35.05.010 Background information.
Clallam County updated its SMP to improve protection of the shoreline environments and ensure their continued use and enjoyment. The update is also required by the Shoreline Management Act of 1971 (Act or SMA; Chapter 90.58 RCW) and Chapter 173-26 WAC. The latter is a set of rules commonly referred to as the SMP Guidelines. The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) promulgated these rules as instructions to local governments for preparing SMPs. Ecology reviews all locally adopted SMPs to ensure they meet the policies and provisions of the Shoreline Management Act. Ultimately Ecology must approve Clallam County’s SMP update before it can take effect1.
The Clallam County SMP is a comprehensive use plan for shoreline areas that includes goals and policies consistent with State law (RCW 90.58.020); maps, diagrams and charts or other descriptive material and text; use and development regulations; and administrative procedures for the shoreline permitting process. The SMP is based on the SMP guidelines (Chapter 173-26 WAC), but tailored to the specific conditions and needs of Clallam County.
The Shoreline Management Act prioritizes water-dependent shoreline uses, which are those uses that are particularly dependent upon the water to support their use. The Act has two other main policy objectives:
•Promote public access for a substantial number of people; and
•Protect shoreline natural resources and functions.
A major concept in the protection of ecological functions is “no net loss.” According to the SMP Guidelines:
“…Local master programs shall include regulations and mitigation standards ensuring that each permitted development will not cause a net loss of ecological functions of the shoreline; local government shall design and implement such regulations and mitigation standards in a manner consistent with all relevant constitutional and other legal limitations on the regulation of private property. Local master programs shall include regulations ensuring that exempt development in aggregate will not cause a net loss of ecological functions of the shoreline.” (WAC 173-26-186(8)(b))
No net loss means that where environmental impacts will occur, efforts must be made to mitigate or offset those impacts to maintain baseline environmental processes and functions.
There are many steps to the SMP update process (Figure 1-1). At the beginning of the process, the County prepared a Consistency Review to identify and consider which if any of the existing SMP policies or regulations needed to change. The results are presented in the Consistency Review Report (July 2011). The Consistency Review identified several areas where the SMP could be improved to be more consistent with current State requirements, to enhance clarity and readability, and/or to address likely future development scenarios.
Clallam County also conducted a series of public forums, interviews, and workshops to talk with citizens about their goals and visions for shoreline management. The results are documented in two reports: the Vision Statement (August 2011) for Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIAs) 17, 18 and 19, and the Visioning Forums and Interview Report (June 2011) for WRIA 20. These reports reflect the shared history of local residents and their ideas and goals about how to accommodate change in the future. Tribal community perspectives about shoreline use are also summarized, based on interviews with Tribal staff and elected officials. Finally, the vision reports talk about Clallam County shorelines in the future as a gauge for designing policies and regulations that will provide a future that the community wants.
A key step to support development of the SMP is the preparation of a shoreline inventory and characterization report (ICR) on all freshwater and marine shorelines subject to this Program. Two ICRs were prepared to cover County shorelines: 1) Clallam County ICR for Portions of Clallam County Draining to the Strait of Juan de Fuca (March 2012) that includes shorelines located within Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA) 17, 18 and 19 that are part of the Puget Sound Basin; and 2) Clallam County WRIA 20 ICR (May 2012) covering shorelines that are part of watersheds that drain to the Pacific Ocean. The ICRs describe the shoreline conditions in terms of their characteristics, functions, and values, and were compiled to meet the requirements in RCW 90.58.100(1) and WAC 173-26-201(2). The ICRs considered plans, studies, surveys, inventories, and systems of classification made or being made by federal, State, regional, or local agencies, by Tribes and private individuals, and by other organizations dealing with pertinent shorelines of the State. The data sources are identified in the ICRs.
The ICRs include a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. This GIS will link the inventory information to parcels and applicable goals, policies, and regulations, and it will be updated as additional data become available. The GIS database was also used to update the shoreline environment designations (SEDs) that apply to each shoreline segment. The SEDs provide a system for managing shorelines with similar ecological characteristics and land use patterns in a similar manner.
The ICRs will be used to administer the SMP as they provide pertinent information on baseline ecological conditions that need to be protected and maintained over time. The County will rely on the ICRs as well as other scientifically valid pertinent plans, studies and analyses that describe the shoreline environment when making permitting decisions. The ICRs and other background documents were developed during the SMP update process, which included multiple steps (Figure 1-1).
Clallam County convened an SMP Update Committee that met 13 times from April 2011 to April 2013. The SMP Update Committee provided input and review in the development of two earlier Draft SMPs released in February 2012 and November 2012. The County held regional public information meetings between 2011 – 2013 at key points as well as made presentations to interested groups and organizations on the SMP update. Public comments were also received by mail and email on earlier SMP drafts.
In November 2014, County staff presented a revised Draft SMP (November 2014) to the Clallam County Planning Commission. The updated 2014 Draft SMP considered input from SMP Update Committee and comments received from Ecology and other agencies, organizations, and the public; State SMP Guidelines; and was reorganized with the intent to ease administration and ability of the public to locate standards that may be applicable to a shoreline use or development. The County conducted regional public forums on the 2014 Draft SMP in Sequim, Port Angeles, Sekiu and Forks in January 2014. The forums were followed by Planning Commission regional public hearings within these same communities in February 2015.
The Planning Commission reviewed the 2014 Draft SMP and comments received at 19 regular meetings held between March 2015 and April 2016. Based on these deliberations, a revised Draft SMP (June 2017) was presented by County staff to the Commission for their review. The revised 2017 Draft addressed Commission direction for revisions and areas for further evaluation and update to the 2014 Draft SMP. It also included recommended revisions by County staff to clarify intent, further consolidate and organize standards, address inconsistencies, and correct errors (e.g., code references).
The Planning Commission reviewed the revised June 2017 Draft SMP at seven regular meetings held between June and September 2017. At their September 20, 2017, regular meeting the Commission forwarded recommendation to approve the June 2017 Draft SMP with revisions to the Board of Clallam County Commissioners (BOCC). The Draft SMP (dated September 2017) represented the recommendation of the Planning Commission to the BOCC to update and replace the 1976 SMP (as amended) and this title.
The County also prepared two other SMP supporting documents: (1) Countywide Shoreline Restoration Plan (February 2016); and (2) Final Cumulative Impacts Analysis and No Net Loss (CIA/NNL) Report (June 2017). The 2016 Shoreline Restoration Plan identifies restoration potential, establishes goals and priorities of restoration actions, and develops a strategy for implementation in accordance with WAC 173-26-201(2)(f). Implementation and future updates of the shoreline restoration plan will help support Clallam County in achieving no net loss of shoreline ecological functions. The 2017 CIA/NNL Report provides an analysis of cumulative impacts of reasonably foreseeable future shoreline development and how the County will achieve no net loss of shoreline ecological functions through the adoption and implementation of the SMP in accordance with WAC 173-26-201(3)(d).
The BOCC held a public hearing on December 12, 2017, on the Draft SMP (September 2017) recommended by the Planning Commission. The hearing was preceded by four regional public forums in November 2017 and three BOCC work sessions. Following the public hearing, the BOCC held 16 work sessions to consider the Planning Commission recommendation and public comments received and took action to locally approve the SMP on October 30, 2018 (Resolution 91-2018). After the Department of Ecology State review and conditional approval, the BOCC adopted this document as the final SMP. This SMP is effective 14 days after Ecology’s notice of final action.
The SMP, supporting documents (e.g., shoreline inventory and characterization, shoreline restoration plan, CIA/NNL Report) and other related information are available for viewing on the County’s SMP Update website at: http://www.clallam.net/LandUse/SMP.html
Figure 1-1. The Steps to the Shoreline Master Program Update Process
1Consequences for failing to achieve Ecology approval in a timely manner could result in legal challenges or other adverse circumstances. Ultimately, the State could step in and update the SMP for the County.