by ANNA V. SMITH

Journal reporter

The San Juan County Council held special meetings on Lopez, San Juan and Orcas last week about the Shoreline Master Program after a number of islanders asked for more time for public input and better explanations of the changes from the 1998 updates to the SMP.

The SMP is a required document under the state Shoreline Management Act, adopted in Washington in 1972. San Juan County created its first SMP in 1978, and has done major updates since 1998. For the islands, the SMP is particularly important to the San Juans’ 400 miles of coastline, as it dictates what sort of development is allowed, protects sensitive areas and promotes public access to the shore.

The SMP applies to land 200 feet inland from the ordinary high water mark and then seaward from the ordinary high water mark to the county line.

Councilman Jamie Stephens began the meetings by explaining that an updated SMP is required every seven years, and it has been 17 since the last update. Updates to the SMP are a state-defined process, and council has been batting around the idea of an update since as early as 2008.

Beginning in the spring of 2015, the council began doing community outreach in regards to the SMP. In total, they have received 107 pages of comment summary since releasing their proposed draft of the regulations.

The current draft is the work of four years of public hearings, meetings with stakeholders, a citizen Planning Commission in 2011 and county council workshops.

Director of Community Development Erika Shook and Senior Planner Colin Maycock presented a slideshow that detailed the SMP process and some important changes that were being made. Most of the changes, according to the staff that presented, were to simplify the SMP while adhering to the original goals and ensuring ecologically non-destructive shoreline regulations.

“[We are] working to make sure there aren’t too many regulations,” said Shook.

Some points of contention raised by citizens were the elimination of dual designation below the ordinary high water mark, the amount of time allowed for the final step in the public process, and changes to nonconforming use regulations.

Shook said that the dual designations were eliminated because they were complex and hard to understand, and that the staff found it difficult to administer. According the the presentation, aquatic uses will be consistent with uses allowed in adjacent upland designations.

“The dual designation is gone, but the protections are still there,” Shook said.

Questions previously submitted to the council were read, ranging from definitions of zone designations to how the plan affects the ecology of the shoreline. Planning Manager and Deputy Director Linda Kuller was also present to answer submitted questions. After the council had exhausted the submitted questions they turned the microphone to audience questions.

Though the council took the audience’s questions into consideration, the public comment period has officially closed. Stephens said the council will only reopen public testimony if substantial changes are made to the SMP draft.

Council members assured community members that once the plan has been agreed upon, it must then go to the state ecological department for review. They also continued to emphasize that the purpose of the update is to make the regulations easier to understand.

“Once we get all done, it’ll be a lot simpler,” said Kuller.

Sounder reporter Mandi Johnson contributed to this story.