Island County Planning Commission sets dates for two meetings

The Island County Planning Commission is planning two public meetings to address topics of general interest.

The Island County Planning Commission is planning two public meetings to address topics of general interest.

On Monday, the planning commission is slated to hold a public meeting to discuss countywide planning policies. The meeting is 2-4 p.m. in the commissioners’ hearing room, located downstairs in the Courthouse Annex Building, Room B102, at 1 N.E. 6th St., Coupeville.

The agenda includes the planning commission’s approval of updated policies, which are used as a basis for county and city comprehensive plans. The county last adopted a set of polices in connection with its 1998 comprehensive plan. That plan is now under review, as are the policies underlying it.

Once approved, the policies are set for presentation to the commissioners on Sept. 22.

The policies can be read online at http://islandcounty2036.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CWPPwithstrikethroughsGMA11517.pdf

From 2-4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, at the same location, the Planning Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss the county’s shoreline master plan, also termed a shoreline master program.

The plan is a set of rules for managing existing and guiding future development on the shoreline.

The state’s Shoreline Management Act, adopted in 1971, requires cities and counties to create such plans. Under a 2003 change to the act, the plans must be reviewed every eight years.

Island County’s plan hadn’t been reviewed since it was created in 1976, said Brad Johnson, a senior planner for the county, in an earlier interview.