The public process to update the Shorelines Master Program for Ocean Shores is under way, and property owners along the waterfront contemplating future construction might want to apply for permits now before the process results in a new document along with new rules and regulations.
That was just one of the suggestions after the Ocean Shores Planning Commission last week was briefed on the ongoing process by Brad Medrud of AHBL Inc., the consultant hired by the city to update the SMP, which guides development and usage along shorelines, both fresh- and saltwater.
A workshop will be held on the master program update at 6 p.m. on Nov. 18 at the Shilo Inn, with the intent to offer the public education on the requirements and the degree of local control, as well as property rights, shoreline ecology and human impacts. Also to be presented are findings from the shoreline inventory and characterization reports.
Under the program, lakes greater than 20 acres in size (such as Duck Lake and its associated canals) are all considered, as well as all marine waters for Grays Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. The shoreline is considered up to the state boundary in the Pacific Ocean (to a 3-nautical-mile limit) and to the middle of Grays Harbor, Medrud told the Planning Commission, which is to help with the process of public education.
Also part of the SMP are associated wetlands, lands extending 200-feet landward from the ordinary high-water mark, floodways and associated floodplains extending 200-feet landward from the ordinary high-water mark.
“It’s up to the jurisdiction (the city) to make the call on whether the associated buffers to the wetland are included or not,” Medrud said.
Damon Point is not included in the city’s shoreline jurisdiction, which essentially extends to the middle of the shipping channel.
As part of the program, the shoreline inventory and analysis will identify which ecological functions are healthy, altered or previously existed, and then identify measures to protect and/or restore those functions, according to a presentation by Medrud.
“This is a snapshot,” Medrud said, assuring commission members that the process was not an attempt to go back and re-regulate something already done or developed. “We’re not going back to a time before that and try to regulate. We’re understanding that this is a developed city.”
Ocean Shores and all other jurisdictions in the county are going through the updating process and City Planner Alicia Bridges asked for assurance that Ocean Shores’ plan was consistent with what was happening in the county.
“We believe it is,” Medrud said.
Looking at mapping, there doesn’t appear to be differences in areas being mapped by the various jurisdictions. Medrud also is working with Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Cosmopolis and Montesanso on their SMP updates.
Also being updated, he noted, is the Grays Harbor Estuary Plan, which is about 20 years old and more recent than the Shorelines Master Plans.
“It takes a look at the entire Grays Harbor together as a whole, rather than just break it out by jurisdictions,” Medrud said. Ultimately, the SMP updates have to be approved by the state Department of Ecology, which will be looking at the county estuary plan as a guideline for the other SMPs. “We’re going to be really compelled to demonstrate that we’re taking that into account and that we are working with the county as far as we need to.”
One of the issues still to be determined is exactly where the middle of Grays Harbor is to set the city’s jurisdiction boundaries.
Medrud noted that the whole process ultimately results in a state plan for shorelines, and that if the city wants something in the document it should make a case for it in the SMP update process now beginning.
“All of the coast jurisdictions are now going through this process at the same time,” he said.
Under the Shorelines Master Program, Medrud explained, everything “that happens within the shorelines jurisdiction has to have some level of review by the city. You either have a building permit, or you don’t.”
The city can set exemptions, such as for a dollar amount on construction or for single-family residences, but those can be challenged by the state.
In general, construction on property within the SMP requires a Shorelines Substantial Development Permit or a conditional use permit.
“You have four categories that everything will fall into,” he noted. Single-family residential is one of the stated exemptions under the state law, as is all current agricultural uses, he said.
The overall goal is to identify measures to protect and restore shorelines and ecological functions over time, Medrud said.
“All of this applies to future uses,” Planning Commissioner Jerry Mergler said, clarifying that the SMP update won’t impact development that already has occurred within the city.
New Commission member Jerry Jensen wanted to know if the updated plan would apply to decks, pavers, driveways and similar construction on existing property.
“If you have an existing deck, if you have an existing driveway or garage, you are already approved or vested, but if you expand by a certain monetary amount, then you trigger the permitting process.” That dollar figure, he said, is about $6,000.
“The city ultimately has to show that what the applicant is proposing is exempt,” Medrud said when asked what happens if the state challenges an exemption.
“The city ultimately is gong to be the one defending the exemption or defending the permit.”
Mergler noted that most of the process already is in place as part of the city’s permitting process for construction.
Under the update, the state will be looking for “what actions will be taken to improve the overall health of the shorelines around the city,” Medrud said, as well as demonstrate that policies by the city don’t result in “loss of ecological functions taken as a whole.”
The city also will be expected to produce a restoration plan to improve the overall health of the shorelines throughout the city over time through volunteer actions.
Ecology then will review those plans again in another eight years, Medrud said.
Resident Don Williams asked whether Medrud would advise getting a permit completed or started before the new update goes into place for any property owner along a shoreline governed by the plan.
“I think that’s reasonable,” Medrud replied.
Once new regulations go into place, the costs for consultants can be “horrendous,” Williams said, citing experience with the shorelines plan in Pierce County.
“Docks were an issue. Expanding a dock was an issue. To design a dock was an issue. Putting anything on your house in square footage was an issue. Everything was an issue,” Williams said.
The Nov. 18 workshop will allow residents the opportunity to talk directly with officials.
Information is available at the city’s website under the Shorelines Management Plan Update: http://www.osgov.com/
The documents also will be available at the Ocean Shores Library.
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