The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—The Washington State Department of Ecology has accepted the tri-county Southeast Washington Shoreline Master Program Update, with “no proposed changes”.

“This is a huge deal,” said Columbia County Planning Director Kim Lyonnaise. “It’s really big.”

Lyonnaise met with officials in Garfield and Asotin Counties in February 2014, about the possibility of collaborating on updates to their respective regional master shoreline plans.

Because of similarities in topography and demographics, and because they are linked by the Snake River, they agreed to work together. They also brought the cities...