Clark County SMP: Locally Initiated Amendment
On Aug. 22, 2024, we approved Clark County's shoreline master program (SMP) locally initiated amendment.
Clark County's amended SMP is effective Sept. 5, 2024, 14 days after we provided notice to the county that their SMP was approved.
The locally initiated amendment was adopted by Clark County Council on March 7, 2023, and it is intended to align the SMP with recent updates to the county's cirtical areas regulations and correct implementation issues. It addresses several separate topics, including:
- Decoupling the county's flood hazard area regulations from the SMP.
- Incorporating new critical areas regulations for wetlands and habitat conservation areas, and removing exceptions in the SMP that were necessary for incorporation of the previous regulations
- Correcting an SMP exemption for forest practices that is inconsistent with Shoreline Management Act.
- Revising residential standards to allow for repairs, maintenance, and modification of legally existing development within floodways, with conditions.
- Updating administrative provisions to better reflect county implementation.
We held a public comment period on Clark County’s proposed locally initiated amendment to their SMP. The period for public comment was from May 1 to June 1, 2023.
Email notices were used to notify those who had expressed prior interest. Written comments from seven (7) different individuals and/or organizations were received. Comments address riparian buffer protections, exemptions for forest practices, climate change, invasive vegetation control, and wetland protections.
On June 6, 2023, we sent a summary of comments to the county for their response. The county provided wirtten responses on June 27, 2023. The comments and the county's responses have been incorporated into Attachment A Findings and Conclusions (below).
Documents related to approval
Note: All documents are PDF files.
- Director of Ecology's Aug. 22, 2024 final approval letter
- Summary of comments with County responses
- Ordinance No. 2023-03-04:Locally Adopted Ordinance and text with SMP
- Ordinance No. 2023-03-01: Critical Areas Ordinance - Wetland Habitat
- Ordinance No. 2023-03-03: Flood Hazard Areas
- Planning Commission Recommendation Report
- SMP Checklist
- SEPA Materials
Appeals
- Per RCW 90.58.190(2) and RCW 36.70A.290, an interested party may file an appeal with the Growth Management Hearings Board within 60 days of the publication date of our written notice of final action.
- We plan to publish the notice of final action in The Columbian legal ads on Sept. 5, 2024.
Contact information
Tess Brandon
Senior Shoreline Planner
Tess.Brandon@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6520