Shoreline plan ready for public review

Published 11:37 am Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Public study session

When: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Where: Commissioners meeting room in Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles

More info: Visit, www.clallam.net/LandUse/SMP_CurrentDraft.html to review the draft or call the Department of Community Development at 417-2277.

The county’s planning commission will begin the public review process of the updated Shoreline Master Program draft after Department of Community Development staff completed their revisions at the beginning of the month – concluding one of many steps involved in the program’s multi-year review and update process.

The Shoreline Master Program provides county officials with information and regulations needed to manage water bodies and adjoining shoreline in areas where people live, work and recreate, Steve Gray, DCD deputy director and planning manager, said.

“The Shoreline Master Program focuses on striking a balance between development and economic growth while preserving our unique shorelines and the ecological functions and services they provide,” Gray said.

Such areas also are “vital” to the local economy, provide important and irreplaceable fish and wildlife habitat, and provide valuable natural ecosystem services, like flood storage, storm buffering and commercial and recreational shellfish, he said.

Driven by Washington’s Shoreline Management Act, Clallam County adopted its first Shoreline Master Program in 1976 and by 2003 state rules required all counties and cities to update their Shoreline Master Programs every few years.

One of the many goals of the Shoreline Master Program is to protect the ecological, economic and recreational values of the Dungeness Spit.

The Dungeness Spit is the longest sand spit in the U.S. and forms Dungeness Bay, Gray said, but relies on erosion and transport of sediment from the marine bluffs to do so. Thus, significant

disruption of the natural sediment supply and transport through shoreline armoring, for example, would impact sediment transport that supports natural maintenance of the spit.

Applying the county-specific data, policies and regulations provided by the Shoreline Master Program can aid in balancing natural and human processes in cases like the Dungeness Spit, Gray said. The program helps to ensure new homes and development are set back from the top of highly erosive marine bluffs and reduce risk to structures and humans.

Adoption anticipated early 2015

Although Clallam County’s program had been slightly updated when the county adopted Critical Areas Code, Chapter 27.12 CCC, in 1992 to comply with the Growth Management Act requirements, the program hasn’t undergone a comprehensive review and update since the 1970s.

“We’re now in the final phase of the review process,” Tom Montgomery, planning commission member, said. “The planning commission has been extensively involved with this for the last year or so.”

Although public hearings before the Clallam County Board of County Commissioners aren’t anticipated until next year, the planning commission will continue to work with the DCD staff to iron out any remaining concerns and questions.

“Now, it is really a matter of taking the draft through a more formal public process with the planning commission,” Gray said. “The next step is to produce a public hearing schedule.”

Before recommending a final draft to the board of commissioners, the planning commission will host public informational sessions to receive ample community feedback on the Shoreline Master Program.

“I would expect the process and adoption of the plan, at least on a local level, by early 2015,” Gray said.

Following the local adoption of the updated Shoreline Master Program, officials with Washington State Department of Ecology will have final approval and may return the program for additional work, Gray said.

Big undertaking

County officials have been working steadily toward the most recent Shoreline Master Program update since 2009. Both the extensive research and supporting documents needed to adequately update the Shoreline Master Program and a decrease in DCD resources caused for some delay in the update process, but Gray said the process is “back on track.”

“It is a pretty massive undertaking given this county has a lot of shorelines,” Gray said. “We have a lot of diverse coastline between the west and east ends of the county.”

In addition to including all areas 200 feet inland from the county’s marine shorelines, the program also takes into consideration the shorelines of rivers with a flow greater than 20 cubic feet per second and lakes larger than 20 acres.

It is important to have a thorough inventory and characterization of the wide variety of shorelines within the county because of the large amount to manage and to ensure the goals set in the program are being met and staying consistent with requirements, Gray said.

“You would hope that you did your job well because after the program is adopted the next big goal is to monitor between other major updates or changes and be able to measure effectiveness,” Gray said.

Public comments are welcomed by county officials and can e-mailed to SMP@co.clallam.wa.us or mailed to the Clallam County Department of Community Development, 223 E. Fourth St, Suite 5. Port Angeles, WA 98362.