Elements Of The Week:

Natural Resources & Climate

WEAN's Natural Resources Takeaways

• Include a policy that mandates robust and transparent application of Best Available Science (BAS) to land-use decisions, including rigorously enforced mitigation sequencing for the purpose of protecting our Natural Resources.
• Adopt the Deer Lagoon Preserve Management Plan as proposed by Carlos Andersen and extend specific mapping and protections for specific, named ecosystems and preserves in Island County. For Deer Lagoon, this protection is 22 years overdue for compliance with federal grant requirements. 
• Amend NL 11.4 to encourage climate-smart forestry. Change from incentivizing timber to “Encourage forestry landowners to practice climate resilient forestry and increase their awareness of tax incentive programs.”
• We thank the County for de-emphasizing timber extraction in general and recognizing forests for climate resilience and ecosystem services.
• We thank the County for prioritizing green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and Low Impact Design and Development.
  

WEAN's Climate Takeaways

• Map and plan for managed retreat and concurrent ecosystem restoration.
• Remove qualifying language like “where feasible” and weak verbs like “consider.” The scale and impact of the climate crisis deserve greater commitment and action. 
• Provide the list of climate assets and ensure it includes natural areas, including emerging and future estuarine, marine, and wetland ecosystems. 
• We thank the County for recognizing and creating a protective policy for coastal habitat by promoting living shorelines. We ask the County to specifically include policy that prioritizes the removal of hard armoring in known fish habitat, and where unpermitted. 

WEAN's Overarching Takeaway

In every element, keep protective language that is also reflected in the County code.  Don’t remove language on the basis that it already exists in code, and please strengthen language wherever possible to improve health, equity, and climate resilience outcomes. The foreseeable outcome of removing language from the Comp Plan on the basis that “it already exists in the code” is that a future commission or citizen group could pressure the County to strike policies on the grounds that they are not reflective of this Comprehensive Plan.

Welcome To A New Planning Commissioner

Welcome to the newest Island County Planning Commissioner, Michael Clyburn, representing District 1. We thank Commissioner Clyburn for raising concerns about aspects of the Housing Element. His questions at the end of the January 14, 2026 Planning Commission meeting highlight fundamental flaws in the current housing approach for our rural areas.

Our shared concerns are:

• The data doesn't justify the policy. The capacity table shows excess supply for market-rate housing. We question the strategic need to increase rural density unless the explicit and primary goal is to create housing for those earning 80% of the Area Median Income and below.
• The ADU plan is not an affordable housing solution. The projection that only 10% of the 1,182 forecasted detached ADUs would be affordable confirms this initiative is not focused on our critical affordability needs. It functions instead as a mechanism to increase market-rate density in rural areas.
• "Rural Clusters" repeat the same mistake. Introducing new market-rate rural clusters on quartered lot size minimums is illogical when excess market-rate capacity already exists. This approach overlooks the stated need for affordable housing.
• The proposals risk our rural character. Fragmentation is a specific and grave side effect that could result from increasing the number of DADU permits due to the State’s new requirement for allowing condoization of detached ADUs. This threatens to chip away at the rural character we aim to preserve.

In summary, we thank Commissioner Clyburn for bringing a common-sense perspective and agree that the current proposals seem misaligned with demonstrated need and pose a tangible threat to our rural landscapes.

Submit Your Public Comment

Submit your comments to Island County on the Climate and Natural Resources Elements.

Include the following language in your written comments to make sure they are included in the official record:

"Please include these comments in the official public record regarding the Climate and Natural Resource Elements of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan update. These comments are submitted pursuant to the public participation requirements of the Growth Management Act (RCW 36.70A). I request that these comments be included in the final record of adoption and that I be notified of all future hearings, work sessions, and final actions regarding this matter."

Written comments can be submitted:

• Via the comment forms on the Island County 2045 website under the "Draft Comprehensive Plan" and "Draft Code" tabs.
• Via email: CompPlan@islandcountywa.gov.
• Via mail: Planning & Community Development, 1 NE 7th St, Coupeville, WA 98239.

Verbal comments can be submitted:

• At any Planning Commission meeting (in person or online)
• At Board Tuesday Regular meetings (in person or online)

See the Island County Agenda Center for upcoming meeting information.

Up Next: Transportation, Parks And Recreation, And Capital Facilities

This Wednesday, January 21, both the Board of Island County Commissioners (BOCC) and the Island County Planning Commission will meet to discuss drafts of the Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Capital Facilities elements of the Comprehensive Plan. The Wednesday BOCC workshop is open to public attendance but not to public comment. The public may comment orally at the start of the Planning Commission meeting that evening.

• BOCC Meeting, January 21, 2026, at 10:25 am. See agenda here.
• Planning Commission Meeting, January 21, 2026, at 6 pm. See agenda here.

Read the drafts, attend these sessions, and share your comments with Island County.