After an initial meeting in June, Lewis County Senior Long-Range Planner Mindy Brooks hosted a second informational meeting for Onalaska area residents about updating the unincorporated community’s subarea plan on Aug. 23.
The meeting was held in the Onalaska Elementary and Middle School’s multipurpose room. Brooks was joined by Lewis County Community Development Director Lee Napier and nearly 30 residents for the meeting.
Having a subarea plan enables residents of unincorporated communities such as Onalaska to have a say in the future development of the town.
According to Brooks, this is best accomplished by having the residents themselves develop the plan, and the plan focuses on how parcels within the unincorporated area are zoned for future use.
During June’s meeting, Brooks asked for volunteers to apply for the advisory committee overseeing the subarea plan’s development, which needed a minimum of 10 volunteers. So far, 20 residents are on the advisory committee, Brooks told those in attendance.
She added anyone still interested in joining the advisory committee would still be welcome.
“If you want in, come on in. We start next month,” Brooks said.
The Onalaska community already adopted a subarea plan in 2017, but, while it was approved by the community, Lewis County commissioners at the time didn’t have the resources to fully implement the plan.
“When we say it didn’t get passed or it didn’t move forward, it has nothing to do with politics or staff or the recommendations of the community,” Napier said. “It was purely an issue where we didn’t have the capacity to move it forward.”
In examining parcels in and around Onalaska, Brooks has already created a plan of what a fully developed Onalaska could look like.
However, she added a full buildout is currently impossible as existing water and sewer infrastructure wouldn’t be able to support it.
Brooks took time to ask those in attendance what concerns them when looking at Onalaska’s future and possible growth. One resident mentioned retaining a “small town” feel, a sentiment most in attendance concurred with.
New development often brings increases in property values, which means increases in property taxes for residents near those new developments. Some in attendance were concerned they may not be able to afford to live there if property values keep rising.
“My mortgage went up because of my property taxes too. I think it’s been like a 28% increase in property taxes year after year, and that hurts,” one resident said.
“Priced out of paradise,” another resident added.
Many of those in attendance also wanted to focus on preserving farmland and natural resources in the area.
“I think the more those natural resources can be preserved, over a larger area, it will keep the ‘small town’ feeling,” a resident said.
Additionally, virtually all were opposed to having corporate businesses such as Dollar General and Starbucks develop in the community.
While any residents interested can still join the Onalaska subarea plan advisory committee, the committee will meet for the first time at 5 p.m. on Sept. 19 at the Lewis County Fire District 1 fire house, located at 1733 state Route 508 in Onalaska.
The advisory committee will be meeting monthly over the next year to develop the subarea plan, and any Onalaska-area residents interested in getting involved can contact Brooks at mindy.brooks@lewiscountywa.gov for more information.
