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Sammamish Town Center (not licensed)

Shoreline Master Program 2019

Director of

Community Development

David Pyle

City Shoreline Master Program requirements

The Shoreline Management Act requires each city and county to review, and, if necessary, revise their Shoreline Master Program (SMP) at least once every eight years following a benchmark comprehensive update. The City of Sammamish is required to complete a periodic review of the Sammamish SMP, adopted in 2011, by June 30, 2019 (RCW 90.58.080 and WAC 173-26-090). Local legislative action is required to complete the review followed by state action, even when a local government determines no changes are needed.

What is reviewed during an update?

The purpose and scope of the periodic review as established by the Act is to assure that the master program complies with applicable law and guidelines in effect at the time of the review and to assure consistency of the master program with the local government's comprehensive plan and development regulations adopted under chapter 36.70A RCW, if applicable, and other local requirements. The periodic review is distinct from the comprehensive updates required by RCW 90.58.080(2).

The presumption in the comprehensive update process (2011) was that all master programs needed to be revised to comply with the full suite of Ecology guidelines. By contrast, the periodic review addresses changes in requirements of the Act and guidelines requirements at the State level since the comprehensive update or the last periodic review, and changes for consistency with revised comprehensive plans and regulations, together with any changes deemed necessary to reflect changed circumstances, new information or improved data. There is no minimum requirement to comprehensively revise shoreline inventory and characterization reports or restoration plans that were wholly created with the comprehensive update.

Within the structure of the State's required periodic review, it is contemplated as possible that no changes to the City's adopted SMP are necessary and the City's SMP may be found to be 'adequate'.

Project Documents