The most explosive piece in the pipeline is without question the pending update of the critical areas ordinance, at least at this point.

But things are bound to heat up given the long list of potential changes slated for this year’s edition of the San Juan County Comprehensive Plan docket.

Unlike local development regulations, the Comp Plan, home to the county’s official land-use map, can be modified through an amendment process known as the “docket” only once a year. This year’s lineup includes potential changes to the Comp Plan’s water element, land-use element and the shoreline master program (namely the pending CAO update). But that’s not all.

Below are some highlights of amendments that will be proposed:

— Creation of an overlay district for the county fairgrounds; allows the fairgrounds to be used for events and activities which are prohibited under its current rural-residential land-use zoning.

— Establish controls on the location, height and size of signs within the boundaries of the Eastsound Subarea Plan.

— An 80-percent reduction in the size of the 2025 unincorporated urban growth area boundary, adjacent to the town of Friday Harbor. The proposal would not affect the so-called Buck property annexation or the proposed annexation of the Country Village subdivision on Lampard Road.

— Change the land-use zoning on seven acres of county-owned land on Sutton Road, known as the Sundstrom property, from agricultural resource to rural industrial. That change, if approved, would allow for expansion of the solid-waste transfer station onto that property.

— Designate and regulate the North Bay barge landing site (the waterfront portion of the gravel pit) as an essential public facility.

— Regulate wireless communication systems, such as cell-phones, through the unified development code rather than as a sub-area plan.

Prepared in large part by the long-range planning staff, items on the docket were aired July 7, in summary form, in front of the County Council by senior planner Shireene Hale and the former director of the Community Development and Planning Department, Ron Henrickson, who was ousted the from the county ranks the following day when his position was eliminated in what Administrator Pete Rose calls a cost-cutting move and part of an effort to “restructure” government services in order to reduce expenses.

As in the past, the first step for the docket will be a public hearing before the county Planning Commission, the date of which has yet to be determined. The docket then goes to the County Council, along with recommendations from the planning commission on each item, for consideration at a public hearing, the date of which has also yet to be set.

For more about the docket, visit the planning dept. homepage at www.co.san-juan.wa.us