On December 29, the Okanogan County Commissioners unanimously voted to adopt a revised Comprehensive Plan. This came at the end of a rushed public comment process that allowed little time for county officials to make substantive changes to the document. Throughout the lengthy process of updating the Plan, many of our members submitted comments on issues ranging from water availability to wildfire preparedness to protecting Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas that were not addressed in drafts of the Plan. As a guiding document that serves as the foundation for all future land-use decisions, MVCC feels strongly that the Comp Plan is important to get right. The Plan sets the framework for the Zoning Code, Critical Areas Ordinance, and Sub-Area Plans that follow it and should give clear direction to Planning, Building, Health and Public Works Departments to guide important decisions.

Listening to the commissioners’ discussion about adopting the Plan, we appreciate the show of effort and good intentions expressed by commissioners and staff. We are encouraged to hear that our county commissioners support policies that protect water and conserve wildlife habitat as our county experiences higher rates of growth and development; unfortunately, we believe the Plan is still missing basic elements such as density maps that are needed to reach these and other common goals. As the year gets underway, MVCC will be reaching out to the county to address major omissions that can significantly hinder accomplishing the Comprehensive Plan’s goals.