Public meetings will address municipalities' growth plans

Public meetings will address municipalities’ growth plans

Island County's Planning Department has scheduled four meetings to let the public address proposed changes to growth plans. The meetings will discuss the county's Comprehensive Plan and how it may change the urban growth areas (UGA) of Coupeville, Langley and Oak Harbor and the non-municipal urban growth area (NMUGA) of Freeland.

By Dan Richman • March 28, 2016 12:47 pm

Island County’s Planning Department has scheduled four meetings to let the public address proposed changes to growth plans. The meetings will discuss the county’s Comprehensive Plan and how it may change the urban growth areas (UGA) of Coupeville, Langley and Oak Harbor and the non-municipal urban growth area (NMUGA) of Freeland.

UGAs and NMUGAs are areas within which urban growth is encouraged and outside of which only non-urban growth is allowed. They must be large enough to accommodate projected population and employment growth over the next 20 years, but no larger than necessary. Coupeville, Langley and Oak Harbor each have a UGA. Freeland has a NMUGA.

For each UGA, the county and its respective municipality have designated land surrounding the UGA as a joint planning area (JPA). The JPA contains land that may be brought into the UGA more than 20 years hence, or if the UGA’s population or employment growth expands unexpectedly.

Oh, one more acronym: the land surrounding a NMUGA is called not a JPA but a Future Planning Area (FPA).The boundaries of the county’s JPAs and FPA are not being changed during the reworking of the Comprehensive Plan. But new countywide planning processes regulate what land in a JPA or FPA might be brought first into an expansion of a UGA or NMUGA, if such an expansion is needed.

All land in a JPA or FPA is given one of three classifications: potential growth areas, undesignated areas and areas of long-term rural significance. Under the recent policy changes, land in a JPA that could be be brought into the UGA will now be considered in that order. The idea behind the change is to ensure UGA or NMUGA expansion is orderly, compact and contiguous.

“The purpose of the meetings is to get feedback on what land the public thinks should fall into each of those categories,” said Beckye Frey, a senior long-range planner with the county.

Meetings are scheduled for 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the following times and locations: