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City of Olympia Hearing Examiner Mark Scheibmeir assessed the application for a Reasonable Use Exception (RUE) for a planned residence at 1203 Bowman Avenue NW, on Monday, November 28.
The proposal is to gain approval to construct a single-family residence through a RUE. Construction and placement of the residence are proposed within regulated stream and landslide hazard buffers.
Some of the project elements include the construction of a single-family residence with a minimum yard area necessary to perform maintenance to the house post-construction; mitigation of impacts to the stream and landslide hazard buffers in which the single-family residence is being constructed; and utilities for sewer, water, and stormwater. Jackson Ewing, Olympia associate planner, clarified the restrictions with this reasonable use exception.
“Within the city of Olympia critical area code, there are provisions to administratively reduce landslide hazard buffers or geologic hazards, and they're able to be reduced up to the top of [the] slope and, if recommended to be safe for the proposal by a geologic professional,” Ewing said.
Dan Penrose, Planning Manager of SCJ Alliance, presented the findings of an analysis of what might be considered a reasonable-sized home in the Olympia area.
“What might be considered a reasonably sized home in the Olympia area– while that's an easy question to ask, it was a rather complex question to answer. We looked at three different data sets. Our findings are outlined on page 81 that was part of this attachment,” Penrose said.
Those findings state, “The current proposal for the construction of a 3-bedroom single-family home on Bowman Ave NW in Olympia is well within the local norm for both residential building footprints and the overall sizes of residences.”
”Your current proposal for a 2,000 square foot, 3-bedroom home with an attached garage, covered entry, and rear deck is consistent with recent residential development in the neighborhood surrounding your property,” it continued.
The examiner is set to review several documents related to the application and will render his decision via writing.
“It would be inappropriate and premature of me to render a decision when I have not had access to all materials submitted for this hearing. So I will do that properly. And then I will get underway with my written decision,” Scheibmeir stated.
According to the staff report, the Reasonable Use Exception applications are within the jurisdiction of the Hearing Examiner.
The Hearing Examiner may approve, deny, or approve with such conditions, modifications, and restrictions as the Hearing Examiner finds necessary to make the application compatible with its environment, the Comprehensive Plan, other official policies, objectives, and land use regulatory enactments.
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Olywelcomesall
A couple of citizens testified against this exception to the rules citing inadequacies in the city and consultant reports. The stream buffer reduction is inadequate to protect the water quality and habitat of the stream. The proposed home is on soils and slope prone to sliding. The City thinks it is dangerous enough to require indemnification contract with the owner so they cannot sue the City if there is a landslide. The consultant closing paragraph on a report says this: “Ultimately it is the owner's choice to develop and live in a geologically hazardous area, and therefore future consequences, both anticipated and unknown, are soley the responsibility of the owner. By using this report for development of the subject property, the owner must accept and understand that is not possible to fully anticipate all inherent risks of development within a potentially geologically hazardous critical area..."
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