Cluster zone gains approval through appeal

Whitman County commissioners approved a zone change on appeal Monday, May 5, to shift a 22-acre agricultural zone off Airport Road east of Pullman to cluster residential.

The appeal came after a March 15 hearing of the planning commission which voted 4-1 in favor to allow the change, but the one vote nullified it.

County Commission Chairman Art Swannack asked for further input from Alan Thomson, county planner.

“The reasons why for the no vote, I think, was in error, a misinterpretation of code,” Thomson said, indicating that the commission member believed that if one criteria is not met, the motion should be denied.

By law, five positive votes are required from the current six-member planning commission. The board's official size is set at nine.

Eric Busch, representing the landowners, filed to appeal the decision. The site is the location of a planned residential development named Thunder Eagle.