By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager
The San Juan County Council will convene at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 8 to allow time to discuss and take public input on the work plan for the [intlink id=”8873″ type=”post”]County’s Critical Area Ordinance[/intlink] (CAO) update. The CAO provides protections for items considered essential for the preservation of the quality of life in the County including aquifers, fish and wildlife habitat, wetlands, geologically hazardous areas and frequently flooded areas.
The update, which is required under the Growth Management Act, was due for completion in 2006. The latest revision of the work plan targets completion of staff work in mid-2011.
In February the Council voted to restart a portion of the updating process and fund a review of the “Best Available Science” used in the drafting of the regulations to insure that revisions to existing regulations are appropriate for the County’s island environment.
The draft work plan provides an outline of the work ahead, including provisions for public input, workshops on “hot button issues” such as buffers and non-conforming uses, new research, and the review and adoption of existing scientific research.
A preliminary draft of the work plan was reviewed by the Council at its May 25 meeting. Revisions to the work plan are now underway and a new downloadable draft will be linked to the Council’s agenda page (https://sanjuanco.com/council/displayagenda.aspx) on Friday, June 4.
