Island County’s development regulations for fish and wildlife conservation areas are more than seven years out of date and a state regulatory board has given the planning department just six months to get them up to speed.
The ruling, issued late last month by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, was in response to a failure to act petition filed by Whidbey Environmental Action Network, commonly known as WEAN, in December.
Steve Erickson, litigation coordinator for the South Whidbey-based watchdog group, said this week that the decision achieved WEAN’s primary objective, which is an enforcement order that will ensure the update process begins soon.