More cluster zone hearings set

A slate of public hearings was approved for April 4 by Whitman County Commissioners March 21 for four areas of proposed cluster residential rezoning near Pullman. They include Cordova Cluster, a 20-acre parcel west of Pullman on Brayton Road; Palouse Country Acres, a 20-acre plot south of Orville Boyd Road northeast of Pullman; Golden Wheat Acreages, also a 20-acre parcel also south of Orville Boyd Road, and Lentil Estates Cluster, a 20-acre piece north of Orville Boyd Road.

The hearings are scheduled for 11:15 a.m.

The potential zoning changes come as a result of the county's tax sharing agreement with Pullman, which set a deadline of Dec. 31 of last year to file for cluster rezoning – which allows landowner to develop land for houses. The new tax sharing plan permits no further clustering.

The areas in question are all in an agriculture district around Pullman within a half-mile of city limits.

A cluster zone would allow for development, with a required minimum of 20 acres consisting of four lots per 20-acre section.

The new tax sharing agreement makes it so that 80 percent of the land previously eligible for clusters is now barred from development.