County sets shoreline programs open house

Clark Country is reviewing its shoreline master programs in accordance with an eight-year schedule for review and possible revision set by the Legislature.

Residents can learn more at a Sept. 25 open house at Clark County Fire & Rescue’s Dollar’s Corner station, 21609 N.E. 72nd Ave. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with a presentation at 6 p.m.

Those who cannot attend the Sept. 25 event can participate in an online open house on the project website, www.clark.wa.gov/smp2020. The county will add this feature and keep it available until Oct. 7.

The review ensures that shoreline master programs stay current with changes in laws and rules and with other Clark County plans and regulations. The review also allows local officials to consider changed circumstances, new information and improved data.

In 1971, the Legislature passed the state’s Shoreline Management Act, which voted adopted in 1972. The law’s overarching goal is “to prevent the inherent harm in an uncoordinated and piecemeal development of the state’s shorelines.”

More information on the state’s Shoreline Management Act is available on the Washington State Department of Ecology’s website: ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Shoreline-coastal-management/Shoreline-coastal-planning/Shoreline-Management-Act-SMA.