March 1 Update: In order to preserve our options while maintaining constructive dialogue with Okanogan County, MVCC filed an appeal on the Comprehensive Plan in Superior Court on the March 1 deadline. We are hopeful that the county will be amenable to our proposed revisions to the Comp Plan (detailed below), that will help make it an effective planning document.

The County’s Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) is a foundational planning document for all of Okanogan County and is the key policy document guiding development and growth for most of the privately-held land area in the Methow Valley.

MVCC appreciates the hard work that the Okanogan County Planning Commission, County Commissioners, and residents have put into updating the Comprehensive Plan which was adopted on December 29, 2021. Although the recently adopted plan includes improvements, there remain some serious legal and policy deficiencies. As a foundational document that impacts the planning of our communities, MVCC feels the Comprehensive Plan is important to get right. 

The Plan must set the framework for the Zoning Code, Critical Areas Ordinance, and Sub-Area Plans that follow and should give clear direction to Planning, Building, Health and Public Works professionals making important decisions. MVCC believes that the exclusion of important data and a reliance on vague language in the current plan, leaves too much room for the personal interpretation by any given decision-maker. We need a plan with complete data and clear guidance that will be interpreted consistently by many individuals over time.

MVCC is in the process of reaching out to the county to address significant deficiencies and omissions in the recently adopted Comp Plan that limit its effectiveness. Four important areas that need improvement are:

• Protect the quality and quantity of groundwater used for public water supplies. The comprehensive plan doesn’t adopt land densities and uses that are consistent with available water supplies. The plan doesn’t direct growth away from areas that lack available water nor does it call for regulations to implement existing instream flow rules. To adequately prepare for diminishing water flows in the future, Okanogan County’s Comprehensive Plan needs to direct growth towards areas that have both legal and physical water available. 
• Adopt provisions to address wildfires. The current Comp Plan does not include provisions called for by the Community Wildfire Protection Plan such as the recommended adoption of “stringent regulations to ensure fire-safe development of rural subdivisions.” There are currently no zoning or subdivision regulations to aid in planning for fire safety. As homes are developed in rural areas throughout Okanogan County, careful thought needs to be given to how these homes are developed to ensure that they have safe egress and are built taking fire-smart principles into account. 
• Effectively designate and protect fish and wildlife habitat. The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires all counties and cities in Washington to designate critical areas and to adopt regulations to protect those critical areas. The current Comp Plan includes objectives to “balance” fish and wildlife conservation areas with other land uses but doesn’t give priority protection to these critical habitats. Additionally, fish and wildlife conservation areas must include priority habitats and species (such as threatened salmonids), identified by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Comp Plan currently does not include these. As Okanogan County grows and more land is developed, we need clear designation of these critical areas that give fish and wildlife space to survive.  
• Include baseline maps and data necessary for making informed land use decisions. The GMA also mandates that Comprehensive Plans include recommended standards of population density and building intensity which most often come in the form of maps that show density standards outside of city limits. For example, the land use element sets the direction of future growth and is usually depicted as a future land use map. The future land use map is then implemented in large part by the official zoning map. The County’s Comprehensive plan does not include a future land use map.  By not including required information, the Comprehensive Plan opens the door to contradictory and confusing planning outcomes. 

MVCC believes the current Comprehensive Plan is ill-prepared to accomplish many of the priority goals the County has identified including protecting senior water rights holders, instream flows, and fish and wildlife habitat; conserving farms and ranches and the water they depend on; focusing growth in areas where it makes sense to grow at the lowest cost to taxpayers, ratepayers, and the environment; and providing more affordable housing. 

We are hopeful that we can work with County officials to improve the Comprehensive Plan so it can be an effective planning tool for the next decade of accelerated growth and change. We will keep you informed and let you know how to help moving forward.

Photo: Mark Wolf-Armstrong