Medical Lake planning meeting first in three months

Medical Lake’s Planning Commission strolled through a light schedule, Jan. 28, in their first meeting in three months, now that they have a full complement of five members with the appointment of Judy “Mayu” Mayulianos.

The benefits of a commission at full strength were readily present because even with the absence of commissioners Wayne Fugere and Wayne Ueda, the appointed body still had a quorum and ability to proceed. Consequently, commissioners Mayulianos, Tammy Roberson and chair Mark Hudson unanimously elected Fugere to serve as vice chair.

With no pressing land use issues in the city, City Administrator Doug Ross brought the commissioners some homework — sections of the city’s municipal code dealing with single-family (R-1), duplex (R-2) and multifamily (R-3) zoning for their review. Ross wants them to get up to speed on knowing and understanding zoning in the city in order to be prepared to undergo the periodic comprehensive plan review, which will take place in 2017.

Ross also gave the members present a short tutorial regarding aspects of planning, telling them that while they must follow federal and state laws when it comes to zoning, the fact that Medical Lake is defined as a “code city” allows them to also write their own laws, as long as those are not less restrictive than state statutes. He added that writing codes is often “tricky.”

“Always keep in mind what we do is for the good of the entire city, which sometimes is not good for individuals,” Ross said.

Hudson asked what guidelines might be in order to determine what is “good for the entire city.” Ross said there isn’t any “magic formula” for doing that, but added commissioners will likely get approached by individuals wanting something to be done for a specific issue they face — and sometimes that interaction can be emotional.

Occasionally the commission will take up individual requests on a case-by-case development basis, Ross added, but when it comes to policy, it’s the community as a whole that comes first. When it comes to principles guiding planning staff in their review process, he said information presented to the commission from that process often comes down to what’s legal, and what will the city’s insurance pool cover.

Medical Lake’s next Planning Commission meeting is tentatively set for Thursday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m. in the City Hall council chambers.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.