Council Passes New CAO Regs

Public workshops on March 14 and 20

— from San Juan County Communications —

County Council adopted new critical area regulations on March 5, 2014, to comply with a Growth Management Hearings Board’s decision. The regulations become effective March 31, 2014.

Permit applications submitted on, or after March 31, 2014, and new land uses, development and vegetation removal will be subject to the new critical area regulations. Copies of the public workshop notice, adopted ordinance, and critical area resources, maps and tools are available from the CD&P website at:

San Juan County — Community Development and Planning Department.

What technical assistance is available? 

Public Workshops:  Community Development & Planning will host two public workshops on the new critical area regulations on March 14 and 20 to help the public understand the regulations.

Planning Assistance:   You may contact Community Development & Planning at (360) 370-2354 to request general information, or to arrange a pre-application meeting including a site inspection.

Residential pre-application forms may be downloaded here San Juan County – Community Development and Planning Department under the land use information section.

Please plan ahead.  Appointments are conducted on a time-available basis.  At the meeting, you will have an opportunity to discuss your  proposed plans, review available critical area maps and examine unique site or project characteristics to determine if and how County regulations may apply to your project.  This will help you consider the effect of applicable regulations on your project design and development options.

Maps, Resources and Tools:  Critical area maps, photos of protected plants, adopted and proposed critical area regulations and other guidance materials are already available on the first link provided above.  Additional public assistance tools pertaining to the new critical area regulations will be posted on that link prior to March 31.