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Workshop Scheduled for Village and Hamlet Plans

posted 04/27/01
Village and hamlet planning is high on the County Planning Department’s list of priorities for the year 2001. A community workshop to introduce the village and hamlet planning program and obtain community input for local plans will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 17, 2001 at the Madrona Room in the Eastsound Community Center . The meeting will focus on plans to be developed for Deer Harbor, West Sound, Orcas Village, Olga and Doe Bay.

Under the County’s Comprehensive Plan, these five areas are simply designated as " Activity Centers." Residential densities are established within the activity centers, but internal designations for land uses other than residential use have not been identified. Commercial uses are permitted in villages and hamlets by the Comprehensive Plan, so under the County’s interim development standards for activity centers, commercial development applications are being accepted by the County for parcels anywhere within activity centers until plans are adopted.

The plans to be prepared for each activity center will identify the appropriate locations in each village and hamlet for various land uses based on the unique conditions and requirements that apply there. Goals, specific land use districts, and development guidelines appropriate to each will be established based on this meeting and later meetings to be held in each activity center.

An information packet providing background information on each of the activity centers will be available at the workshop. After the workshop, information packets may be obtained by request from the Planning Department, 360.378.2393. Maps showing the boundaries and density designations for each hamlet are available on the County’s Web site.

The planning effort for the County’s rural activity centers was suspended in 1999 so the planning staff could prepare the County’s response to the appeal of the Comprehensive Plan to the Growth Management Hearings Board. Now that the County’s case is complete and the hearing has been held before the Growth Management Hearings Board, planning staff is available to continue the activity center planning program.

For further information, contact Pat Mann, Senior Planner, at the San Juan County Planning Department, 360.378.2393.