The Jefferson County Department of Community Development has weighed in with their recommendations to the County Commissioners on the draft SMP update from the Planning Commission’s modified SMP. As you may recall, after the DCD and assorted scientific and citizen’s advisory committees met over the last three years and drafted a decent start to the SMP, enforcing solid environmental regulations that could protect our shorelines better, the Planning Commission, headed by an owner of an geoduck farm, made major modifications to the document, including gutting it of conditional permitting of aquaculture. The DCD staff, has made a series of recommendations, (document available from the http://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/commdevelopment/Shoreline_DCDStaffRec.htm ), and we like what we see. They call for reinstituting the conditional permitting on aquaculture, prohibit net pen fish farming, request reinstating the 150′ buffer and ask to restore the 10′ mininum setup for building on shorelines. These were all things recommended by science and the majority of citizen’s advisory committees. As the amount of actual lots that will be affected by this is small, and many workarounds exist, both for existing structures and new construction, we support these changes. We hope you will come out on September 8th to the next county commissioners meeting and show your support by testifying in support of these staff requests for changes.