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City staff outline plan to fold updated critical‑areas rules into Sammamish shoreline master program
Summary
Staff said the update is largely administrative: integrate the city’s recently updated critical‑areas code into the Shoreline Master Program for Lake Sammamish, Beaver Lake and Pine Lake, then seek Ecology pre‑review and a council ordinance in spring.
City staff on Jan. 21 presented a workshop describing a planned administrative update to the Sammamish Shoreline Master Program (SMP) that would integrate the city’s recently updated critical‑areas regulations.
David Pyle of the Department of Community Development told council that state law requires critical areas rules adopted under the Growth Management Act be integrated into a city’s shoreline program when they overlap shoreline jurisdiction. He said the Shoreline Management Act and its implementing rules differ from critical‑areas law and the SMP applies only to shorelines — here, Lake Sammamish, Beaver Lake and Pine Lake, and landward to 200 feet from the ordinary high water mark.
Pyle said the SMP is ultimately reviewed and approved by the Washington State Department of Ecology; the city drafts and adopts local ordinance language and then transmits proposed changes to Ecology for review and filing. The city plans a pre‑review submittal to Ecology in February, and if Ecology provides preliminary concurrence staff plans to bring an ordinance to council in March for a public hearing and formal adoption; Ecology’s final approval would follow the local ordinance.
Pyle told council the proposed code integration removes provisions that are inapplicable in shorelines (for example isolated‑wetland language that applies only to upland isolated wetlands and a pilot program that the city has repealed). He said shorelines do not provide the same “reasonable use exception” mechanism used in critical‑areas permitting; instead, shoreline adjustments must follow shoreline variance procedures.
Council asked clarifying questions about the schedule and process; Pyle said the project is intended to be largely administrative and timeline‑driven: Ecology pre‑review in February, council action and public hearing in March, and formal submittal to Ecology thereafter. He said staff will return with ordinance language and the transmittal package for Ecology review.
The presentation emphasized that the SMP update is intended to ensure the city’s shoreline regulations reflect the best available science underlying the recently adopted critical‑areas code.
