Chapter § 10.4 Shoreline Master Programs

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§10.4 SHORELINE MASTER PROGRAMS

The SMA establishes a cooperative program of shoreline management between local government and the state. RCW 90.58.050. Local government has the primary responsibility for planning and administering the shoreline permit program. DOE acts primarily in a supportive and review capacity with an emphasis on providing assistance to local government and on insuring compliance with the policies and provisions of the Act.

One of DOE's principal roles is in setting guidelines for the development and approval of local shoreline master programs (SMPs). RCW 90.58.060. The department adopted revised comprehensive guidelines for SMPs in 2003. The current guidelines require extensive inventories and analysis of shoreline resources, including restoration opportunities. See Ch. 173.26 WAC. The SMA sets forth a time frame for local governments to adopt SMPs consistent with the current guidelines. RCW 90.58.080.

Care should be taken by the practitioner to ascertain the applicable master program for project review under the SMA. This can be a particular issue with annexations in jurisdictions where the preannexation SMP may apply until the annexing jurisdiction has amended its SMP to incorporate the annexed area.

Practitioners should also be aware of the evolving issues regarding integration of the SMA and the Growth Management Act. In 2003 the legislature amended the GMA to provide that critical areas within the SMA jurisdiction are regulated solely through the SMP and are not subject to the procedural and substantive requirements of the GMA. RCW 36.70A.480. The Washington Supreme Court has not been entirely clear as to how critical areas within the SMA jurisdiction are to be regulated pending update to an SMP. See Kitsap Alliance of Prop. Owners v. Cent. Puget Sound Growth Mgmt. Hearings Bd., 152 Wn.App. 190, 217 P.3d 365 (2009), review granted and remanded, 168 Wn.2d 1031 (2010); see also Kitsap...