. “This will be a virtual meeting, but folks can watch, speak or submit written comments. However, one needs to sign up ahead of time,” said county planner Cliff Strong.

PRCAC has been working on changes to the code for over three years and held dozens of public meetings and work sessions. In May 2017, Whatcom County Council approved a PRCAC recommendation to eliminate the Point Roberts Character Plan and merge its design guidelines into chapter 20.72 of the county zoning code, the Point Roberts Special District.

A purge of that section of code had always been the second half of the PRCAC plan, and a series of meetings was scheduled in December 2018 to begin the process. In 2019 and 2020, the committee held 26 public meetings to discuss changes to the WCC 20.72.

Changes to WCC 20.72 need to be consistent with the current subarea plan for Point Roberts, developed in 2001, which PRCAC and county planning staff agree is overdue to be revised.

“The 2001 Point Roberts Subarea Plan (a part of the Comprehensive Plan) was developed during a different economic time. … Simply put, there were a lot more Canadians investing in and visiting Point Roberts for recreation. Thus, the subarea plan was based on an economic development strategy of creating a quaint, walkable downtown commercial core geared towards capturing tourist dollars. It was thought that there would be high demand for hotels, motels, bars and restaurants, small shops, and recreational opportunities,” the staff report states.

“But things changed, and none of that materialized. Since then, Point Roberts has been struggling to attract much of anything in the way of businesses except for gas stations, commercial mailboxes, and storage for Canadians; or local construction/services businesses. This has led to struggles between those citizens wanting to maintain the subarea plan’s vision and those wanting to start businesses that might actually work under the current economic conditions. This in turn has resulted in numerous code violation complaints.”

“The genesis of the amendments included herein is an attempt by the PRCAC to balance these two competing demands. They know that until the Subarea Plan is updated, any amendments to WCC 20.72 must remain consistent with it, but they would also like to allow some of the businesses attempting to make a go of it to do so, and, in the interim, resolve some of the code enforcement cases.”

The majority of the code changes being proposed would add more flexibility to development and land-use rules, specifically in the small town commercial zone along Gulf Road.

To sign up to speak at the hearing visit bit.ly/2RVYdxj starting on Saturday, September 26. The staff report, with details of proposed changes, and excerpts of 2019 and 2020 PRCAC meeting minutes relevant to the code changes will be available on the planning commission website at bit.ly/2FXQuML.