Submitted by San Juan County.
San Juan County is updating its critical areas protections, also referred to as the Critical Areas Ordinance or CAO, and the public is invited to comment on the first draft. The CAO serves as a key regulation to ensure that development does not harm water quality, groundwater recharge, wetlands, and some fish and wildlife habitats. The CAO includes regulations for tree protection zones, water quality buffers and prescribed development standards within flood zones and geohazards. A first draft of the updated regulation is now available for public comment.
View the clean draft regulations here: https://sanjuancountywa.gov/documentcenter/View/34527/2026-02-11_DRAFT_CAO_REGULATIONS_Clean_.
View the track changes draft regulations here: https://sanjuancountywa.gov//DocumentCenter/View/34533/2026-02-11_DRAFT_CAO_REGULATIONS_Tracked-Changes-.
View the proposed changes to code term definitions here: https://sanjuancountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/34528/2026-02-11_SJCC-1820-Critical-Area-Definitions.
View the Crosswalk between BAS and the proposed changes here: https://sanjuancountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/34529/2026-02-11_BAS-Crosswalk_SJC-CAO_.
Submit comments online or email them to Colin Maycock, planner IV, at colinm@sanjuancountywa.gov.
Background
The County is required to protect five different kinds of critical areas and, because the protection regulations are adopted as ordinances, they are known by the generic singular “CAO” or plural term, “CAOs.”
All counties, cities and towns in Washington state planning under the Growth Management Act are required to periodically review and update the CAO regulations. San Juan County’s CAO was adopted most recently in 2013 and implemented in 2014. The County needs to update its CAO again to be compliant with GMA standards and be more eligible for certain grant funding. The County’s goal is to adopt an updated CAO by May. Check the County’s project webpage for ongoing information: https://engage.sanjuancountywa.gov/2026-critical-areas-ordinance-cao-update.
Recent updates
The Department of Community Development has reviewed and updated the Best Available Science supplement and the gap analysis — two pieces of information upon which the CAO is based. These documents support the newly available first draft of the CAO: https://sanjuancountywa.gov//DocumentCenter/View/33229/2025-06-30_PCODES-23-0002_BAS-Addendum-report.
The draft document includes a table (the BAS Crosswalk) that outlines the proposed revisions, the section each revision is in and the rationale for the change. This table is a helpful tool for reviewing the regulation.
Public participation
The public has the opportunity to review and ask questions about the draft CAO regulations, read the proposed changes and provide comments. The first draft will be available for comments until March 26, after which a second public hearing draft will be developed before the public hearings with the Planning Commission and County Council later this spring.
The County will also host a series of community meetings to solicit public feedback. More information, including public participation opportunities, will be shared as it becomes available. Check the project page for details and updates: https://engage.sanjuancountywa.gov/2026-critical-areas-ordinance-cao-update.
Questions and comments should be directed to Colin Maycock, planner IV, at colinm@sanjuancountywa.gov.
