Community Development Program

Small Cities Circuit Rider Program

The circuit rider planner provides assistance to the five rural small cities in Benton and Franklin Counties to maintain compliance with the Growth Management Act (GMA), by serving as their planning and administrative staff. Typically, the circuit rider has prepared drafts and amendments of the respective jurisdiction’s comprehensive plans and implementing ordinances including, zoning, subdivision, administrative process, and critical areas together with the SEPA and public hearing processes.

Under GMA, the planning process begins with preparation of the comprehensive plan. Each of the plan elements must be consistent with each other, and the land use and transportation elements must remain concurrent with one another. The comprehensive plan combines the physical and fiscal planning of the jurisdiction. The capital facilities element lists the capital projects identified in the other plan elements to accommodate growth and must include the project cost and the source of funding. Each of the implementing capital facilities plans such as water, sewer, park & recreation, community, and transportation must additionally be consistent with the capital facilities element of the comprehensive plan for the jurisdiction to be eligible for grants and loans from state or federal agencies.

Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)

The Benton-Franklin Council of Governments is additionally the Economic Development District for the bi-county area. To remain eligible for funding within the district from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), community development staff annually publishes the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).

The CEDS process is interactive, beginning with the submittal of project applications from each of the cities, counties and ports intending to expand their jurisdiction’s capacity to site, grow or promote additional new basic industry, then prioritizing the projects by the CEDS committee according to a variety of criteria based upon the goals, policies and strategies of the district, and finally submittal of the CEDS document to the EDA for their consideration of funding. Typically, one or two projects have been funded each year.

Hearing Examiner

Community development staff contractually provides hearing examiner services for Franklin County. The hearing examiner is scheduled to meet monthly and is authorized by contract to review and consider current planning applications and nuisance or zoning violations.

Administration

Community development staff additionally provides research assistance to the public through requests for state and federal census data, census tracts and other statistical data, and special requests from member jurisdictions.

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