Chapter Five - Rural Element
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Chapter Five - Rural Element CHAPTER 5 BENTON COUNTY-WIDE INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW Top 4 Planning Issues Road Improvements Growth Management Act Control/limit growth Ordinance to cleanup trash The Growth Management Act requires More sheriff protection counties to include a Rural Element in 1993 Rural Survey Respondents their Comprehensive Plans. • The adoption of policies for the "Counties shall include a Rural Element development and preservation of the including lands that are not designated for rural character of such lands, urban growth, agriculture, forest or mineral resources. The rural element shall permit including: the preservation of critical appropriate land uses that are compatible areas (e.g., fish and wildlife habitats, with the rural character of such lands and water quality etc.,) consistent with provide for a variety of rural densities..." private property rights; continuation of {R.C.W. 36.70A.070 (5)} agricultural use; excavation of mineral resources; The Washington Administrative Code • (WAC 365-195-330 {2}) recommends Encouragement of the use of rural that certain steps be followed in lands for recreational pursuits which preparing the Rural Element, many of preserve open space and are the recommended steps are listed environmentally benign; below: • Adoption of strategies for the • The identification of rural lands; acquisition of natural areas of high • The amount of population growth scenic value; within the twenty-year planning period • Establishment of criteria for which will live or work on rural lands; environmental protection, including • Adoption of policies for the programs to control non-point sources development of such lands; of water pollution and to preserve and • Uses permitted, including a variety of enhance habitat for fish and wildlife. densities for rural, commercial, and industrial use, consistent with the rural What Is Rural and Rural Character? character of the area; The rural areas of Benton County are • P.U.D’s, cluster housing, and innovative techniques for managing places where open space, the natural development within the overall environment and vegetation parameters of rural density; predominate over the built • Establishment of a definition of rural environment. They are discrete areas, governmental services which identifies each having a built environment and the limited public services provided to social texture uniquely created by persons living or working in rural areas; factors such as origin, history, period of • Provisions to regulate the orderly settlement, use capability of the land, inclusion of urban growth areas for and employment base of the future development; residents. The rural area is a place Benton County Comprehensive Plan Page 5-1 Chapter Five - Rural Element where you can find wildlife habitats, where the natural beauty of the rural and a historic heritage shown by landform is valued and enjoyed. The minimal non-native uses of land that rural residents value property rights, includes small farms or scattered and feel a sense of “freedom” in the homesteads. rural area that provides opportunities to farm, raise children and keep The rural areas or communities within animals. Benton County attest to the observation that each rural area is Homes are buffered from neighbors in different. For example, though there a very low-density setting that include are common physical characteristics five and twenty acre minimum parcel and resident preferences throughout sizes. There are limited areas of more the rural communities in the four intense rural development, where Planning Regions of the county community infill may occur. (Hanford Region excluded), there are also very distinct differences in the Rural is not the center or traditional custom and culture, community hub of commerce and administration, outlook and living environments. with markets, theaters and shopping with mixed housing. It is not a densely Rural Character embodies a quality of built environment or a sprawling life based upon traditional rural landscape of homes. landscapes, activities, lifestyles, and aesthetic values. The residents that In an urban setting there are higher live and work in the rural areas of the levels of public services, controlled County, through their participation in traffic and lower speed limits. They the Rural Planning Area Committees experience short commutes from prepared visions, goals, and listed home to office, school, or library, and unique and valued characteristics for are close to urban governmental each rural planning area. The services, i.e., police, fire and following descriptive text defines emergency facilities. “Rural Character” using those visions, goals, and perceptions of the County Rural Survey residents, and described as: large Commonalities and distinctions open landscapes where the setting is among rural areas within the county quiet, peaceful, and natural. The are evident in the Rural Visions For residents enjoy a slower pace lifestyle, Benton County 1993-2013 , and the closeness with nature and access to "pie charts" and graphs of the 1993 recreational opportunities. There is a Rural Visioning Survey Report . These strong sense of family and community documents are products of a public and a separation from government participation program conducted in and city. each Rural Area by Benton County planning staff, with the assistance of a In the rural area there is elbowroom, consultant, as part of its GMA less traffic, access to wildlife and planning process. Within these Benton County Comprehensive Plan Page 5-2 Chapter Five - Rural Element documents are the “ Vision ” citizens THE RURAL PLANNING AREAS OF used to form the base for their Rural BENTON COUNTY Area Plan. Four of the five Planning Regions of Benton County have “Rural Planning Common Rural Preferences Areas” within them (the Hanford Notwithstanding differences between Planning Region does not). rural areas, the Survey and work of the individual Rural Planning Advisory The Rural Planning areas within each Committees identified preferences Planning Region comprise those lands common to all rural areas within the outside of both the Growth county. The most common Management Act (GMA) Agricultural preferences include the following: designation, and Urban Growth Areas. It is the aggregate of these rural areas • the ability to keep livestock and that comprise the Rural Element of the animals; Comprehensive Plan. • location of open space or farming in the proximity of living PATERSON-PLYMOUTH environments; RURAL PLANNING AREA • near unanimous support for wildlife and habitat protection; Location & Geographical Setting • desire for the expansion of public The rural communities of the Paterson- open spaces for outdoor Plymouth Planning Area reside in the recreation; south of Benton County, on the • no urban encroachment; downward sloping terrace of the • desire to preserve open space and Horse Heaven Hills Planning Region. low densities; Both communities overlook the • a desire and expressed need for Columbia River. The rising landform to good to excellent county roads; the north of the communities is • freedom from government predominantly in large-scale regulation, except for enforcement agricultural production. of ordinances that prohibit the accumulation of junk and trash on properties, and prevent residential The setting of each community is sprawl or unmanaged growth; afforded panoramic views of the river • peace and quiet. and the Oregon shore on the river’s south side. The river-shore below and to the east and west of each The Benton County Rural Visioning community is largely owned by the Survey Report Spring 1993 is cited federal government who purchased frequently in the Comprehensive Plan lands along the river to document, and is incorporated into accommodate the rise and fall of river this element by reference. waters pooled by hydroelectric dams. The shoreline and near-shore areas, characterized by sloughs, riparian Benton County Comprehensive Plan Page 5-3 Chapter Five - Rural Element areas, islands and rocky shoals, is administered by the U.S. Fish and Top 5 Issues/Desired Improvements Wildlife Service and is a valuable Ordinance to cleanup trash recreational resource to the More sheriff protection Animal control community. Road improvements A church Plymouth is the most "up-river" of the Paterson-Plymouth Survey Respondents two rural communities. It lies less than one mile west of the I-82 interchange and bridge crossing at McNary Dam. river. The Indians fished and kept Paterson is approximately 12 miles ponies, and the settlers farmed. downstream of Plymouth, along SR-14. The original settlements pre-dated Benton County. They were History 1 established by Klickitat County Today, the rural communities of stockmen and farmers some time in Paterson and Plymouth lie on the high the 1870s or 80's. One of the early ground above portions of their historic stockman was Harry Paterson Sr., settlements, which were inundated by whose son became the postmaster at the backwater pool of the John Day Scott. The town of Paterson is named Dam in the late 1960's. Few physical for his father. artifacts from the pre-dam era exist above water. Some of the larger The railroad along the river was houses and buildings were moved to constructed around the turn of the higher ground in advance of the rising century. Over time, the Paterson waters, they were large and made of landscape has been occupied by a wood construction on a landscape ferry landing, school houses, a hotel open to seasonally thunderous