Planning and Development Services

Policy and/or Code Amendments

P-1

Friends of Skagit County (Bynum)
(Deferred by Board from 2015 docket; also resubmitted by applicant)

Amendments to the section on Conservation and Reserve Development (CaRD) to require the following:

1. CaRDs be allowed only in UGAs.
2. CaRDs have a cap that limits the scale of the development in relationship to the reserve land size.
3. CaRDs that exist currently in Skagit County have permanent easements on the reserved portion of the parcels which are NOT reserved for future development but provide permanent protection on that portion of the land.

• Amendment Summary, October 20, 2016
  

P-2

Friends of Skagit County (Good)

Amendments section of the Comprehensive Plan to create standing Citizen Committees to work with the Planning Commission on review and suggested changes to the Countywide Planning Policies, Comprehensive Plan, and codes.

• Amendment Summary, October 20, 2016

P-3

Friends of Skagit County (Good)

Amendments sections of the Comprehensive Plan to reflect the County’s policy of no loss of agricultural lands. Language must include ways to identify the amount of economic loss created by the loss of farmland, cumulative effects to the economy as well as the environmental functions lost.

• Amendment Summary, October 20, 2016

P-4

Friends of Skagit County (Stauffer)

Skagit County needs an accurate database of buildable lands in rural zones. A buildable rural lands inventory and assessment should address the entire County and give the County a better baseline and data for planning, permitting and code enforcement.  

• Amendment Summary, October 20, 2016

P-5

Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee (Fox)

Amend SCC 14.24.380 (Critical Areas Ordinance, Seawater Intrusion Areas) to require, prior to drilling, a permit application and County approval for any new well to be drilled on Guemes Island.

• Amendment Summary, October 20, 2016

P-6

Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee (Rooks)

Amend the Drinking Water Code (existing SCC 12.48.250) to encourage rainwater collection systems for potable water on Guemes Island.
Revise/lower the definition of "adequate water supply" in existing SCC 12.48.030 from 350 gallons per day to 200 gallons per day for Guemes Island.
Allow homeowners on Guemes Island the option of using a rainwater collection system designer or designing their own system, if for personal use.

• Amendment Summary, October 20, 2016

P-7

Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee (Fox)

Amend the Skagit County Code to require permanent protection of any open space designated through a CaRD subdivision on Guemes Island. Given that Guemes Island is not in an Urban Growth Area and that density limits are needed to protect its sole source aquifer, the island is not an appropriate location to reserve open space for future urban development.

P-8

Roger Mitchell

Water usage by humans, be it agricultural, forestry, commercial, or domestic, needs to have a highest priority section in our Comprehensive Plan and relevant derivative plans. The Comprehensive Plan must expressly state that, as a highest priority, the County will take all reasonable measures to protect and ensure equitable distribution of water resources for beneficial use by the citizens of Skagit County. In doing so, the County must rely on best available and true science and must preserve and protect the private property water rights of each of its citizens.   

P-9

Roger Mitchell

The Rural Element of the Comprehensive Plan will expressly state that access to water for Skagit County’s rural property owners is a fundamental right that needs to be protected and preserved.

P-10

Roger Mitchell

Each and every County planning project should require a good faith analysis that accurately describes the current and projected values for a list of required metrics. 

P-11

Roger Mitchell

A geohazards checklist, analogous to a SEPA checklist, should be required for every planning and permitting project proposal.

P-12

Roger Robinson
(Deferred by Board from 2015 docket)

All the Rural Reserve on South Fidalgo Island should be rezoned to a new zone called South Fidalgo Rural Residential (SFRR). The SFRR zone would have the same density as Rural Reserve but fewer [commercial/non-residential] uses. We also propose that the new SFRR zone prohibit CaRD development.

P-13
Withdrawn by
applicant

Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland (Rozema)

Re-classify agricultural processing facilities from a primary agricultural activity to an agricultural accessory use. Change Agricultural Processing Facilities between 10,001 sq. ft. and 30,000 sq. ft. in size from an outright permitted use to an Administrative Special Use Permit and Agricultural Processing Facilities larger than 30,000 sq. ft. in size to a Hearing Examiner Special Use.

Comprehensive Plan/Zoning Map Amendments

PL16-0352

MAP

Port of Skagit

Change designation of two Port-owned properties, totaling 3.3 acres, from Aviation Related (AVR) to Bayview Ridge Light Industrial (BR-LI).

PL15-0383

MAP

Skagit Partners LLC
(Deferred by Board from 2015 docket; also resubmitted by applicant)

Amend the Comprehensive Plan and Development Regulations to establish a process for consideration and approval of a new fully contained community, consistent with RCW 36.70A.350.
Amend the Countywide Planning Policies (CPPs) to increase the Skagit County 20-year population forecast by 8,500, place the additional population in reserve for a new fully contained community, and make the CPPs consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and Development Regulation amendments described above.
Amend the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning designation of approximately 1,244 acres on the west slope of Butler Hill, including the Avalon Golf Links, the majority of which is currently designated Rural Resource-NRL with a Mineral Resource Overlay (MRO), to allow for development of a new fully contained community as proposed by Skagit Partners.