The Island County Commissioners last week put to rest the last legal challenge to the 1998 debut of the Comprehensive Plan — and indicated the issue will resurface in the Comp Plan update currently under way.

The commissioners unanimously adopted a permanent ordinance on protecting county land zoned “rural” from agricultural encroachment. The new measure is identical in language to the one it replaced, except that it was a permanent ordinance. The one it replaced was temporary.

The ordinance affects existing and ongoing agricultural activities on rural land and protects wetlands, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, geologically hazardous areas and frequently flooded areas

The replacement of the temporary law with a permanent version was ordered May 1 by the Growth Management Hearings Board. Now, assuming the Hearings Board approves the replacement, litigation over the matter — initiated by the Whidbey Environmental Action Network, or WEAN, back in 1998 — will be over.

But the controversy will not end. All three commissioners plan to revisit the matter in the pending Comp Plan update, Commissioner Jill Johnson said.

“So we will start all over again,” said Marianne Edain of WEAN.

To view the new ordinance, visit http://www.islandcounty.net/planning/documents/C-106-15AgOrdinance.pdf