USA: Ecology OKs Entiat Shoreline Plan

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved the city of Entiat’s recently updated shoreline master program.

The locally-tailored updates will guide construction and development on about four miles of the city’s shoreline along the Entiat and Columbia rivers. Entiat’s shoreline program is designed to minimize environmental damage to shoreline areas, reserves appropriate areas for water-oriented uses, and protects access to public lands and waters.

Shoreline master programs are the cornerstone of the voter-approved Shoreline Management Act of 1972. Entiat’s shoreline program will become part of the overall state shoreline master program. About 260 cities and counties statewide are updating or crafting their master programs.

The Shoreline Management Act requires cities and counties with regulated shorelines to develop and periodically update their locally-tailored programs to help minimize environmental damage to shoreline areas, reserve appropriate areas for water-oriented uses, and protect the public’s right to public lands and waters.

Entiat’s shoreline program and related documents may be reviewed on the web.

Entiat’s updated master program:

– Provides shoreline regulations that are integrated with the Entiat’s growth management planning and zoning, floodplain management and critical areas ordinances as part of a unified development code.

– Encourages methods to control erosion from soft banks and limits construction that hardens shorelines.

– Includes a restoration plan showing where and how voluntary improvements in water and upland areas can enhance the local shoreline environment.

– Helps support the broader initiative to protect and restore the Columbia and Entiat rivers.

Cities and counties must update their shoreline programs by December 2014. The regulation for the update resulted from a negotiated settlement between 58 different parties including business interests, ports, environmental groups, shoreline user groups, cities and counties, Ecology and the courts.

[mappress]

Press Release, February 27, 2013