Skagit County Planning Commission forwards comprehensive-plan recommendations, approves recorded motion

The Skagit County Planning Commission on April 15 approved a recorded motion forwarding its recommendations on the 2025 periodic comprehensive plan update to the Board of County Commissioners, including a factual correction to a Swinomish urban growth area paragraph, support for policies to encourage denser development within unincorporated urban growth areas, and a recommendation to include nine parcels in the Anacortes urban growth area for recreational and operational purposes.

The commission’s action bundles multiple edits and findings that staff and commissioners had debated during deliberations of the periodic comprehensive plan. Commissioner Day asked the commission to correct the Suwinomish UGA paragraph on page 49, saying, “I happen to live on the reservation,” and noting the current paragraph references a facility that burned and omits a memorandum of understanding between the county and the tribe. Planning staff said the paragraph is accurate except for the reference to the Hope Island Inn and agreed to remove that sentence; staff member Robbie read…