HomeMy WebLinkAbout050124 email - anticipated SMP adoption scheduleGreetings Commissioners:
This is a follow-up message to the last Shoreline Master Program (SMP) update I provided the Board via email on 3/12. The following has been drafted in collaboration with the Chief Civil
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and the County Administrator.
Staff understands the keen level of interest in the community regarding required periodic review of our SMP and felt a status report was in order.
The county’s efforts have been somewhat hindered by limited resources. Our experienced land use attorney, Barbara Ehrlichman, left for another position on 4/15. Our Chief Civil Deputy
Prosecuting Attorney, Philip Hunsucker, has now taken on the SMP update project. The Department of Community Development, although almost fully staffed, is in the middle of an extraordinary
workload surge, and the Director has been the SMP periodic review project manager since mid-2022. Our SMP consultants need to cease work on the SMP to begin work of the required 2025
periodic update to the county’s comprehensive plan and development regulations, which represents an enormous amount of work.
Jefferson County is working in good faith with the Department of Ecology, along with its consultants and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, to add clarity to the updated SMP, with a
goal of making no substantive changes. The additional clarity will improve the county’s and the public’s ability to understand and apply the updated SMP, consistent with the county’s
regulatory reform resolution. The county and the Department of Ecology have the shared expectation that the update process will be complete by the end of summer 2024, although we will
strive to complete it as early as possible. Delays could occur, but we’ll work to adhere to this schedule as closely as we can.
We’ll schedule a workshop with the Board when we have more information, including the next iteration of the SMP proposal, to share. In the interim, if you have any questions or concerns,
please advise.
Regards,
Josh
Josh D. Peters, AICP (he/him/his)
Director
Jefferson County Department of Community Development (DCD <https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/260/Community-Development> )
360-379-4488
Note: email subject to disclosure per Public Records Act, RCW 42.56