Goodbye to the WUI Code – for Now
Good-bye to the Wildland Urban Interface Code – For a While Charlotte Persons Readers of The Echo know that environmentalists have been working to improve the Wildland Urban Interface Code since last summer. We were overjoyed when on March 15, 2024, Governor Inslee signed into law ESB 6120. The law passed without a single dissenting vote in any committee or in the House or Senate. There were almost two hundred comments, including from 47 organizations, and the comments were 98% positive. Washington state departments and groups representing environmentalists, builders, cities, and counties all supported the bill. ESB 6120 requires property owners to use ignition-resistant materials and methods for new and existing residences in the two highest hazard areas for wildfire. However, there are no requirements for defensible spaces. In other words, home owners will not be required to cut down trees around their property. The Washington Department of Natural Resources
Thurston Comprehensive Plan Revision
Chapter by Chapter Revising of the Thurston County Comprehensive Plan Has Started By Loretta Seppanen Local governments express their vision, goals, and policies for the coming 20 years in their Comprehensive Plans. The responsibility for this work does not rest only on elected officials and the residents who volunteer on planning committees. Adding our voice as these documents are updated is a civic responsibility just as important as voting. Now is the time to share your experience and wisdom as Comprehensive Plans are updated. Thurston County has started releasing draft chapters of the county’s plan and invites us to give chapter by chapter input starting now with additional chapters released monthly throughout this year. The county is starting with two “easy” chapters first. By “easy,” I mean these chapters contain fewer goal statements than the other plan chapters. This is an opportunity to become familiar with the review and input
3 Rezone Requests Removed From Docket
Three RRI Rezone Requests to Allow Warehouses by I-5 REMOVED from the 2024-2025 Thurston County Work Docket Betsy Norton Thank you! Thank you to all of you who wrote and called in to the County Commissioners on behalf of wildlife and conservation, helping prevent (slow down?) the loss of rural lands and wildlife habitat. Your active support is critical to ensuring land use decisions are fact-based and value biodiversity and the habitat which supports it. Key results of Thurston County’s selection and prioritization process for land use requests for 2024/25 by the Board of County Commissioners are: The proposal is to ‘swap’ out of the Urban Growth Area (UGA) 18 parcels NW of Black Lake (largely critical area/green belt) in exchange for a ‘swap’ into the UGA of 3 parcels at 93rd SE and old Highway 99. This will allow rezoning of the 3 Rural Residential 1/5 zoned parcels into
WUI Code Solutions
Your Help Needed to Repair the Wildland-Urban Interface Code Charlotte Persons Readers of The Echo will be overjoyed to hear that NOT ONE, BUT TWO SOLUTIONS have been proposed to correct problems caused by including defensible space requirements in the 2021 Wildland-Urban Interface Code. Unfortunately, both remain in doubt. You can help by registering your support for ESB 6120. In 2018 the state legislature passed Senator Van De Wege’s bill to enforce parts of the Wildland-Urban Interface sections of the International Building Code. This law requires using ignition-resistant building materials and methods for residences within Wildland-Urban Interface areas. However, the Washington State Building Code Council (SBCC) went beyond this law and included defensible space requirements within the 2021 WUI Code Amendments. These would have resulted in the removal of thousands of trees across 70% of the state! For more about this code’s requirements, see the “Background” section at the