Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The city of Palouse is in the midst of an update to the Shoreline Management Plan for the North Fork of the Palouse River.
As part of a state-mandated update to the 1974 documents which categorize shorelines for purposes of protection, the town is part of a county-wide interlocal agreement which hired Berk Consulting and The Watershed Company to aid the process. Both are based in the Seattle area.
Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove appointed veteran council member Rick Wekenman to represent the town on the matter.
An April 22 meeting at city hall was the latest in a series of meetings.
Palouse has a 200-foot area of concern, which the consultants and town representatives are looking to align with the town’s existing zoning code.
Up for debate is how wide a buffer zone should be between the use of shoreline land and the average high water mark of that stretch of the Palouse River.
The Shoreline Management Plan’s aim is to deem permissible uses and standards for land along water, while allowing for grandfather clauses of previous uses and construction.
Wekenman noted that his focus is to adjust setbacks in the plan to account for existing businesses — so they aren’t automatically in violation if something is ever to be rebuilt. Citing the example of the Palouse Tavern building that burned to the ground last year, Wekenman pointed out that, depending on how the updated master plan reads, if a new building goes up on the same spot it may be in violation.
“I would think that reality would play an important role in this,” said Echanove.
Palouse’s zoning codes generally require a 20-foot setback from the high-water mark.
In March Wekenman and a representative from Berk Consulting and The Watershed Co. walked the riverbank and measured distances.
“We came up with numbers that are practical instead of something that couldn’t be realistically adhered to,” Wekenman said.
These distances will now be considered by the Palouse planning commission.
Categories which Washington’s Shoreline Management Plan encompasses include residential, commercial, agricultural and natural areas.
“From our perspective, regarding Whitman County, it’s going very, very smoothly,” said Jeremy Sikes, Shoreline Planner for Washington State Department of Ecology (D.O.E.), Eastern Region.
The plan was created from the Shoreline Management Act of 1971, a statewide voter referendum.
Some updating has occurred in other jurisdictions around the state in the time since. Updating then began in earnest after 2003, when a change was made to the Washington Administrative Code Guidelines for Content of the Shoreline Master Program at the local level.
“It dealt with the issues in a more specific way,” Sikes said. “The plan had been working for Whitman County, but the laws have changed over time.”
In 2013 the county received a $591,000 grant from D.O.E. to begin work on an updated plan.
“Each city council will have a version tailored to their jurisdiction,” Sikes said.
If for some reason one of the Palouse towns does not agree to their area’s plan, the D.O.E. will continue to work with them. Ultimately, if no agreement is reached, the D.O.E. would adopt a new plan by rule.
“That hasn’t happened yet, in 40 years of the law being in place,” Sikes said. “The truth is we want the local jurisdictions to control what’s in the Shoreline Management Plan. And if we have to adopt by rule, then they lose that control.”
All together, the plan includes streams and waterways larger than 20-cubic feet per second in average annual water flow, along with lakes larger than 20 acres.
In Whitman County, this counts for the Snake River, Palouse River and Pine Creek.
The plan categorizes land within 200 feet of a shore’s high water mark. Most setbacks or restrictions, if any, are within 20-50 feet of a shoreline.
In Palouse, the county’s consultants are due to appear at the next meeting in the first week of June with members of the planning commission. On June 3, a public hearing will be held in Colfax on the county’s plan.
“This was initially a three-year program. It looks like most of us, we should be done this year,” said Alan Thomson, Whitman County Planner, referring to the county-level plan as well as the seven towns. “I think we’re ahead of schedule.”
The work has been going in Whitman County for the past two years.
“This is not going to change our zoning but might make some additional requirements and permitting,” said Wekenman. “Existing uses will probably be 100 percent grandfathered in.”
“It’s very locally-tailored,” said Sikes.
Following the June meeting in Palouse, there may be a public meeting concerning the matter, but it has yet to be decided. In the end, the Palouse city council will need to approve the document.
“The general purpose of the whole thing is to improve water quality,” said Wekenman.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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