Libby Williams reports from the Island County Commissioners’ joint meeting with the Island County Planning Commission of Wed., Feb. 11, 2026 for the Stanwood Camano News. Read the whole story.
Summary by Perplexity AI
Island County’s Board of Commissioners and Planning Commission held a joint Feb. 11 meeting to review public feedback on the 2045 comprehensive plan and decide next steps. Assistant Planning Director Emily Neff reported that a 60-day comment period generated 246 comments, mostly on land use and parks, with additional input on housing, natural resources and transportation. Staff will sort which suggestions to incorporate and publish a response matrix. The discussion focused on proposed “rural cluster” housing rules, including minimum parcel sizes for market-rate and affordable projects, and raised concerns about density, open space and ongoing affordability enforcement, while short-term rental issues were postponed to a later work session.
They Said It
Commissioner Janet St. Clair, who represents Camano Island, noted her support of the [proposed changes to the rural clusters code], with the hope that there could be flexibility for reaching housing goals.
“I support the direction you’re going with the proposed change, with the exception of where we can take nonconforming areas and make them make sense for a cluster development or something that enables us to reach our housing goals,” St. Clair said.
“I want to make sure we have that flexibility or discernment within there.”
Commissioner Jill Johnson cautioned the board and commission against setting up a scenario where the government is monitoring whether or not a property qualifies as affordable or market-value.
“I don’t want to set up a scenario where every year we’re going to someplace and saying, ‘How much money do you make, and can you live here?’” she said.
“I think we should really seriously be thinking about having government knock on your door the least amount of times as possible, just because you have people with lots of different intentionalities controlling that power.”
