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Skagit County planning staff outline 2025 legislative work plan, including clean-energy siting review
Summary
Planning staff told county commissioners the 2025 legislative work plan is mostly carryover work, including a comprehensive plan update, countywide planning policies and agritourism amendments; staff also proposed a new review of where clean-energy generation and storage facilities should be allowed.
Robbie Acroft, senior planner with Skagit County Planning and Development Services, told the Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 3 that the department’s 2025 legislative work plan primarily continues work from prior years and is proposed to be passed under the consent agenda.
The work plan lists three continuing items: a comprehensive plan update, countywide planning policies and agritourism code amendments. "The first of those being the comprehensive plan update, which we've been working on for the past year and plan to finish by June 30, 2025," Acroft said. He also said the county is required by state law to complete certain parts of the process by the end of the year.
The planning staff said it released preliminary policies for public review last year and will re-release a full draft this month. On the countywide planning policy, Acroft said Skagit County released a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) environmental checklist and issued a DNS and that the county is in the middle of a 60-day Commerce review; a public hearing and possible board action is scheduled for March 25. "So far, we're still on schedule to finish by June," he said.
Acroft said the Growth Management Act Technical Advisory Committee and the Skagit Council of Governments participated in review and that elected officials and local jurisdictions had opportunities to provide feedback. "Everyone came back with feedback and then the steering committee in December, which includes all the electives, made a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners to adopt that proposal," he said.
On agritourism, Acroft said the board previously remanded agritourism code changes to the Planning Commission and the Agricultural Advisory Board for further study after a June 24 action. The department plans to convene a community task force in the coming months and to work with the Planning Commission on drafts later this year.
The work plan’s new item is a request to study siting for clean-energy generation and storage facilities. "The department is requesting to look into citing clean energy generation and storage facilities," Acroft said, noting that, aside from the agricultural zone where the board last year adopted an ordinance prohibiting such facilities, the county currently treats those facilities as utility development in many zones. The department proposes to define the facilities more precisely, remove them from the general "utility development" category, and identify where in the county they should be allowed.
Acroft said the change would help guide future facility siting and that in some cases, proposals would otherwise need to pursue state-level adjudicative review if proposed in zones where the county has prohibited them. Commissioner Wiesen and other commissioners thanked staff for the update and noted the process requires commissioner approval before staff and the Planning Commission proceed.
Planning staff materials indicate several items are on timelines set by state requirements or review processes, and the department encouraged public review when drafts are reissued this month.
The planning work-plan item was presented under the consent agenda; commissioners later approved the full consent agenda during the Feb. 3 meeting.
