Submitted by the League of Women Voters of the San Juans

The League of Women Voters of the San Juans announces a community program “Our County Comp Plan Update: Shaping the Future”. This program will be held in Friday Harbor at the San Juan Island Library meeting room at noon on Monday, Sept. 11. This informative update features Erika Shook, director of Community Development for San Juan County, as speaker. The public is invited.

The comprehensive plan update will set the growth policies and goals for the county for the next 20 years with updates to the plan being required every 10 years. The plan is regulated by the Growth Management Act which was passed by the state in 1990 to curb rapid population and suburban sprawl. There are many elements to the plan that can be addressed by the update such as land use, rural and resource lands, the housing element, transportation element, water resources and parks, recreation and open space element, capital facilities and utilities element to name a few.

The focus of this educational meeting is to explain the plan in simple, easy to understand language so citizens of San Juan County know why this update is important and to understand what can be accomplished through citizen participation. The update will directly impact the future development of the county.

Shook will explain an overview of the plan including the vision the county has developed for this plan update, the guiding principles of this project and next actions as well as expected outcomes of this plan update. The league hopes people will realize that they too have a voice in county government and as such will get involved in tracking the progress of the update, make specific, constructive and direct comments to the update as it unfolds, and attend public hearings on the plan. The league is a nonpartisan political organization, which encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of policy issues, and influences policy through education and advocacy.