Shoreline Master Program Update

Final Steps

The City’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) periodic update effort has reached its final step. The City received feedback from the Department of Ecology on our initial submittal and made all of the suggested and required changes. The modified Ordinance (1633) was adopted by the City Council at their meeting on May 12th. Unlike most council actions, shoreline regulations have to get final approval from the Department of Ecology to make sure that they comply with state law, and so on May 28th the City submitted the final materials, including the approved ordinance, to the Department of Ecology. All of the materials that were part of the final submittal are available to view using THIS LINK. On June 2nd the Department confirmed that the application was complete and that the final materials are currently under review.

Ecology will now begin the formal review process for determining whether your submittal is consistent with RCW 90.58 (The Shoreline Management Act) and WAC 173-26, Part III (the SMP Guidelines). Once Ecology issues a formal approval, the new updated regulations will go into effect.

There were very few minor changes that were required in order to keep the SMP in compliance with any recent changes in state law. Most of the Changes that were proposed were intended to accomplish three primary objectives:

Simplify the requirements related to construction and repair of docks on Lake Tapps;
Add new incentive options for property owners to plant and maintain valuable native vegetation along the shores of Lake Tapps to help improve water quality in the lake; and
Legalize non-conforming structures that pre-date the comprehensive SMP update that took effect in October of 2014.

The City has largely been able to accomplish these objectives under the new regulations. The overly-complicated dimensional requirements for docks have been simplified, some of the proposed vegetation-planting incentives were accepted by Ecology as a part of their initial review, and the City has revised the SMP sections that deal with non-conforming development.

Please feel free to look at the materials that are available through the link provided above, and if you have any questions you are more than welcome to contact Associate Planner Nate Schildmeyer for more information.

Thank you

City staff would like to take this final opportunity to sincerely thank and recognize the following people for their contributions to this effort. Without the help of everyone involved, the successful result of this work would not have been possible:

The residents of Bonney Lake and individuals that attended the public events and provided input and comments throughout the process. Many of the best ideas that were included in the final submittal came directly from interested folks that contributed to the process with their great ideas!
The City’s Planning Commission.
Cascade Water Alliance.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
Department of Ecology Staff.
The City Council, Mayor, and City Administration.

City of Bonney Lake