FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Dec. 17, 2003 03-236 Shoreline guidelines adopted, grants awarded for local updates OLYMPIA - Local cities and counties are already lining up to modify their shoreline master programs to reflect revised guidelines adopted today by the state Department of Ecology (Ecology). The revisions represent the first comprehensive update of the state guidelines in 30 years. Linda Hoffman, Ecology's interim director, said that improved shoreline management will benefit the environment, economic assets and public safety. "In the past three decades, we have learned a lot about the importance of shorelines in absorbing flood waters, recharging aquifers, filtering pollutants, and supporting fish and other wildlife," Hoffman said. "These new guidelines will help save private property and lives from being lost in floods, as well as protect environmental functions." Over the next decade, cities and counties (about 250 in all) must update their shoreline master programs to be consistent with the new guidelines. Local master programs regulate new development and use of shorelines along rivers and larger streams, lakes over 20 acres and marine waterfronts within their jurisdictions. Under legislation adopted by the legislature earlier this year, Bellingham, Port Townsend, Snohomish County and Whatcom County must complete their updates by the end of 2005. The legislature provided $2 million in the 2003-05 state budget to start the local updates, with additional appropriations expected over the next decade for the remaining cities and counties. In addition to the four required "early adopters," which got priority for the funding, 17 other cities and counties applied to Ecology for grants to begin revising their local shoreline programs. There was enough money to accommodate eight of those requests through June 2005. The grant amounts are as follows: * Bellingham (early adopter), $90,000 * Port Townsend (early adopter), $197,748 * Snohomish County (early adopter), $528,478 * Whatcom County (early adopter), $575,000 * Bainbridge Island, $78,500 * Chewelah, $39,219 * Cusick, $33,659 * Medical Lake, $63,193 * Moses Lake, $65,000 * Orting, $50,000 * Spokane County, $177,375 * Yakima County, $119,504 Under the state guidelines, cities and counties will inventory the shorelines in their jurisdictions and analyze the ecological functions provided, as the foundation for updating their shoreline master programs. The guidelines then outline a variety of tools a jurisdiction may use to protect shoreline ecological functions while accommodating needed shoreline development. Cities and counties also must slow the spread of bulkheads and other "hard" shoreline armoring that can accelerate erosion on neighboring properties and degrade fish and wildlife habitat. In addition, piers and docks are restricted to the minimum size needed for the proposed use. "Hardened walls reflect the energy from the waves instead of absorbing it, which can increase erosion downstream. And docks can alter the natural movement of sediments and fish migration patterns," said Gordon White, who manages Ecology's shorelands program. "There are natural solutions that are kinder to your neighbors as well as to fish and wildlife." The state legislature directed Ecology in 1995 to update the shoreline management guidelines. The department proposed a first draft in 1999 and eventually adopted a substantially revised draft in 2000 that was challenged in court. Gov. Gary Locke and Attorney General Christine Gregoire cosponsored a year-long mediation effort in 2002 that culminated in a third draft, which was issued for public comment last July. That proposal had the endorsement of the Association of Washington Business (representing a coalition of business organizations, cities and counties), the Washington Aggregates & Concrete Association, the Washington Environmental Council (WEC) and other environmental organizations - all of whom were parties to the lawsuit. Ecology received about 300 comments on the version proposed this year. Seventeen changes were made in response to those comments, to clarify language and to delete obsolete or duplicative references. More information about the shoreline guidelines is provided at www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/SMA/guidelines/index.html. ###
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