Proposed revisions to land use/zoning law in rural Chelan County

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Some of you may be affected by zoning code changes that have been proposed for the unincorporated areas of Chelan County and for the City of Chelan.

Proposed Changes in Chelan County’s Zoning Code

Chelan County Community Development has proposed a major change in the zoning code that affects all parcels zoned Rural Residential in the unincorporated areas of the county. Changes are also proposed for land zoned for Commercial Agriculture but these changes have less impact on landowners. These changes are being proposed due to concerns about the proliferation of substandard lots (lots that are smaller than otherwise allowed by zoning) in rural areas of the county.

Briefly, the changes affect the ability to do Boundary Line Adjustments as well as the provision which allows a one time segmentation of a lot with an existing dwelling into two lots. The Planning Commission is holding a public workshop on Tuesday April 16th at 6 pm to discuss these changes. We believe that public testimony will be accepted and comments can also be submitted in writing. Here is a link to information about this workshop: https://www.co.chelan.wa.us/community-development/pages/planning-commission

A description of the proposal was included as part of the March agenda for the Planning Commission. Here is a link to this information: https://www.co.chelan.wa.us/files/community-development/archives/planning-commission/2024/03%20March%202024/03%20March%2027%20PC%20-%20Agenda%20Packet.pdf  Information on the codes changes starts on page 93.

RC3 is still reviewing these changes. Our principal concern at this time is the lack of proactive outreach to affected landowners to let them know about these changes. We will be asking the Planning Commission to delay any public hearings on these changes for at least 2 months and to direct the Community Development staff to hold public workshops in two or three areas of the county so that the public can be informed.

Potential Changes to City of Chelan’s Agricultural Tourism Code

For those interested in regulatory issues affecting the City of Chelan, the Chelan Planning Commission is expected to discuss proposed changes to the City’s Agricultural Tourism code at their regular meeting on April 17th at 6 PM at the Chelan City Hall.  The Agricultural Tourism code became a focal point during the evaluation of the Bluewater Terrace project at a hearing earlier this year.  In particular, potential changes to the code are expected to center around the allowance of up to 20 home stay establishments (a type of short-term rental) at projects considered to provide agricultural tourism.

Although the nature of the specific changes is unknown at this time, RC3’s concerns are the possible allowance of home stay establishments at projects that are not primarily agricultural in nature (for example, wineries). If this were to occur, homestay establishments could be used to create winery-based resorts adjacent to residential areas, with no meaningful preservation of agriculture. We believe this subverts the intention of the Agricultural Tourism code which is intended to allow a supplemental source of income for farms in active agricultural production. It also could have the effect of significantly expanding what are essentially short term rentals in the City outside of the short term rental code.

Please watch our website and Facebook page for updates on both of these proposed code changes.

Board of Directors
Residents Coalition of Chelan County (RC3)