After nearly 15 hours of meetings in the last few months, the Woodland Planning Commission is nearly done with its discussion on how – and where – the city should grow.
The commission started discussing six options last year, and has spent the last few months looking at eight applications to rezone land in the city or expand Woodland’s urban growth boundary.
At a special meeting Thursday night, the commission discussed the final, and by far the largest, application: a request to expand the urban growth boundary by 605.5 acres south of the city between the railroad tracks and the Lewis River, and designate it for housing. That idea has been controversial, as it would bring development to the area known as Woodland Bottoms.
After a three-and-a-half hour meeting Thursday, the commission voted to recommend that city council expand the urban growth boundary by about 250 acres, roughly 150 of which would be for residential and about 100 acres split between commercial and residential.
“The planning commission really tried to find a good balance between the rural residents with the needs of the city for growth,” said Travis Goddard, community development director. “By including the commercial and industrial, they’re looking at our commercial, industrial and residential future.”
The original 605 acres was broken up into smaller sections, but the planning commission ultimately voted to create its own map of land to recommend for inclusion into the urban boundary. The land they voted on includes all property south of current city limits to the southern line of the first section, which is roughly 25 acres between South Pekin Road and Dike Road. It also includes land on the east side of Pekin down to Wyman Road, and everything over to the railroad north of Wyman.
“On the east side of Wyman, it’s a little farther north,” Goddard said. “On the west side, it’s from Wyman to the city (limits.)”
The vote also contained a few conditions, including a requirement for the city to annex the land prior to providing services such as water and sewer. Another condition calls for a mix of low-density and high-density residential. The condition calls for a split of 75 percent low-density and 25 percent high-density.
That’s been an issue that has come up repeatedly during this discussion. The city’s comprehensive plan calls for development at a rate of 60 percent low-density and 40-percent high-density, even though all neighboring cities have a 75-25 distinction. Commissioner Connie Taylor brought the issue up at Thursday’s meeting. Goddard said the planning commission is looking at the comprehensive map, not the policies, so they’ll have to come back around to change that at another time.
“It’s hard to keep a small-town atmosphere and character when you have higher density than neighboring cities,” he said. “That seems like a philosophical disconnect we need to correct.”
Part of the reason the city has been looking at adding residential land is because estimates say Woodland will need an additional 1,292 housing units by 2036, and the city currently has limited space available. According to presentations Goddard has made during the comprehensive plan map discussion, the city has 76.24 acres of developable commercial land remaining, and 398.65 acres of developable industrial land remaining. The city had about 174 acres of remaining residential development land as of the 2016 comprehensive plan.
If the city council approves planning commission’s recommendations, it would add roughly 380 acres to the urban growth boundary, about 100 of which is industrial and commercial. Goddard said the city council is expected to hold at least one workshop on the issue in late April.
At the planning commission’s April 18 meeting, members will review their recent decisions and go over an updated update map to recommend to city council. In February, the commission voted to recommend rezoning more than 12 acres in the city. Earlier in the March, the commission voted to recommend adding 94 acres to the urban growth boundary.
The Houser family applied to have their 43.61 acres added into the city and zoned for industrial use, but withdrew their application at the earlier March meeting. A representative for the family said the city needs to improve infrastructure before worrying about growth. Prior to the that meeting Woodland Mayor Will Finn said the same thing.
At Thursday’s meeting, most people who got up to speak about the growth were against it. One resident, Randy Cole, said it has been frustrating to watch the commission change the discussion at each meeting.
“It just feels like no matter what resistance shows up, there’s going to be some little back-door maneuver brought out to get this procedure through,” he said.
He added that it seems like the commission is working hard to make sure the applicants get what they want, when what residents want is some improvements in the city.
“Make the right call in the right sequence,” he said. “It’s timing. It has to be the right timing for it to work for everybody.”
