USA: Ecology OKs Woodway Shoreline Master Program

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved the Town of Woodway’s updated shoreline master program.

The town’s shoreline program will result in significant improvements in the protection, use, development and restoration of 1.5 miles of stream and Puget Sound shoreline. It also includes a half-mile of marine shoreline at Point Wells, a potential annexation area.

The updated master program combines local plans for future shoreline development and preservation with new shoreline development ordinances and related permitting requirements.

“Woodway has developed a shoreline master program that will help the statewide effort to protect the economic and environmental health of our waterways, including Puget Sound. We appreciate the town’s work to involve many interested parties in this update. Together, we are protecting our treasured shoreline resources now and for future generations,” said Erik Stockdale, Ecology’s acting regional shorelines program supervisor.

Cities, towns and counties statewide are in the process of, or soon will be updating or crafting, their master programs under the state’s 1972 voter-approved Shoreline Management Act.

The Town of Woodway shoreline master program:

– Integrates the town’s shoreline regulations with its growth management, planning and zoning, floodplain management and critical areas ordinances as part of a unified development code;

– Establishes protective buffers with the flexibility to reduce buffers based on individual property circumstances;

– Encourages soft-bank erosion control methods and limits construction of new shoreline armoring;

– 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 Puget Sound.

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Press Release, May 15, 2013