Programs to manage shorelines in six cities and towns within Grant County are open for comment through the Washington Department of Ecology.
Coulee City, Electric City, Grand Coulee, Krupp, Soap Lake, and Wilson Creek joined Grant County in 2011 in a regional planning process to update each community’s shoreline program.
Grant County’s program received final approval in September 2014. Each of the cities and towns share environmental studies and an inventory of current shoreline conditions with the county. The communities’ then tailored portions of individual shoreline programs to meet local needs.
Shoreline programs are designed to help protect the shoreline environment, reserve appropriate areas for water-oriented uses, and allow people access to public land and waters.
After approval from Ecology, the shoreline programs will become part of the overall state shoreline program. The public can comment through January 23, 2015, on a single shoreline program, all six of them, or some combination.
The six proposed shoreline programs and related documents can be reviewed at:
Taking public comments into consideration, Ecology may approve the proposed shoreline program as written, reject it, or identify specific modifications to meet the Shoreline Management Act and applicable state regulations.
Under Washington’s 1972 voter-approved Shoreline Management Act, Ecology must review and approve the proposed shoreline program before it takes effect. More than 150 cities and counties statewide are in the process of, or soon will be updating or creating, their shoreline programs.
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Press Release