Letter to people who attended the Spanaway Lake Management Plan Meeting:

Thank you for attending the kickoff meeting of the Spanaway Lake Management Plan (Lake Plan) meeting. That was the first of several community meetings on the Lake Plan that Pierce County Public Works and Utilities Department will sponsor over the next two years.

The Spanaway Lake meeting was intended to introduce community members to the planning process, let people know how they can be involved, and provide County staff an opportunity to hear which topics related to the lake are of interest to you.  Several attendees asked questions about the update of Pierce County’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP).  As a result, the Planning and Land Services department was asked to provide meeting attendees with the following clarification:

How do the programs relate?   The Spanaway Lake Management Plan is a scientific study of the lake and the contributing watershed’s water quality conditions.  That study will be used to justify and prioritize specific projects or programs needed to achieve good long-term health of the Lake.  Neither the adoption nor the implementation of the Lake Plan itself will alter regulations governing development, zoning, or land use.

The SMP covers more issues than just water quality.  It covers a broad array of topics including economic development, shoreline use, habitat protection, public access, recreation, conservation and historical/cultural values.  The State requirement for a city, town, or county to have a SMP has been in place since 1972.  The SMP is used to review and approve NEW development proposals.

The current SMP update is not only mandated by the State legislature, but is needed because the County’s SMP is almost 40 years old.

While the Lake Plan is concentrating on Spanaway Lake, the SMP covers all lakes in unincorporated Pierce County that are larger than 20 acres in size, all marine shorelines, and any stream or river that have a mean annual flow of 20 cubic feet per second of water.

Where is Pierce County in the process for updating its SMP?  The County Council has the latest draft and is beginning the process to adopt an updated Shorelines Master Program.  This comes after several years of the Shoreline Citizens’ Advisory Group meetings and discussion of draft policies, regulations, and maps.  In addition the County held 22 public meetings and open houses to allow public discussion of the draft proposal. The last seven of those meetings were before the Pierce County Planning Commission during the fall of 2012 and resulted in adjustments to the draft based on public input.

The proposal was sent to the County Council in October of 2012.  The County Council’s Community Development Committee held hearings on the draft mid-2013 and identified several areas where they wanted more information.  The package was sent back to the Planning Commission who held another public hearing in September 2013.  The recommendations from that hearing have been returned to the County Council.

The County Council has indicated they will hold at least four more public hearings on the proposal at the Community Development Committee (CDC).  Those hearings won’t be scheduled until the Council reconvenes in 2014 and establishes the membership of all of their committees.  Once the CDC has held its hearings and has formulated a final draft proposal, the full Council will hold additional public hearings.

The Council has an “Interested Parties” list for the Shoreline Master Program update.  If you would like to be on the list and received notice of any public hearing on the topic, you may send your email and address information to Jenifer Schultz, Clerk, at jschult@co.pierce.wa.us

If you have questions about the current draft proposal, those may be directed to Debby Hyde, Pierce County Special Project Coordinator, at dhyde@co.pierce.wa.us

For more information on the Spanaway Lake Management Plan, please feel free to contact either contact Barbara Ann Smolko at (253) 798-6156 bsmolko@co.pierce.wa.us or Windy Kruse at (253) 798-3092 wkruse@co.pierce.wa.us

Thank you again for attending the kickoff meeting of the Spanaway Lake Management Plan and for your interest in Pierce County’s Shoreline Master Program update.

Warm regards,

Debora (Debby) A. Hyde
Special Project Coordinator
Pierce County Planning and Land Services
253-798-7110
dhyde@co.pierce.wa.us