Thurston County adds standards to alternative housing for law offenders

The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) received a briefing on the Less Restrictive Alternative (LRA) Community Housing Code update, which aims to add standards to LRA Community Housing facilities for non-violent offenders.

In the state, courts place law offenders into two facilities— the public Secure Community Transition Facility (SCTF) for violent sexual offenders run by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), and the privately owned and operated Less Restrictive Alternative (LRA) Community Housing.

An SCTF has 24-hour intensive staffing and supervision, provides sex offender treatment services, and is typically larger.

Contracted private providers operate an LRA facility, which has fewer residents than SCTF. They may offer 24-hour staffing and trained escorts and adhere to DSHS requirements and state law.

The update

This means if the courts determine an offender no longer meets the definition of ‘sexually violent predator,’ they can be placed in an LRA Community Housing.

“The DSHS already had provisions for public Secure Community Transition Facilities…and those ones are already regulated in our code,” Community Planning & Economic Development Interim (CPED) Director Ashley Arai explained.

“These other facilities are new. There is an expectation that every community will have adequate housing options for sexual offenders under the fair share principles of release. Local jurisdictions do have limited options for regulating the siting of these facilities,” Arai continued.

County Code amendments

CPED staff, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and Public Health and Social Services identified legal and permissible standards for local jurisdictions.

The agenda document stated that Thurston County Code Amendments involve five standards:

• Required special use permit from Hearing Examiner.
• New definition for the use, including reference to state law requirements.
• Permitted distribution across residential and commercial zoning district.
• Use-specific standards for water supply, wastewater disposal, food handling, and fire and life safety

The proposed standards have undergone Planning Commission reviews, consisting of work sessions and a public hearing.

The standards would be integrated throughout Thurston County Code Titles 20-23 in definitions and respective special use sections or zoning chapters.

The BoCC requested another work session before the last public hearing and final action.