LOCATION
Coulee Dam, WA
CLIENT(S)
Town of Coulee Dam
INVOLVEMENT
2014-2018
SCJ Alliance assisted the Town of Coulee Dam with writing their first Shoreline Master Program. It’s a local land use policy and regulations manual designed to manage shoreline use and development in a thoughtful, logical manner.
Washington’s Department of Ecology requires all jurisdictions and municipalities with shorelines to write a Shoreline Master Program (SMP). The endeavor is related to Washington’s Shoreline Management Act which was developed to “prevent the inherent harm in an uncoordinated and piecemeal development of the state’s shorelines.”
Many jurisdictions already have SMPs in place, and in those cases SCJ assists with their update.
STAFF STORY
“Because this was the first SMP for the Town of Coulee Dam, it was like being given a blank canvas to work with. Coulee Dam is located at the base of Grand Coulee Dam and lies within three different counties on both sides of the Columbia River. Additionally, half of the town is located inside the boundaries of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, and most of the shoreline is federally owned/managed. I loved the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking that was required to work with such a complex jurisdiction.”
Molly Linville
Environmental Scientist
