Policy & Law

Critical Areas Ordinance

Growth Management

Endangered Species

Fresh Water Resources

Marine Health

policy & law

Friends of the San Juans policy, law and citizen action programs seek to ensure the strongest possible legal framework for the conservation of the San Juan Islands. At FRIENDS we work to ensure that good land use decisions are based in science and that government agencies charged with implementation of laws and regulations are held accountable for their actions.

Policy, Law, and Citizen Action Program Highlights:

Critical Areas Ordinance: FRIENDS will ensure the CAO update includes all Best Available Science, including forage fish eelgrass, geological hazards and critical aquifer recharge areas; track, participate, and comment on San Juan County’s CAO update to insure that critical areas are adequately classified and protected through regulations and mobilize citizen’s comments and participation in the CAO update process.

Legal Support for San Juan County's Conservation Design Requirements: FRIENDS wrote an amicus brief in support of San Juan County’s defense of its Conservation Design Requirements(CDRs) for new subdivisions in certain zoning designations. The CDRs require that when a parcel of land is subdivided in certain rural, conservancy and forest zoning designations, at least 60% of the whole parcel is preserved as a residential exclusion zone. Thus, the CDRs require a developer to site the residential structures, garages, landscaping and impermeable surfaces within a minimal area of the parcel to preserve the natural resources and rural character of the land as required by the Growth Management Act. In December, 2005 Superior Court upheld the County's CDRs as a vaild zoning regulation.

Detached Accessory Dwelling Units: Settling the 7-year controversy over detached ADU's, FRIENDS is supporting the new ordinance because it includes, for the first time, significant environmental restrictions on detached guest houses and practical incentives for affordable housing.

Long-Range Planning: FRIENDS staff reviews and comments on county land use plans including comprehensive plan review; development code updates; Fisherman’s Bay and Eastsound Urban Growth Areas; and the Rosario Resort Master Plan.

Preserving Residential Character: FRIENDS provides ongoing assistance to neighborhood associations fighting ot protect their residential character by upholding their covenants and restrictions against transient rentals.

Orca Listing Ensured: FRIENDS along with a coalition of conservation partners secured protection for the Southern Resident Killer Whales as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Fresh Water Resources: With a major focus on water resources, FRIENDS is working with the county the Water Resources Committee to address watershed management in relation to new development and compelling San Juan County staff and elected officials to improve stormwater management policies.

Wetland Protection: Over the past year FRIENDS has ensured compliance with local, state and federal wetland and clean water act protections in multiple cases, suing excavators and developers who illegally dredged and filled wetlands in violation of the Clean Water Act and ensuring adequate mitigation and restoration actions are required to remedy environmental degradation.

Marine Health: Key actions by FRIENDS over the past year included: filing a petition to protect the Cherry Point Herring, an important part of the food chain for imperiled salmon and killer whales in Puget Sound; halting a federal plan to for GSX pipeline to preserve San Juan County shorelines threatened by gas development; compelling Washington Department of Health to monitor impacts of marina expansions on shellfish growers; and monitoring shoreline permits including: activities such as home and dock construction, shoreline armoring, marina expansion, vegetation removal, sedimentation, failing septic systems and improperly designed moorings in eelgrass beds.

GSX Pipeline Defeated: Last fall, FRIENDS played a key role in defeating the GSX (Georgia Strait Crossing) Pipeline that would have permitted a natural gas pipeline to cross through San Juan County on its 84.5 miles crossing from Bellingham to Vancouver Island.