The Des Moines City Council has officially approved a new Shoreline Management Program (SMP). Des Moines plan was six years in the making.

Des Moines was one of the first jurisdictions to begin the process of revising their SMP. Councilman Dan Sherman described Des Moines' process for renewing their SMP as an experiment-- an experiment that went horribly wrong.

In 2003, the state Legislature passed legislation that requires every shoreline jurisdiction in Washington to pass a new SMP, which must ultimately be approved by the state Department of Ecology (DOE).

Des Moines began their updating process in 2004. The council approved two versions of the SMP before the final one, and submitted them to the DOE, which rejected them each time.

At one point, the DOE identified 117 deficiencies in the SMP submitted by Des Moines.

The DOE has broad guidelines for the plans, including a requirement that they must result in no net loss in ecology to the shorelines, but the agency wants the jurisdictions to be able to tailor the SMP's to their shorelines.

That has resulted in the DOE asking jurisdictions to submit their plans and then having the DOE decide whether to approve them or not. There are not set guidelines for the cities and counties.

Councilman Scott Thomasson said the SMP approved by the DOE and then the council represented more of a mandate then a choice. He maintained they city was allowed very little latitude.

"The appearance is these are city codes and guidelines, and that isn't the case," Thomasson said.
Mayor Pro-Tem Dave Kaplan said Des Moines had actually wound up with something more reasonable and rational from the Department of Ecology than other jurisdictions have.

"This has been a long and drawn out battle," Kaplan said. He said the battle has been with the DOE and not the public.

"I am happy with everything we are being forced to adopt? No."

Councilman Matt Pina cast the lone dissenting vote against adopting the new SMP.

Before the new SMP was adopted the city was forced to use their old one, which was 22 years old and didn't include the Woodmont/Redondo annexation area.

The new SMP requires a 115-foot setback for new homes built in the shoreline residential area.

Des Moines received $133,000 in grant money from the state to revise its SMP.

After a over a year of contentious debate, the Burien City Council late last year approved a new SMP, which is currently being reviewed by the DOE.

In Burien's draft SMP they would only require a 20-foot setback from the ordinary high water mark, the same setback as is in the old one, which was a win for shoreline homeowners who did not want their homes to become non-conforming structures.

But at a public hearing in Burien, the DOE representative gave indications the 20-foot setback was not going to meet approval from the DOE.