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Skagit County approves miscellaneous amendments to Title 14 of Unified Development Code
Summary
The Skagit County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve a package of miscellaneous amendments to Title 14 of the Unified Development Code to clarify language, correct errors, and add limited substantive changes including ADU flexibility and a new variance process for certain agricultural boundary-line separations.
Skagit County commissioners on May 19 approved a package of miscellaneous amendments to Title 14 of the county's Unified Development Code intended to correct errors, reduce duplication and clarify existing rules.
Robbie, a planning staff member, told the board the package "further clarify[s] code and fix inconsistencies, duplications [and] incorrect grammatical errors" and includes some substantive edits informed by user feedback and a Planning Commission review. The Planning Commission's public comment period ran Feb. 12'Mar. 12, 2026; staff reported three comments, including support from the Agricultural Advisory Board, and said it removed a proposed change to the "party of record" definition for separate review.
Key substantive changes the staff highlighted include limited changes to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) rules and a new variance path for certain agricultural boundary-line adjustments. Robbie said ADUs remain allowed in unincorporated rural areas at one per parcel but the amendments add flexibility when a 150-foot proximity requirement to the primary residence cannot be met because of critical areas, existing development or to preserve natural resource lands. On agricultural parcels, the package creates a variance process that could allow divisions larger than one acre when existing development would otherwise prevent a one-acre separation; previously no variance process existed for that circumstance.
Commissioner Burns praised the clarity and streamlining in the package, saying, "anything we can do to streamline our code, take away anything that's unnecessarily time consuming, I appreciate." Burns moved to approve the ordinance; Commissioner Browning seconded. The chair called for aye and announced the motion passed by voice vote. The staff noted the ordinance to reorganize Title 14 (adopted earlier as O-2025-55) remains the basis for the code and the amendments follow that reorganization.
The board did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript. Staff said minor grammatical edits were also made to stormwater, flood and land-disturbance sections, and that further ordinance language on the party-of-record definition would be brought back in a future legislative proposal for consistency with state law.
