The Growth Management Hearings Board has scheduled 20 hours of “Hearings on the Merits” of appeals of the county Critical Areas Ordinances, approved by the San Juan County Council in late 2012.

All 20 hours will be streamed live on the county’s website, at http://sanjuanco.com/council/video.aspx. No public testimony or comments will be permitted.

The hearing will be held in the San Juan County Council chambers, in Friday Harbor, Monday, June 24, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday, June 25, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 26, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The case is titled “Friends of the San Juans, P.J. Taggares Company, Common Sense Alliance, William H. Wright, and San Juan Builders Association v. San Juan County.” The full record of the ordinances amounts to some 35,000 pages of documents and hearings; the filings of all parties with the Hearings Board approaches 3,000 pages.

A decision by hearings board is expected in September. That decision is subject to appeal, either in Thurston County Superior Court, in Olympia, or in San Juan County Superior Court.

— Steve Wehrly