Island County releases final draft of 2025 growth plan update

Housing, roads and rural growth from Oak Harbor to Clinton are now inside Island County’s final 2025 comprehensive plan draft, putting the county’s long-range land-use blueprint on the edge of adoption. The next decision point is a Planning Commission hearing set for May 20 at 6 p.m., where residents can testify in person or online.

Island County Planning and Community Development published the final drafts on April 29, 2026, as part of the legislative process before adoption. The packet includes a combined comprehensive plan, development regulations, appendices and a marked-up version that shows changes from the draft and from the 2016 adopted plan. A searchable comment matrix is also part of the public record, showing how comments were considered during the drafting process.

The stakes reach well beyond planning jargon. County staff say the update will guide land use, housing, employment and related growth decisions for the next 20 years across Whidbey Island and Camano Island. The county used a 2045 population projection of 102,639 residents from the Washington State Office of Financial Management for Growth Management Act planning, a figure the Planning Commission recommended in 2023 to help size urban growth areas and support adequate densities.

The final appendices also make clear where Island County’s planning rules differ from some other Washington counties. Island County is not subject to the Buildable Lands Program, so its land-capacity analysis relies on countywide planning policy guidance instead. The appendices say House Bill 1220 requires jurisdictions to evaluate whether they have enough capacity to meet housing needs at all income levels before adopting the plan, a requirement that puts added pressure on the county to show where future homes can be built.

The plan’s updated elements reflect that pressure. County materials identify health, equity and climate resilience as board priorities from the outreach process, and staff say the plan should support creative housing solutions that fit the rural landscape, place most new housing where density already exists, and improve planning for water, stormwater, septic and coordination with cities. The 2025 update adds or revises major sections including a new introduction chapter with vision and values, land use, housing, natural resources, capital facilities and utilities, parks and recreation, climate, economic development and transportation, along with a Clinton Subarea Plan.

Public involvement has been extensive. The draft comment period ran from December 10, 2025, to February 9, 2026, and the final-release memo says it produced 346 comments. Across the broader 2023 to 2026 outreach period, the county says it received more than 1,100 comments through workshops, meetings, online engagement, surveys and stakeholder focus groups. After a May 13 work session, the May 20 hearing now stands as one of the last chances to influence a plan that will shape Island County growth through 2045.