Skagit County planning commission reviews major rewrite of Title 14 development code

The Skagit County Planning Commission on April 22 reviewed a proposed, county-led reorganization of Skagit County Code Title 14 intended to make the development code easier to read and administer and to streamline residential permitting.

The draft ordinance, presented remotely by Ryan Walters, would reorganize the current Title 14 into divisions and new chapters, standardize definitions and terminology, convert long text lists into comparison tables, and move non-development items out of Title 14. "We are at work in reorganizing the county's development code, Skagit County code title 14," Walters said, adding the rewrite aims to "make it more user friendly and usable and easier to administer." The commission also welcomed new member Jed Holmes before taking up the presentations.

Why this matters: Planning staff told commissioners the reorganization should reduce internal inconsistencies, make use standards and permitted‑use tables easier to compare across zones, and shorten the time…