Clallam County commissioners and planners want residents’ help in updating its shoreline master program.
The three commissioners on March 2 will consider a resolution that maps out a public participation strategy for the state-mandated document, which is used to direct shoreline development.
Several sets of public forums, hearings and comment periods will precede county approval of an updated shoreline plan in the summer of 2012 before the plan is sent to the state Department of Ecology. No forum dates have been set.
“I think the public will be very accepting of the fact that we’ll have a very wide open process for the next two years,” Commissioner Mike Chapman said in a work session on Monday.
“We’ll have all the necessary public hearings throughout the process.”
Planners in the county’s Department of Community Development will lead a labor-intensive effort to update an 18-year-old shoreline master program.
Shoreline uses
Clallam County has some 800 miles of marine shoreline, lake shoreline and rivers and streams that flow at 20 cubic feet per second or more, all of which must be inventoried and designated for shoreline uses.
“It’s a big job,” said Steve Gray, Clallam County planning director.
Shoreline programs are a requirement of the 1972 Shoreline Management Act, which is intended to “prevent the inherent harm in an uncoordinated and piecemeal development of the state’s shorelines,” the state Department of Ecology, said on its Web site, www.ecy.wa.gov.
Ecology requires all incorporated cities and all 39 counties to update their shoreline programs by 2014.
Instead of forming a new committee to assist in Clallam County’s update, planners will consult with such existing entities as Water Resource Inventory Areas 18 and 19 — which deal with the Elwha-Dungeness and Lyre-Hoko watersheds — the Ecosystem Recovery Network, Clallam County Marine Resources Committee, tribal entities and others.
“We’re going to take advantage of the existing networks,” Gray said.
Gray said the county is already heavily invested in water resource planning and would be well served to draw on existing knowledge.
“I think that’s a real good strategy,” Commissioner Steve Tharinger said.
A $550,000 state grant is funding the shoreline update. The grant is good through 2012.
Shoreline programs are intended to guide development for “no net loss” of natural shoreline.
Restrictions on development, including buffer zones, are dependent on a shoreline’s designation.
In Clallam County’s existing shoreline program, half is designated as conservancy, 26 percent is considered rural, 4 percent is natural, 1 percent is suburban and 1 percent is urban.
Shoreline area
The urban shoreline is the Clallam Bay-Sekiu area and the suburban is Lake Sutherland.
About 18 percent of the shoreline that Clallam County must classify in this round was not designated in the 1992 update. Most is on streams in Olympic National Forest.
“I think the thing to take away from this is, we have a lot of shorelines subject to this planning effort,” Gray said.
The cities of Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks will update their own shoreline master programs.
The four entities will combine some public forums and pool their resources to hire fewer consultants.
Clallam County has no jurisdiction on tribal lands or in Olympic National Park.
Ecology will offer technical assistance to help cities and counties meet minimum standards.
From now until fall, planners will take a full inventory and characterize every mile of shoreline.
The next step is setting specific policies and regulations for shoreline uses. This phase is scheduled to last until the summer of 2011.
All shoreline property owners in Clallam County will be notified of the public forums early in the process, Gray said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.