Skagit County adopts 2025 legislative work plan under consent, staff to continue comprehensive plan update and policy reviews

Skagit County commissioners on Feb. 3 approved the county's 2025 legislative work plan as part of a 32-item consent agenda, directing Planning and Development Services to continue several multi-year projects including the comprehensive plan update and countywide planning policy review.

Robbie Acroft, senior planner with Skagit County Planning and Development Services, told commissioners the work plan largely continues previous efforts and includes a new study on siting clean energy generation and storage facilities. "The first three items are continuing business," Acroft said. "The comprehensive plan update, which we've been working on for the past year, we plan to finish by 06/30/2025. We are required by state law to finish by December this year."

Why it matters: the comprehensive plan and countywide planning policies set the framework for housing, employment growth and land use across Skagit County and its cities. The work plan also directs future code changes and public engagement steps that can affect the location and permitting of energy facilities and agricultural uses.

Acroft said the county will re-release a full draft of the comprehensive plan in February for public review and that the countywide planning policy update will come before the board at a public hearing and possible action March 25. He said the county had released a "CIPA environmental checklist and issued a DNS" and was in the middle of a 60-day commerce review process.

On agritourism, Acroft said the board remanded earlier agritourism code changes last June to Planning and Development Services and the Planning Commission for further study; staff plan to convene a community task force that will run into June and work with the Planning Commission on draft policies later in the year. "The department is planning to start a community task force here in the coming months which will run until about June," he said.

The work plan also includes a new request to study where in the county the public and decision-makers would like to see clean energy generation and storage facilities located. Acroft said that, except for the agricultural zone where a prior ordinance prohibits these facilities, such uses are generally allowed as utility development in most zones and that the study would seek to define such facilities, change how they're classified, and identify appropriate siting. "We're hoping to specify what these facilities are, remove them as a utility development, and then figure out where in the County do these belong," Acroft said. He added that if a proposal were to be sited in a zone where the county prohibits it, a developer could pursue a state siting process that is adjudicated and requires additional review.

Commissioner Wiesen acknowledged the work plan items and the schedule for required work. "A couple of them are required by state law," Wiesen said. Another commissioner emphasized that the Planning Commission and staff start the work only after the board approves those efforts and reminded the public the approval is a step in a process that includes later public review and possible changes.

The board approved the entire consent agenda, which included the work plan, by a voice vote. The approval carries the work plan forward to the public hearing and review steps noted by staff.