Olympia Planning Commission extends public comment period on proposed waterfront RV park
The Olympia Planning Commission has extended the written public comment period on the Port of Olympia’s request to change code to allow for RV parks in the city’s Urban Waterfront Zone.
Because of storm-related power outages this week, the Planning Commission has extended the written public comment period until 5 p.m. Nov. 19.
The Olympia Planning Commission met on Monday, Nov. 15 to discuss the Port of Olympia’s proposal.
According to meeting documents, the port had identified an area of land adjacent to the shoreline between the south end of Swantown Marina and Swantown Boatworks to be used as a future RV park. Under current zoning, RV parks aren’t permitted in the area.
The commission originally planned to deny the proposal. In a letter from chair Candis Millar and vice chair Aaron Sauerhoff to the Olympia City Council, they said the presence of an RV park would limit visual and physical access from the sidewalks and discourage use of the waterfront trail.
The letter continues to say the existence of an RV park in this area would diminish the honor of the city’s Comprehensive Plan and the Downtown Strategy’s stress on honoring the waterfront as a public amenity. They said the code amendments would only benefit the Port of Olympia, not the general public.
But the commission moved to table the discussion until its next meeting in December after resident Charlotte Persons requested an extension for written public comment due to poor weather at the beginning of this week. She said there were some still without power on Monday night and were unable to provide oral comment, and she heard from some residents who stated they couldn’t access the internet to submit written comments before the window closed.
“Since the comment period is going to be extended, it would be better to hold off on deliberations until you’ve had an opportunity to review all the other comments, just to keep the process clean,” said staff liaison Cari Hornbein.
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