Published July 10 2015
Also, marijuana regs revised to match state rules
With the review of some specific policy items in the city's draft comprehensive plan update, the City Council is close to adopting the plan.
A 20-year vision for the city, the comp plan addresses a broad range of city issues, such as growth and changing demographics, transportation, affordable housing and homelessness, environmental stewardship and economic development. The update will replace the current comp plan, which was adopted in 2004.
The council made revisions to the draft update in June, after lengthy review over several weeks. The Planning Commission offered the plan for adoption in April after making changes to a draft plan based on feedback gathered from a public hearing, an online open house and traditional open houses in February and March.
The draft plan itself was put together over a two-year period, with input from the city's boards and commissions and from residents and other stakeholders through an extensive, multi-pronged public engagement effort that ranged from formal venues, such as a public hearing, to new, innovative, "best ideas" campaign.
The council is scheduled to adopt the new comp plan on July 20.
Updating marijuana regulations
With the state aligning its medical and recreational marijuana regulations in April, the council considered adopting permanent city regulations on Monday. Three retail marijuana stores and three marijuana production facilities operate in Bellevue under a temporary ordinance set to expire in October.
Permanent regulations would be based on a recommendation from the Planning Commission for a slight expansion of the recreational marijuana rules included in the temporary ordinance first adopted in October 2013 and for repeal of separate rules applying to medical marijuana collective gardens. (There are no such gardens in Bellevue.)
The interim zoning ordinance limits marijuana production and processing to areas zoned for light industrial uses and restricts the locations of retail outlets. It also requires beefed up security measures and prohibits outdoor growing.
The Planning Commission added a requirement for marijuana uses to obtain an administrative conditional use permit, and added additional parks to the list from which marijuana uses must be separated.
The council directed staff to prepare the Planning Commission's recommendation as a permanent ordinance, ready for adoption possibly on July 20.