This chapter is established to provide for expedient and uniform processing of all applications consistent with the zoning code of the city requiring a public hearing of public meetings.

(Ord. 740 §7(part), 1993: Ord. 635(part), 1984)

(Ord. No. 946, § 1, 11-23-2010)

A.

The planning agency may hold public meetings including but not limited to the following for considering recommendations to the city council:

1.

Plats and subdivisions;

2.

Manufactured home parks;

3.

Zoning code amendments;

4.

Variances and conditional uses;

5.

Planned residential developments;

6.

Planned unit developments;

7.

Adoption or amendments to the comprehensive plan;

8.

Establishment, or future amendments, to the shoreline master program.

B.

With the consent of the city council, the planning agency may hold public hearings on any land use matter of a nonquasi-judicial nature; and, that public hearing may constitute the city's public hearing requirements. However, nothing in this chapter shall impair the city council's vested right to hold a public hearing on any issue.

C.

In addition to those requirements of law, the city council shall hold public hearings on matters not limited to the following:

1.

Plats and subdivisions;

2.

Manufactured home parks;

3.

Zoning code amendments;

4.

Variances and conditional uses;

5.

Planned residential development;

6.

Planned unit developments;

7.

Adoption or amendments to the comprehensive plan;

8.

Establishment, or future amendments, to the shoreline master program;

9.

Appeals of the State Environmental Policy Act;

10.

Appeals of administrative decisions.

D.

Applications pursuant to meetings or hearings before the planning agency and/or city council shall be processed in the following manner:

1.

Application shall be filed in the office of the clerk-treasurer (i.e., planning agency secretary) on forms provided by the city together with the prescribed application fee. The completed application shall be filed at least ten regular city business days prior to the scheduled planning agency meeting or hearing, or within a time necessary and proper for scheduling of public notices and environmental review in addition to determining completeness of review, whichever is longer.

2.

a. All applications for land use development permits shall be signed by the property owner and/or an authorized agent acting on the owner's behalf.

b.

Departmental/Agency Review. The administrative official for the city shall forward copies of the application to any affected city department and to other agencies or entities that may be affected by the proposed project. Recipients shall review the application in regards to its compliance with applicable regulations and its consistency with city land use plans and policies. Any exemption from city requirements, and SEPA environmental review requirements, should also be identified during departmental review. Departments and agencies receiving copies of the application shall have no more than fifteen days, or as determined by the administrative official, to respond with comments.

c.

Letter of Completeness. Within twenty-eight days of receipt of an application, the administrative official shall determine if the application is complete and provide the applicant with written notice that the application is complete or incomplete. A letter of completeness shall contain a determination that the application is or is not consistent with city development regulations and the comprehensive plan. A letter of completeness shall not prohibit the city from requesting additional information or studies at a future date if new information becomes necessary throughout the review process. An application shall be determined complete, and the application vested pursuant to state law, when it contains all of the following:

i.

A completed and signed application form with payment in full of applicable fees;

ii.

A completed environmental checklist if one is required;

iii.

Information required by the city code or ordinance regulating the particular type of application;

iv.

Supplemental information which may be required by the administrative official.

d.

Incomplete Application. For applications determined incomplete, the city shall identify the specific requirements necessary to complete the application. The applicant shall have no more than thirty days (or as otherwise determined by the administrative official) to respond with the required information. Within fourteen days of receipt of the required information, the city shall issue a letter regarding completeness to the applicant. Failure to submit required information within the allowed time shall void the application.

3.

Upon certification that the application is complete, the city administrator shall establish the date and time for meeting or public hearing on the application before the planning agency.

4.

Notice of the public hearing shall be given by publication of at least one legal notice not less than ten days prior to the public hearing in the newspaper known as the Sunnyside Daily News.

5.

Written notice of the public hearing shall be addressed through the United States mail to the applicant, persons having ownership interest in the property subject to the application and the latest recorded real property owners as shown by the records of the county assessor within a radius of three hundred feet of the external boundaries of the property for which the application is sought. The written notice shall be dispatched to the mail service no later than eleven days prior to the public hearing.

E.

Sound Recordings to be Made. A tape recording or other sound recording of the proceedings before the planning agency shall be made. Such sound recordings shall be retained by the clerk-treasurer for a period of seven years, or, if application is made to the superior court of Yakima County, or any other court of record, such sound recording shall be retained until such litigation is finally concluded.

F.

Decisions and/or Recommendations. The planning agency's decision and/or recommendation shall be based upon the policies of the Mabton comprehensive plan, the Yakima County-wide planning policy, State Environmental Policy Act, the Washington State Growth Management Act, the standards set forth in the various land use regulatory codes of the city, or any other applicable program or code adopted by the city council. The agency may attach and/or recommend reasonable conditions found necessary to make a project compatible with the environment and to carry out the goals and policies of the city's comprehensive plan and other applicable plans or programs adopted by the city council. Such conditions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1.

Exact location and nature of development, including additional building and parking area setbacks, screening in the form of landscaped berms, landscaping, or fencing;

2.

Impact of the development upon other land, public utilities and facilities;

3.

Hours of use of operation or type and intensity of activities;

4.

Sequence and scheduling of development;

5.

Maintenance and development;

6.

Duration of use and subsequent removal of structures;

7.

Granting of easements for utilities or other purposes and dedication of land or other provisions for public facilities, the need for which the planning agency finds would be generated in whole or in significant part by the proposed development;

8.

Mitigating of any adverse environmental impacts; and

9.

Provisions which would bring the proposal into compliance with the city's comprehensive planning policies.

(Ord. 740 §7(part), 1993: Ord. 635(part), 1984)

(Ord. No. 946, § 1, 11-23-2010; Ord. No. 960, 4-26-2011)

A.

Any individual, private or public organization, or officer of the city aggrieved by any decision of the city council may seek review by the Yakima superior court.

B.

The cost of transcripts of all records requested by the appellant or the court shall be borne by the appellant.

(Ord. 740 §7(part), 1993: Ord. 635(part), 1984)

(Ord. No. 946, § 1, 11-23-2010)