Grant County to revise master plan

EPHRATA — Grant County officials are beginning the slow process of reviewing the county’s rules, regulations, and plans as it prepares to update its compliance with the state’s Growth Management Act (GMA).

“All counties in the state that are subject to the GMA must update their plans,” Grant County Planning Director Damien Hooper told the Columbia Basin Herald on Tuesday. “We need to make sure we are consistent with the law.”

Hooper told Grant County commissioners on Monday that the law requires an update every eight years or so, but the last required update “got pushed because of the recession.”

The county’s review and revision to its plans and regulation is due in June, 2018, Hooper said.

“All development codes come from that act,” Hooper said.

The act, passed in 1990, requires counties to develop comprehensive plans to guide growth and development with the intention of focusing growth and development in designated Urban Growth Areas.

There are 14 Urban Growth Areas in Grant County, from tiny Krupp with its 48 souls to the bustling metropolis of Moses Lake.

The law requires any Washington county with more than 50,000 residents to file comprehensive plans with the state.

Hooper told commissioners his office was setting aside at least $75,000 to hire a consultant to help revise the county’s plans, and was reviewing four bid proposals.

“The county will enlist consulting services,” Hooper said.

Hooper also told county commissioners on Monday about a Washington State House of Representatives bill that would require all counties to proactively identify mineral land and protect mineral resources the same way counties are required to protect agricultural land.

“This warrants some attention, and we don’t know what will happen if this passes,” Hooper said.

The state’s Growth Management Act defines mineral resources to include “gravel, sand, and valuable metallic substances.”

“Where do we stop?” Hooper told commissioners. “There is sand and gravel everywhere.”

Hooper noted that as it currently stands, the proposed measure to protect mineral lands doesn’t include any money to help counties enact that protection.

“Of course not,” said Commissioner Tom Taylor.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.