Shoreline Planning Commission Regular Meeting – October 2, 2025

The Shoreline Planning Commission met on Thursday, October 2, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber at Shoreline City Hall, 17500 Midvale Avenue N, Shoreline, WA. Chair Leslie Brinson called the meeting to order. Present were Chair Brinson, Vice Chair Christopher Mosier, Commissioners Colt Fry and Julie Povick. Commissioners Mei-shiou Lin, Bradley Cabe, and Lauren Hadley were excused. Staff included Andrew Bauer, Elise Keim, and Carla Hoekzema. The sole study item was the Critical Areas Development Code Amendments, focused on riparian management zone (RMZ) standards and comments from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). The meeting was adjourned at 7:34 p.m.

Consent Calendar

• The agenda was accepted as presented.
• The draft minutes of the September 18, 2025 regular meeting were accepted as presented.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Bob Danson, General Manager of the Olympic View Water and Sewer District (OVWSD), said the draft Critical Areas Ordinance is incorrect in stating Shoreline has no designated Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas (CARAs). He stated that a CARA has been identified within Shoreline through OVWSD’s 2023 Watershed Protection Plan, is part of the mapped Wellhead Protection Area (WPA), and qualifies as a CARA under Department of Health guidance. He urged the City to formally recognize the WPA as a CARA and requested three actions: (1) acknowledge CARAs in Shoreline based on the WPA following Department of Health guidance; (2) apply the protections from Appendix C of the OVWSD Watershed Protection Plan; and (3) continue early coordination with OVWSD on development planning near those areas. He also submitted written comments.

Discussion Items

• Planning Manager Elise Keim reviewed the Critical Areas Development Code Amendments required by the Growth Management Act, the new draft code, updated RMZ and critical areas maps, and WDFW comments. The proposal maintains a 200-foot standard RMZ, based on the site potential tree height method (WDFW originally estimated 202 feet). It includes a proposed allowance to reduce RMZ width by up to 25% when the area is already degraded or impacted, if a qualified professional assesses existing functions, on-site enhancement is provided, and monitoring is added to confirm effectiveness.
• WDFW opposed any reduction in RMZ width. For degraded or sparsely vegetated RMZs, WDFW recommended either requiring enhancement so the RMZ stays at 200 feet or increasing the RMZ by 33% (from 200 feet to 266 feet) if enhancement is not done. The City’s consultant concluded that, based on Best Available Science, the 25% reduction is appropriate if criteria, enhancement, and monitoring are in place.
• Chair Brinson said the City’s 25% reduction option makes more sense as an incentive to get enhancements, is easier to administer, and that 266 feet feels very large in an urban area. Vice Chair Mosier called the WDFW approach punitive, noting original riparian buffers were sometimes 40 feet and the City has already increased them to 200 feet; he said the WDFW alternative would not produce the desired enhanced protection. Commissioners Fry and Povick concurred. The commission was unanimously supportive of keeping the proposed 25% reduction language.
• The draft code also includes a one-time expansion allowance for existing development in an RMZ of up to 500 feet if specific criteria are met, including being at least 100 feet from the stream, not extending closer than the existing structure, meeting development standards, providing on-site mitigation, and recording a covenant. WDFW did not support this and recommended requiring a Critical Areas Reasonable Use Permit, but the City’s consultant found the mitigated one-time expansion appropriate in an urban context.
• Commissioner Fry asked whether the one-time expansion applies for the life of the property; Planning Manager Keim confirmed it does and that it would be recorded on the title and noted in the City’s mapping software. Commissioner Povick asked how residents know if they are near a stream; staff said streams are mapped in GIS, site plans are reviewed, and staff try to communicate proactively. There was consensus to keep the 500-foot expansion allowance if mitigated.
• Regarding OVWSD’s public comment, Planning Manager Keim said the CARA language is unchanged from the City’s previous Critical Areas code update based on feedback from the Department of Ecology. Ecology’s position was that a WPA is not always a CARA and that the two are separate groundwater protection methodologies. She noted the City may still have an obligation under the Department of Health to protect the WPA, but that may not belong in the Critical Areas code, and that the City could coordinate further with OVWSD, Ecology, and the Department of Health.
• Staff outlined next steps: a Critical Areas public hearing tentatively scheduled for November 6, and the SEPA threshold determination was issued on October 2, opening a two-week public comment period.

Key Outcomes

• The commission unanimously supported retaining the proposed up-to-25% RMZ width reduction with enhancement and monitoring, rather than adopting WDFW’s 33% increase alternative.
• The commission expressed consensus to retain the one-time, mitigated 500-foot expansion allowance in RMZs.
• Staff will continue to work on the OVWSD WPA/CARA issue, including possible follow-up with the Department of Health and Department of Ecology.
• The next Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for October 16, 2025, with the rescheduled comprehensive plan docket public hearing and the 2025 development code amendments public hearing. At the start of the meeting, Chair Brinson corrected a previously announced hearing date to October 16 after initially stating October 18.