Langley’s guiding shoreline document that governs development along the water was recently approved, without changes, by Washington’s Department of Ecology.

“We’re excited, we think it’s a better plan,” said Langley Director of Community Planning Jeff Arango. “We’re looking forward to implementing it.”

The Shoreline Master Program was worked on by the city for the more than two years. A 60-day appeal process began Dec. 21 and will end Jan. 20. In a letter from Ecology to The Record, the department wrote that the document was “consistent with the Shoreline Management Act (RCW 90.58) and the SMP Guidelines (WAC 173-26).”

Included in Langley’s SMP are increased regulations of sensitive and critical areas, such as wetlands and bluffs, stormwater drainage plans and the use of vegetation to minimize bluff vulnerability, Arango said. There is also an emphasis on public shoreline access and a focus on accommodating future expansion of the marina at South Whidbey Harbor, a Port of South Whidbey facility. Finding a connection from Seawall Park to the marina is in the SMP as well, as is the creation and construction of a funicular or connection from the marina to Cascade Avenue.