Showing posts with label proposed changes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label proposed changes. Show all posts

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Your Chance to Get Involved

The process of updating the City of Oak Harbor's Municipal Code is nearing its last few steps.  


The Planning Commission has received copies of the "staff draft" of the compiled Code amendments for review (OHMC 19.31 and OHMC 21 - see previous posts).  Shortly the City will hold a Public Hearing on the suggested Code amendments for City Council to make its final decision.  

The public hearing will be the last opportunity for the City to take your comments regarding the Code amendments associated with this Project.

Until the Public Hearing, Planning Staff are available to answer questions and receive your comments; contact Senior Planner Ethan Spoo at the City of Oak Harbor, 360-279-4513 or email: espoo@oakharbor.org.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Draft Code Language - Chapter 19.31 and Title 21

After a significant process that has included staff resources, stakeholder input and a series of public meetings with the Planning Commission a first draft of OHMC 19.31 and Title 21, with all the combined changes, are available for review (see below)

The Planning Commission received both drafts yesterday evening at the regularly scheduled public meeting. Hard copies of the legislative edits of these documents are available at City Hall.









Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Draft Code Language

Currently staff are generating and reviewing the complete set of Code changes for the Project. This is an extensive process that takes into account all the work to date and the information generated throughout the Project.

The Planning Commission has already reviewed draft language for the Code amendments during a number of their regularly scheduled public meetings. Earlier blog posts detail these changes, with copies of the draft code also available for viewing.

In addition to the more "significant" changes proposed for the Code, the drafts being generated currently also include a number of "housekeeping" changes that deal with 1) the format of the Code, 2) the structure of the regulations to improve overall readability, and 3) Code language simplifications and redundancies.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Process to Date

The review phase of the Project that the Planning Commission is now undertaking involves the large policy decisions, as well as, the specific language that will be featured in the new Code.


Click on the image to the left to see how this step fits into the Project process to date.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

January Planning Commission Update

This past week the Planning Commission was reintroduced to the Subdivision Code Update Project, after not having this brought before them for many months.  This meeting essentially launched the next phase of the Project, the development of the Code amendment language to fulfill the project goals.


At the meeting, Development Services Director, Steve Powers gave the presentation to the Commission. The Commission members had a number of questions about the project, which were discussed. 


One of the goals of the meeting was to receive direction from the Commission on their  preference for reviewing the Code amendments (whether the code changes should be reviewed by subject matter or based on the Code structure, essentially from beginning to end).  The Commission decided that the most effective approach would be to review the Code amendments by subject (for example: open space, streets, buffers, etcetera).


Other topics discussed included:


  • review of the Project goal to improve the readability, and understandability, of the Code;
  • the timeliness of the Code update;
  • interest in requiring trails within new subdivisions and their importance to the community's liveability; and,
  • ensuring that issues of safety are considered with reduced street widths as will likely be proposed by the Code amendments.


To facilitate the fast paced schedule of this phase of the update, the proposed code updates will be posted on the blog for review in advance of the Planning Commission meeting.