A new county shoreline master plan came one step closer to reality Monday when the county’s planning commission unanimously recommended that the Island County Board of Commissioners accept a corrected version of the plan.

The board has the final authority on whether the plan goes into effect.

The nine-member Planning Commission took its vote after minimal discussion and public input. It recommended approval of the plan with numerous changes recommended or required by the state Department of Ecology.

Among the plan’s outstanding features is a ban, albeit temporary, on fish-farming, known as net-pen aquaculture. That ban saw no resistance whatsoever within the county.

“The ban represents the first time the state has allowed a county to do that,” Steve Erickson, litigation coordinator for Whidbey Environmental Action Network, said during the meeting. “That’s a big deal.”

“The plan is a huge step forward compared to the old one.”

The plan, also known as a Shoreline Master Program, is a set of rules for managing the county’s shoreline. The state Shoreline Management Act, adopted in 1971, requires cities and counties to create such plans.

Under a 2003 change to the act, the plans must be reviewed every eight years. Island County’s plan hadn’t been reviewed since it was created in 1976, said Brad Johnson, a senior planner for the county. The review process began in 2010.

One state official at the meeting praised the county’s process in forging the plan.

“The public process in this county in creating the new plan was very, very thorough,” said David Pater, a shoreline planner with the Department of Ecology. “I’ve never seen it done more thoroughly in any other county.”

No date has been set yet for the commissioners to vote on the plan. If that board wants changes made, a final approval could still be months away.

The Department of Ecology, in a Sept. 17 letter, gave the county until Nov. 13 to complete the local Shoreline Master Plan adoption process.