Higher residential densities within UGA

Matt Baide | Mar 16, 20230

Matt Baide count

Mason County Commissioner Randy Neatherlin explains his position during commissioner deliberation after a public hearing Tuesday at the Mason County commissioner chambers.

Mason County commissioners approved Title 15 and 17 amendments related to the Shelton urban growth area by a 2-1 vote following a continuation of a public hearing Tuesday.

According to the information packet, the Title 17 amendments are related to the Shelton urban growth area to allow higher residential densities within the Shelton urban growth area by use of the City of Shelton's Planned Unit Development standards. Title 15 amendments include amending the development code to add to the hearing examiner's authority.

The amendments are designed to encourage the development of housing. The Planning Advisory Commission had recommended Jan. 23 the amendments be forwarded to county commissioners for consideration and approval.

"Mason County and the City of Shelton jointly want to encourage the development of housing within the urban growth areas, including Shelton urban growth area," Mason County Community Development Director Kell Rowen said during the Feb. 28 public hearing. "The county's existing regulations are zoning regulations within the residential zones of Shelton limit the number of housing units so there's more allowed than in the rural area, but it's still a limited number. Staff is proposing we adopt the city's planned unit development standards under certain conditions so developers can take advantage of the higher residential densities."

The county received letters of support for the proposed amendments from state Sen. Drew MacEwen, Shelton RE/MAX's Angela Barnes and Kristin French, a PUD 3 employee. Mason County Economic Development Council Executive Director Jennifer Baria and Dragonwheel Investment Group Vice President Jim Schweickert spoke during the public hearing Feb. 28 in support of the amendments.

Commissioner Randy Neatherlin, who was the lone commissioner voting against the amendments, said he was not opposed to the work done by staff on presenting the proposed amendments. He said he had a problem with the forced no-contest to annexation that came along with the amendments.

"It disenfranchises those future voters that come in. When there's 100, 200, 300 homes built on these properties, they won't know because this county, they won't know that they don't have the right to have a vote in determining whether or not they will be annexed," Neatherlin said. "I do understand this is the majority of what most cities would do, but I also believe Mason County can do better because we know better. We know we can do better. There's an aspect that comes with this that others don't think about aside from the disenfranchising people from their future vote, there is the taxation issue. Not just that it has an effect on us the year that that happens, the greatest taxation issue occurs when you take 200, 300, 500 homes out of the equation, our taxes are spread out amongst everybody. ...When we set our levy rate, we set a pie. Now, what it is is everyone that is in that pie, pays their share to get to the levy rate, that's how it works. When you take a chunk of that pie out, everyone else has to pay for that because the pie size does not shift, the pie stays the same so it becomes an automatic tax increase on all those that are still inside the pie without the ability to work with it."

Commissioner Kevin Shutty, who did not attend the previous commissioner meeting when the first public hearing was held, said all three commissioners recognize the need for housing in Mason County and it is clear in the code amendments.

"Honestly, this is just the way things go, a lot of times, nothing happens. Something happened here though," Shutty said. "We all sat around and nodded our head and said we want more housing, we need to have parity between our planning our codes, our development regulations and Kell Rowen and her team got together with Jae Hill and his team and they put together some amendments that would move us in that direction. We don't know, the economy is what it is, we don't know necessarily that any particular project is going to move forward in any part of the UGA because of these code amendments alone. There's still a lot of decision making that has to happen on the private sector side in order to turn dirt, to even think about submitting a permit for a project.

"When we look at this, we all agree we need more housing. It benefits the community as a whole. A strong Shelton is a strong Mason County, a strong Mason County is a strong Shelton. I really believe that and I think this moves us in a positive direction with the city in order to be able to plan for our shared future."

Commissioner Sharon Trask said one of the main reasons she wanted the action extended to the Tuesday meeting was so she could do some more research, including reaching out to a friend who works with cities and the Municipal Research and Services Center. She also watched the Planning Advisory Commission meeting that held a public hearing about the amendments.

"The public that testified made good comments and the commission had great questions. I'm comfortable with their recommendation to move this forward, so please thank the planning commission for me. They do an excellent job," Trask said.