Cashmere plans June 3 forum on comprehensive and climate plans

CASHMERE  — A Community Forum will be held on June 3 to obtain public input and feedback to assist in updating Cashmere's 20 Year Comprehensive Plan and the development of the new Climate Resilience Plan.

Christina Wollman, Planning Consultant with Perteet, Inc., told the Cashmere Planning Commission at their April 7th meeting that there will be a booth at Founder's Day to gather additional contributions from the public. As part of the community engagement strategy, a community and county-wide survey is being developed. Wollman stressed that it will be in both Spanish and English in order to have participation from all community members.

Wollman and Mandy Maxwell, EK Consulting, provided the Commissioners with an update of the status of the Climate Resilience planning process, which is a required component and grant-funded portion of the Comprehensive Plan.

Maxwell explained that city assets were analyzed to determine which might be at risk from five different climate hazards. The result was an asset-hazard pairing. The five hazards are: drought, extreme temperatures, floods and precipitation, wildfire and smoke, and snowpack loss.

The list of 16 city assets included orchards and other agriculture, ag-related business, power infrastructure, cultural sites, commercial buildings, schools, churches, residential buildings, and water supply. All 16 of the assets were considered at risk from the impacts of potential floods, extreme precipitation, wildfire and smoke.

Seeking input from the Planning Commission, Maxwell asked if there were pairings that should be prioritized. The Commission replied that additional information was needed first.

After the asset-hazard pairings had been developed, Wollman explained that the city's old Comprehensive Plan and other planning documents had been reviewed to determine if goals and policies were included that would address climate resilience. According to Wollman, some policies were in place, but she recommended that they will need to be revised and others added, especially in relation to the city's water and sewer plans.

Wollman explained that the next steps in the process would be a Vulnerability and Risk analysis for each asset-hazard pair. Each asset's vulnerability to a hazard will be evaluated and given a High, Medium and Low rating based on its 1) exposure, 2) sensitivity and 3) adaptive capacity.

Those assets which are determined to have high or medium vulnerability will then be evaluated for their risk to the hazards. Risk will be evaluated based on both the probability (how likely climate change will cause an impact) and magnitude (how severe an impact from climate change could be expected) of the risk.

Commission Chair Zak Steigmeyer said he wants to prioritize what asset-pairs are addressed since the city is resource limited. He also recommended that the Commission plan for other hazards, in addition to those that are climate-focused.