The Planning Commission heard substantive comments May 16 from OPALCO and members of the public that the draft comprehensive plan's language could make permitting and siting of essential energy and water infrastructure difficult.

Vince Dequinas, president of the OPALCO board and a San Juan Island resident, told the commission the draft plan contains "473 pages, 136 goals, and 681 policies" and that "many of these policies rely on non directive language like consider, support, promote language that lacks clear obligation." He said the combination of policies in the utilities, climate, water and land-use sections "together, these provisions effectively block the siting renewable energy and energy storage infrastructure almost anywhere in the county." In the same public comment Dequinas referenced the Growth Management Act and said the plan "fails to set clear goals and policies to ensure that water and power infrastructure will expand to meet the needs" of projected growth.

Why it matters: OPALCO and other infrastructure stakeholders said planning language that prioritizes scenic or rural character without clear siting or permitting pathways could prevent utilities from placing infrastructure the county needs to meet future demand.

Staff response and edits: Planning staff said the utilities element narrative was updated based on OPALCO review and public comment. Sarah and Sofia told the commission that significant revisions were made to the utilities narrative to update current and projected energy services, needs and challenges, and that two new utilities policies were forwarded to county council and approved on Monday.

Policy and land-use interactions: Commissioners and staff discussed whether utility-scale generation should be allowed in certain rural designations. Sofia displayed a table of land-use designations that currently allow or prohibit "commercial power generation facilities" and noted the major impact would come from opening rural residential and rural farm-forest land to utility-scale power generation. Commissioner Bill Banks raised the need for concurrency and capacity analysis, and staff confirmed an inventory appendix exists for electrical facilities but that more detailed capital facilities work is in progress.

Next steps and implementation: Commissioners asked staff to clarify capacity, concurrency and how the comprehensive plan will connect to capital facilities and the climate action plan. Staff said the utilities appendix includes an inventory of electrical facilities and that a capital facilities inventory is being updated as an appendix; additional policy work and map updates will continue through the summer ahead of the public hearing cycle.