PORT TOWNSEND — After weighing hundreds of public comments and 30 hours of deliberations, Jefferson County commissioners Monday approved a shoreline program requiring a 150-foot buffer on all marine shores.
Rejecting the Planning Commission’s recommended 50-foot buffer, or setback from the high tide line, the commissioners now toss the issue to the state Department of Ecology for final approval.
But the commissioners know that property rights and real estate interests, which have fought against long development buffers along beachfront properties, aren’t happy with Monday’s decision.
“The bottom line is we’re going to be sued,” said Commissioner Phil Johnson of Port Townsend before he and fellow Commissioners David Sullivan of Cape George and John Austin of Port Ludlow approved the plan.
Fish farm ban
The unanimous action also incudes a ban on net-pen aquaculture.
None of the requirements built in Monday’s actions is taking effect immediately.
The Department of Ecology must review and approve the plan before the new shoreline provisions would take effect, anticipated no sooner than the coming spring.
A 100-foot buffer proposed on lakes remains in the proposal.
A 150-foot buffer also remains on streams and rivers in the county.
While environmentalists lauded the county’s efforts to protect its shorelines, property rights advocates and some real estate agents had called on county leaders to leave alone the existing 30-foot shoreline buffers from the high-water mark.
Finfish aquaculture has also been a point of debate with the commissioners supportive of a prohibition on fish pens that farm salmon and other fish.
Shellfish unaffected
The commissioners agreed to a ban on the practice in the county right now with no such restrictions on shellfish aquaculture.
They gave a qualified prohibition on all finfish aquaculture that uses or releases harmful materials, in contrast to the Planning Commission’s proposal to allow such operations when they didn’t have negative effects.
Jefferson County is required to update its Shoreline Master Program to comply with the state’s 1971 Shoreline Management Act and 2003 Shoreline Master Program guidelines.
All jurisdictions in the state must update their Shoreline Master Program rules by 2014.
During the county commissioners’ extensive discussions leading up to Monday’s vote, they weighed scientific and technical analyses to ensure key shoreline functions and values are adequately protected, they said.
“A lot of the value of our private shoreline properties is due to the fact that they are located along a healthy shoreline environment,” Sullivan said.
“The immense amount of public participation in this three-year process has resulted in an SMP [Shoreline Master Program] that improves shoreline protections and protects private property values.”
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.