Debra "DJ" Sessner,
			Sr. Planner
		Lynda Guernsey,
			Departmental Assistant

For discussion of the Comprehensive Plan or Unified Development Code, click the hyperlinks. Additional background information is provided in the General Guide to the Comprehensive Plan.

The Official Maps of the Comprehensive Plan show the applicable land-use designation(s) and maximum allowable residential density for all property in the County. They first came into effect on December 20, 1998. The Official Maps do not portray survey accuracy.

The Official Maps do not yet identify land-use district boundaries within Village and Hamlet Activity centers. Click the hyperlink to go to the Official Maps of the Activity Centers. These maps also do not portray survey accuracy.

Amendments—Proposals for amendment of the Comp Plan, UDC, and Official Maps, and for rectification of errors, will be accepted by the Community Development and Planning Department throughout the year. See the Amendments page for more information.

Land-Use Districts and Designations.

The Comprehensive Plan establishes four principal land-use classes for the County, each permitting a different level of activity. The four general classes are Growth Areas (urban lands), Rural Lands (including the Special Districts), Rural Activity Centers (including areas of more intensive rural development), and Resource Lands, each of which has several types of districts. These land-use classes and districts have been developed based on the needs and expressed desires of the community, existing land use patterns, natural systems and land capability, and coordination with the Shoreline Management Act and the County Shoreline Master Program. The Unified Development Code (in Tables 3.1 and 3.2, §§18.30.030 and .040 SJCC) identifies the uses and activities which are allowed or prohibited within each land-use district.

I.	Growth Areas.
	Growth Areas are urban lands, which provide for compact urban development, urban-level services, and urban levels and intensities of uses and activities. Towns are incorporated Urban Growth Areas. They provide a full range of urban facilities and services, including high-density residential, general commercial, and general industrial uses, schools, and neighborhood and community parks. At present, Friday Harbor is the only town in the county. As a separate governmental jurisdiction, the town has its own land-use designations and regulations. Unincorporated Urban Growth Areas (UGAs) may be:  1) adjacent to incorporated towns. These UGAs are or can be served by municipal water systems and municipal sewage treatment facilities, and contain or are appropriate for a mixture of uses including general commercial and general industrial and high density residential. All or a portion of these areas may be annexed into a town within the twenty year planning time frame; or  2) non-municipal urban growth areas. They provide community sewage treatment facilities and community water systems services at non-rural or urban levels of service, and provide some other services similar to towns but have no incorporated core at present. UGAs provide a variety of housing types and residential densities, some of which are at urban-level densities, with the remainder conditioned to not preclude future upzoning to urban-level densities.
	UGA	Urban Growth Area
II.	Rural Lands.
	The purpose of this land-use class is to maintain and enhance the rural character of the County. Rural lands are intended to retain the pastoral, forested, and natural landscape qualities of the islands while providing people with choices of living environments at lower densities or use intensities than those in Activity Centers.
	RFF	Rural Farm-Forest  provides for rural living opportunities and uses that are compatible with small-scale agriculture and forestry activities, with parcel sizes generally five to ten acres. Commercial and industrial uses are generally not allowed but home occupations and cottage enterprises will be.
	RR	Rural Residential is generally applied to established residential subdivisions with a small-lot development pattern. It allows for single-family residential uses (including home occupations) but most non-residential uses are not allowed.
	RGU	Rural General Use provides for a variety of small-scale, low-impact uses to locate on rural lands. It is the designation closest to the 1979 Rural designation, in that a variety of uses could be allowed if a conditional use permit were granted.
	RI	Rural Industrial is for those industrial uses that aren't appropriate for activity centers and which can be served by rural governmental services, such as lumber mills and asphalt plants.
	RC	Rural Commercial is intended for rural-oriented commercial uses which compliment rural character and development, and which can be served by rural governmental services, and for small-scale hospitality-commercial uses.
II.A.	Special Lands.
	The purpose of this rural land-use subclass is to protect, conserve, and manage existing natural conditions, resources, and valuable historic, cultural, educational, or scientific research areas and to preserve indigenous plant and animal species and ecosystems in a natural state for the benefit of existing and future generations without precluding compatible human uses.
	C	Conservancy		N	Natural
III.	Activity Centers
	Activity Centers recognize existing centers of concentrated development pattern in rural areas, and allow for infill with a similar intensity of uses.
III.A.	Areas of More Intensive Rural Development ("AMIRDs"), which include all Activity Centers except Master Planned Resorts.
	All of the Activity Centers except for Master Planned Resorts (see below) are "areas of more intensive rural development" (AMIRDs). These are designated according to the criteria in RCW 36.70A.070(5)(d). They consist of existing (as of 1990, together with built development from that time to January 1, 2000) commercial, industrial, or residential areas in which the kinds, intensities, or densities of use, or the capital facilities and services exceed the levels normally associated with rural development. Such areas allow for the continuance of the existing areas and uses, and for infill in the areas to the level of existing patterns; however, the areas must be minimized and contained, with logical outer boundaries defined predominantly by the built environment. They are not allowed to expand beyond the existing area or uses: they are not "mini urban growth areas." Internal village (VC, VI, and VR) and hamlet (HC, HI, and HR) land-use designations have not yet been made. Until the designations are made, these village and hamlet areas are subject to provisions in UDC Section 18.30.200 SJCC. The N. Rosario Residential Activity Center has a Rural Residential land-use designation.
	VC	Village Commercial		HC	Hamlet Commercial
	VI	Village Industrial		HC	Hamlet Industrial
	VR	Village Residential		HI	Hamlet Residential
	IC	Island Center
III.B.	Master Planned Resort Activity Centers.
	Master Planned Resorts provide for urban-level recreational development and services in a rural setting and context. They are not AMIRDs, but rather are designated according to the criteria in RCW 36.70A.360 and .362. They may contain residential uses and commercial activities within their boundaries, but only if these the residential uses are integrated into and support the on-site recreation nature of the resort.
	MPR	Master Planned Resort
IV.	Resource Lands.
	The GMA requires designation and protection of resource lands that are determined locally to be of long-term commercial significance for resource production. This land-use class recognizes and protects the physical conditions and characteristics of agricultural and forest resource lands that are conducive to the use of such lands for long-term commercial production.
	AG	Agricultural Resource Lands		FOR	Forest Resource Lands
V.	Overlay Designations.
	Overlay districts and subarea plans provide policies and regulations in addition to those of the underlying land-use districts for certain land areas and for uses that warrant specific recognition and management. For any land use or development that is proposed to be located entirely or partly within an overlay district or within the jurisdiction of a subarea plan, the applicable provisions of the overlay district or subarea plan prevail over any conflicting provisions of the UDC; all other provisions of the UDC retain full force and effect within the Overlay District.
	MRL	Mineral Resource Lands		OSC	Open Space Conservation
	ESA	Environmentally Sensitive Areas		AOD	Airport Overlay District
VI.	Shoreline Master Program and Jurisdiction.
	A land use or development that is proposed to be located entirely or partly within 200 feet of the ordinary high water mark of a regulated shoreline is within the jurisdiction of the Shoreline Master Program, and is subject to the applicable provisions of Section 3 of the Comprehensive Plan and of the UDC, Chapter 18.50 SJCC, as well as the applicable provisions and permit requirements of the underlying land-use district. Shoreline environments and designations are described in Element 3 of the Comprehensive Plan.
	U	Urban		N	Natural
	RR	Rural Residential			Aquatic
	R	Rural		EN, etc.	Subarea Environments (Eastsound and Shaw Island)
	RFF	Rural Farm-Forest			Critical Marine Habitat Management Area
	C	Conservancy		MPA	Marine Protected Area

Land Use District Boundaries. Land-use district boundary lines extend parallel from their landward location to a point of intersection at the center of all bodies of water. Bodies of water include all saltwater bodies, streams, and lakes.

Multiple Designations. Some properties or developments may be subject to the regulations for two or more applicable land-use districts, shoreline environments, or overlay districts.

Overlay Districts and Subarea Plans. The Official Maps do not portray survey accuracy and do not provide a definitive answer as to whether any Overlay District regulations apply to a specific property. The Administrator of the Permit Center may make a written interpretation as to the presence or absence of an Overlay District(s) on specific property.

Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) Maps. ESA maps will be prepared and maintained by the Permit Center. The ESA maps, like the Official Maps, do not provide survey accuracy, and will be provided only as a general guide to alert the viewer to the possible location and extent of ESAs. The maps should not be relied upon to establish the existence absence of an ESA, boundaries of an ESA, nor to establish whether all of the elements necessary to identify an area as an ESA actually exist. Conditions in the field are controlling. In the event of a conflict between information shown on the maps and information shown as a result of field investigation, the latter shall prevail.

Airport Overlay District (AOD) Maps. These maps do not provide survey accuracy. They indicate for general aviation airports the boundaries of the overall Airport Overlay District and of the aircraft safety districts and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) districts within them. The overlay district is represented for Orcas Island (Eastsound) Airport on the Eastsound official maps. The Friday Harbor Airport and Lopez Airport currently have only FAA districts within their overlay districts.

Allowable Residential Density. The maximum allowable residential density for all parcels is shown on the Official Maps. There are no separate shoreline densities: the allowable residential densities for lands under Shoreline Master Program jurisdiction are controlled by the upland densities. The residential densities specified on the Official Maps do not constitute minimum lot sizes. If specific site considerations dictate a lower density than that shown on the Official Maps, the County has authority to impose a lower density.

The Official Maps for the Activity Centers show maximum allowable residential densities, but do not at present identify land-use district boundaries inside Orcas Village, and Deer Harbor, Westsound, Olga, and Doe Bay Hamlets. The land-use district planning and mapping for these Village and Hamlet Activity centers is in progress (see also the Hot Topics/Public Involvement page). Until the land designations are delineated, the village and hamlet activity centers are subject to the provisions in the UDC, Section 18.30.200 SJCC. For more information, click the hyperlinks above.

For information about the Eastsound Subarea Plan and Map, click the hyperlink.

The Comprehensive Plan is a set of goals and the policies for meeting those goals, all of which are aimed at achieving the vision for the future of the County that is expressed in the Vision Statement. The Comp Plan will be used as a guide for the physical, economic and community development of the county for the next twenty years.

The Unified Development Code (UDC), Title 18 of the San Juan County Code, is a compilation and revision of County Land Use, Shoreline Master Program, and Land Division codes in one document. Each part of the UDC was adapted and updated as needed to reflect the goals and policy direction of the Comprehensive Plan, as revised. Many pre-1998 provisions were incorporated unchanged into the UDC, while there were also new provisions to address the new directives in the Comp Plan.