In 2017 and 2018, NCWAS was involved in Chelan County’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) Update Process and expressed concerns regarding several of its proposed changes. We submitted 2 comment letters to the process, arguing for wider shoreline buffers than those being proposed and against the less protective buffer designations being considered for Lake Wenatchee and Fish Lake. Ultimately, revisions that weakened protections for the County’s natural water systems were adopted and went into effect in 2019.
To be specific, the Chelan County SMP as revised, reduced the mandated widths of buffers along lakes and streams throughout the County and changed buffer designations for shorelines at Lake Wenatchee and Fish Lake that offer reduced protection. The overall result was significantly reduced protections for the County’s natural water systems.
In early 2021, Chelan County again considered updates to the program. During the 2017/2018 SMP update process, we assumed the County exercised its discretion within the boundaries of applicable law. However, as we worked to address the 2021 update process, we came to understand that the reductions in buffer widths and changed designations adjacent to Lake Wenatchee and Fish Lake that the County made in 2018 did not comply with applicable SMP law.
We twice submitted comments to the 2021 process with the hope of securing stronger protections for the county’s shorelines than the regulations approved in 2019 provide. The first, dated April 12 (click here to read it), laid out in detail how we believe the county’s current SMP buffer widths and specific designation changes made at Fish Lake and Lake Wenatchee, are inconsistent with applicable Washington State law. On May 26, we submitted a second comment letter (click here to read it). Both expressed our concerns in detail and requested the County agree to revisit the matter and correct the errors made in 2018. Our requests were denied.
With our efforts on the issue having been unsuccessful, in February 2022 we petitioned the County, again asking it to revisit the matter and revise its SMP to bring it into compliance with state law. Our petition (click here to read it), $1,520 fee, and an additional piece responding to questions the County posed asked us to answer (click here to read it), were initially accepted. Approximately 5 months later, the County returned our fee and informed us that it would not process our petition.
This has left us with nowhere left to turn to resolve the matter with Chelan County. However, updates of county SMP’s are 2-step processes. A county submits its proposed changes to the Department of Ecology (DOE), which then reviews it to make sure it complies with applicable law. DOE approved Chelan County’s 2018 updated SMP in spite of our objections and the fact that it contained provisions greatly out of step with the law. As a result, we recently sent it a letter to DOE challenging its statewide SMP oversight policies (read it here), and in early November 2023 met with its Shoreline Management Policy Lead. While it was a good discussion, we’re unsure to what extent it will lead to meaningful changes going forward. So, we still have work to do and remain engaged. We’ll update this space as developments occur.
For more detail and background information, please see our Shoreline Master Plan page by clicking here.