Defending our Shorelines

Land Use

Critical Areas Ordinance Update Shoreline Master Program Update

Water

Endangered Species

Recent Actions

In response to San Juan Countys rapid growth rate, FRIENDS of the San Juans actively monitors all land use and environmental permit applications and planning processes within San Juan County, from ordinances to update land use controls to individual development proposals.  FRIENDS advocates to preserve the Countys rural character, defend critical areas, protect air and water quality, retain sufficient open space, protect habitat and conserve agricultural resource lands. This level of engagement allows FRIENDS to ensure systemic protection of marine, upland and freshwater habitats and also provides invaluable information to our ongoing policy analysis and participation in larger scale protection efforts.

In 1990, the state legislature responded to Washingtons rapid growth by passing the Growth Management Act (GMA) to guide future development in a predictable, environmentally-sensitive manner.  The GMA required that cities and counties develop comprehensive plans to establish this framework for future growth. The County first adopted the new Comprehensive Plan in 1998.

  The Plan addresses issues such as development densities, environmentally-critical areas, resource lands such as agricultural and timber lands, water resources, transportation, and housing.

SJC Comp Plan

One of the key components of the GMA was its mandate that local governments adopt regulations to protect the functions and values of the following critical areas: Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas, Frequently Flooded Areas, Geologically Hazardous Areas, Wetlands, and Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas.

The GMA established a December 2005 deadline for the County to update its critical areas ordinance--as of Autumn, 2009, the County had not yet enacted that update.  FRIENDS has played, and will continue to play, a key role in the ongoing update and implementation of the CAO.

In a 1972 referendum, Washingtons citizens adopted the Shoreline Management Act, recognizing the inherent harm in an uncoordinated and piecemeal development of the states shorelines.  The Shoreline Management Act (SMA) has set 2012 as the deadline for San Juan County to update its Shoreline Master Program (SMP).

To fully protect and restore the health of our shorelines, the SMA requires updates to address the cumulative impact of all shoreline development in the county.  FRIENDS will work with the County and the community to help craft an SMP that avoids additional impacts to our shorelines and commences necessary restoration of forage fish and salmon habitat.

When the County created its Comprehensive Plan, it established official maps with allowable densities (minimum acreage per home) and uses for all parcels in the County.  Because the maps are assumed to have resulted from a thoughtful, holistic review of appropriate land uses and densities throughout the county, the standards for rezoning land to a greater density (i.e., from 20 acres/dwelling to 5 acres/dwelling), or to a more intense use (i.e., from farmland to industrial landfill) are strict.

Through piecemeal rezoning and redesignation requests, however, lands such as agricultural lands are giving way to greater residential development. 

FRIENDS monitors proposals for rezoning and redesignation and advocates for a  comprehensive review to ensure that they are appropriate and that they County does not lose net resource land acreage or critical areas.

Notwithstanding the GMA mandate to conserve agricultural land, and recent movement toward locally-grown foods, farmland in the county continues to be transformed into housing.  San Juan Countys rich agricultural heritage (once known as the bread basket of the state) has recently experienced a resurgence as local farmers markets thrive.  However, the conversion of existing farmland to housing threatens to remove the land base necessary for sustainable agriculture here in the islands.

In addition, increased residential density can lead to requests to shutter or hamper neighboring farm activities deemed to be incompatible with residential uses. 

The preservation of agricultural land is a priority for FRIENDS.  Currently, we are working with the San Juan County Agricultural Resource Committee not only to preserve the land itself, but to preserve essential resources, such as water, necessary for farming that land.

In 2002, FRIENDS and the American Farmland Trust completed a report on the relative revenues and costs of public services in San Juan County.  The major conclusion of the report is that residential land uses receive far more in public services than they contribute in revenues, while open space and agricultural lands receive far less.

The implication of this conclusion is that as open space and agricultural lands are converted to residential uses, the revenue benefits of the open space category will be reduced, while the pressures for additional services will increase.  Please contact us if you have any questions about any of this report.  Click here to read FRIENDS Cost of Community Services Study