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Department of Ecology News Release - September 4, 2009
09-218
YAKIMA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved new shoreline management practices for Douglas County, with some required amendments to an original document submitted by the county and its cities last summer.
After review, the county has agreed to the changes, and the final effective date of the Douglas County Regional Shoreline Master Program is August 27, 2009.
The new regional shoreline program reflects three years of work by a county-appointed citizen’s advisory committee and a technical advisory committee. It began with a thorough inventory of existing land-use patterns and environmental conditions in the county’s and cities’ shoreline areas.
“The foundation of our process was community involvement,” said Mark Kulaas, Douglas County land services director. “While such an intensive citizen participation process takes more time, you ultimately gain a document that, while not embraced 100 percent by all of the interest groups, best represents the public interest.”
The Douglas County regional Shoreline Master Program (SMP) was first written in 1974. The revised SMP combines local plans for future shoreline development and preservation with new shoreline development ordinances and related permitting requirements.
“I would really like to congratulate and recognize the citizen groups, staff people and elected officials for coming together to complete this plan,” said Jeff Lewis, a manager with Ecology’s Shorelands program in Yakima. “Our understanding of shoreline science has greatly improved over the past 30 years. This plan will protect and enhance our environment while encouraging access and use of the shorelines of Douglas County.”
Shoreline Master Programs are the cornerstone of the state Shoreline Management Act passed by voters in 1972. The programs help minimize environmental damage to shoreline areas, reserve appropriate areas for water-oriented uses and reduce interference with the public's access to water.
The law requires cities and counties to develop and periodically update locally tailored shoreline programs if they have lakes 20 acres in size or larger, and streams and rivers flowing at 20 cubic feet per second or greater.
The SMP sets guidelines to maintain existing environmental conditions while allowing for future economic development within these areas. It also incorporates revised buffer standards for streams and wetlands, which results in overall better water quality – naturally filtering out pollution that comes with high density uses.
The new plan adopts practices that best protect and restore shoreline functions along the Columbia River and other water bodies in the county. In addition, Growth Management Act documents and provisions, such as the comprehensive plan, zoning, floodplain management and critical area ordinances, are for the first time integrated with the SMP.
Ecology has final approval authority for each city and county shoreline program, which becomes part of the state Shoreline Master Program. Ecology adopted new shoreline program guidelines in 2003 that establish the basic requirements for updating local SMPs.
Douglas County’s Regional SMP joins the eight other cities and towns and Whatcom County that have updated their SMPs using Ecology’s 2003 guidelines. The state guidelines allow each town, city and county flexibility to customize the regulations to fit its local land-use patterns, environmental conditions and visions of local waterfront development.
More than 70 cities and counties are currently updating their programs. Many haven't done so comprehensively in more than 30 years. From 1978 through 2008, the state population has grown from about 3.8 million to an estimated 6.6 million people.
Ecology will soon provide $7.5 million in state grants to an additional 77 cities and counties to help them begin updating their SMPs.
All of Washington's 266 cities and counties with shorelines must update their shoreline programs by December 2014.
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Contacts:
Jeff Lewis, Dept. of Ecology, CRO Shorelines Section Manager 509-574-3992;
jlew461@ecy.wa.gov
Joye Redfield-Wilder, media relations, 509- 575-2610;
jred461@ecy.wa.gov
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
