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The La Conner Planning Commission last week waded deeper into the details of Town Shoreline Master Plan (SMP) updates.

Of particular interest at the outset of the panel’s 50-minute Zoom meeting last Tuesday were revisions to La Conner’s Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO).

The CAO, adopted in 2006, applies both inside and outside the shoreline jurisdiction of La Conner, primarily addressing wetland areas.

The SMP regulates critical shoreline areas and the Town expects to incorporate its revised standards as an appendix into the updated shoreline plan, which will be forwarded to the state Department of Ecology for review early next year.

Staff at the Watershed Company, a Kirkland-based environmental consulting firm, has already reviewed the La Conner shoreline document, said Town Planner Marianne Manville-Ailles.

“My goal,” Manville-Ailles told planning commissioners, “is to get the Critical Areas Ordinance updated and then it will go to Ecology.”

During the meeting, commissioner Linda Talman suggested areas for addition to the Town’s wetland inventory. One is northeast of the Town public parking lot below the intersection of Fourth and Douglas.

“It’s very small,” she said, “but it seems more like a wetland than other places.”

A spot along Conner Way, near the popular salmon slide, was also identified.

“I appreciate you pointing out these other areas,” Manville-Ailles said. “I’ll make sure we at least get them highlighted.”

The key proposed change to La Conner’s SMP, prior to it being sent to Olympia, is an upgrade of aquaculture from a conditional to a permitted use.

Also:

• The commission will hold two public hearings Dec. 15, one for a rezone application that would allow development of Hedlin’s Ballfield for residences and a public park, and the other dealing with an update to the transportation element of the Town Comprehensive Plan.

• Manville-Ailles anticipates that public meetings will continue to be tele-conferenced on the Zoom platform during the COVID-19 pandemic despite a recent Town Council session having been “bombed” by pranksters. “My recommendation,” she said, “is that until a vaccine is readily available and its effect is measurable, that we stay on Zoom

• Northwest Indian College student Delia Kaubin joined the meeting as part of a class assignment.