1. Land Use Permit Tracking: Monitoring and Evaluation of Land Use Regulatory Programs for Salmon Recovery Planning in Hood Canal
Scott Brewer, Hood Canal Coordinating Council
Gretchen Peterson, PetersonGIS
John Kliem, Creative Community Consultants

2. Hood Canal and Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca summer chum salmon
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

3. Salmon Recovery Planning
Response to Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listing of Hood Canal summer chum and Puget Sound chinook salmon in 1999
Large body of biological work (primarily harvest and hatchery aspects) already existed or in progress
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

4. Salmon Recovery Planning and Land Use
Habitat
Projects (engineered log jams, dike removal)
Programmatic (land use regulatory programs; growth management, critical areas, shoreline programs)
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

5. Salmon Recovery Planning and Land Use
Plan needed to involve the land use authorities
Provide a forum for engagement of the Counties
Allow tracking and accountability for land use programs and activities
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

6. Salmon Recovery Planning and Land Use
Examined build-out
Reviewed land use regulatory programs
Concluded:
Current programs support recovery
Assuming no variances nor exemptions and enforcement is effective
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

7. Salmon Recovery Planning and Land Use
Good news…
Suffering from the sins of the past
If current regulatory regime was in place 100 or even 50 years ago, may not have as bad of a habitat problem
Initially, will rely heavily on restoration projects and land acquisition
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

8. Salmon Recovery Planning and Land Use
Bad news…
Not everyone is buying this conclusion
Growth and development pressure is real
Current regulations are not strong enough
Enforcement not effective, if it exists at all
Variances and exemptions are real
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

9. Salmon Recovery Planning and Land Use
Are current local land use codes working as intended, as they exist in code?
Are situations where the codes are not being applied uniformly undermining the overall effectiveness of those various codes?
Are there other activities that are cumulatively aiding fish that need to be considered?
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

10. Land Use Permit Tracking
Can a system be developed to track land use?
Is the frequency of the information reported adequate to assess changes that impact salmon habitat?
How does the permit information impact future implementation and development?
How can the Counties, Tribal Councils, and HCCC Board use this information?
Can this information be used to update land use codes; trigger revisions to standards, codes, and requirements; affect implementation policy?
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

11. Land Use Permit Tracking
Baseline for current impervious area information is 2003
Gathering recent (since 2003):
building permit information
Forest practice applications
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

12. Permitted impervious surface area in 2005 (Basin total/ESU geographic region total)
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007

13. Land Use Permit Tracking
Work in progress
Begin discussions with biologists and County planning staff
Present data and information collected
Discuss trends and interpretations
Next steps?
Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 2007