Clallam County at crossroads of urban/rural zoning

Published 4:16 am Monday, August 11, 2008

By Jim Casey, Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — Mention zoning; most folks zone out.

They may want to pay attention, however, from now until Oct. 23.

That’s when Clallam County must change land-use designations on tracts scattered from LaPush to east of Sequim.

County planning commissioners’ recommendations and county commissioners’ decisions — if they withstand subsequent challenges — could determine:

How many homes a developer may build on a given piece of land. Options range from one dwelling per 4.8 acres to four dwellings in a single acre.

Whether a tract must be developed commercially or residentially.

If commercial pockets surrounded by farms or forests can expand or fill in.

Like most land-use issues, the county’s predicament is complicated — and has been for 28 years.