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Department of Ecology News Release - September 3, 2010
10-228
BELLINGHAM – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved the city of Anacortes’ recently updated shoreline master program, increasing protection and restoration of Puget Sound.
The updated shoreline master program guides construction and development in the city’s roughly 27 miles of marine and freshwater shorelines. The revised shoreline program combines local plans for future development and preservation with new development ordinances and related permitting requirements.
Anacortes’ shoreline program update began with a thorough inventory of existing land-use patterns and environmental conditions to preserve existing shoreline areas while protecting future economic development.
The shoreline program becomes final once the city notifies Ecology that it has adopted the Ecology-approved shoreline program.
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 with marine shorelines, lakes 20 acres in size or larger, and streams and rivers flowing at 20 cubic feet per second or greater to develop and periodically update their locally tailored shoreline programs.
The shoreline program process is designed to bring diverse local interests to the table to work collaboratively. Anacortes collaborated over four years with waterfront property owners, builders, environmental interests, local governments, tribes and state agencies.
Key features of Anacortes’ updated program include:
“Anacortes’ updated shoreline program helps protect the environmental and economic health of our waters,” said Richard Grout, manager of Ecology’s Bellingham office. “By working together, we’re keeping local beaches and stream banks from further erosion, increasing flood protection and protecting critical habitat, fish and wildlife.”
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 shoreline master programs. The guidelines resulted from a negotiated settlement involving business interests, ports, environmental groups, shoreline user groups, cities and counties, Ecology and the courts.
Anacortes joins a growing number of cities, towns and counties that have updated their shoreline programs using the 2003 guidelines. The state guidelines allow each town, city and county flexibility to customize their programs to fit their local land-use circumstances and vision of local waterfront development.
More than 120 cities and counties across the state are updating their programs. Although the state Shoreline Management Act requires jurisdictions to regularly update their programs, most haven’t done so comprehensively in more than 30 years.
Ecology is providing $7.5 million in state grants to an additional 77 cities and counties to help them begin updating their shoreline policies and regulations – including $3 million earmarked by the 2009 Legislature specifically to help municipalities throughout the Puget Sound region.
All of Washington’s more than 260 cities and counties with regulated shorelines must update their shoreline programs by December 2014.
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Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
