By Tristan Baurick…
The long-awaited and hotly-debated update of the island’s shoreline regulations has fallen six months behind schedule. The unexpectedly slow pace of crafting an updated Shoreline Master Plan is frustrating the City Council, which expected to complete the state-mandated process by the end of last year.
“I’m shocked and very concerned,” Councilwoman Kirsten Hytopoulos said on Wednesday after learning the city Planning Commission’s SMP recommendations likely wouldn’t be ready until late May or possibly even June. “This bodes very badly if we allow this to play out.”
The state’s extended deadline requires the city to submit its SMP by the end of 2012. The council wants ample time to discuss the commission’s recommendations before sending the update to the state for approval. Read more at kitsapsun.com
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The SMP was a major factor in the City Council elections and the clear message voters sent was that the voters wanted the new City Council to make the policy decisions on the SMP update and not leave those decisions to unelected commissions or City staff
If the City Council does not take control of the process now by making clear policy decisions on the major issues, then because of the limits of time and other pressing issues like the budget, they will be forced to accept the hundreds of policy decisions that have been included in the draft SMP by the city staff and the Planning Commission.
Gary Tripp, Bainbridge Citizens