Current Comprehensive Plan - 2018
Comprehensive Plan Amendment Request Form
Amendment cycle deadline:  December 31, 2024

Town of Friday Harbor Vision Statement 

Friday Harbor is the center of government, finance, commerce, culture, education, and health care on San Juan Island. It is also the County seat and gateway to San Juan Island for tourists and visitors.

The Town provides a safe, friendly, small-town experience while retaining its character as an authentic working seaport. Friday Harbor nurtures a progressive, active, culturally literate, and self-sufficient community.

The Town promotes standards that protect quality of life and essential services. It must responsibly accommodate economic development and growth, including appropriate forms of affordable housing.

The Town must protect access to and enjoyment of its scenic vistas for residents and visitors alike and safeguard indigenous wildlife in their natural aquatic and land environments. Friday Harbor aspires to maintain high quality parks, recreation, public safety, and utilities and should promote efficient transportation options that will grow with the community.

The Town should bolster its reputation as a world-class travel destination. Friday Harbor should continue to utilize the entrepreneurial spirit and generous commitment of its citizens, business owners and civic organizations to guide our future economic development, planning, and growth policies. In doing so the Town must nurture the delicate balance between protecting and preserving the community’s history, identity, and heritage while meeting the evolving needs of a changing economy.

Why We Plan

Local Decision Making 

The GMA invests local government with significant decision-making powers. The Town was asked to identify the concerns and goals of the community, prioritize those goals, and plan for how those goals will be achieved. While the GMA established complex requirements and a long list of tasks, the outcome of the effort is in the hands of the Town. 

During the last several decades, San Juan County experienced one of the highest rates of population growth in the state of Washington. Friday Harbor has seen the effects of this continuing growth manifested in the demands for important capital facilities and services. Examples include water supply, wastewater, and the state ferry system. Moreover, an increasing number of policy and regulatory decisions affecting those facilities are being made at the federal, state, and regional level. 

By clearly articulating a plan for the community, the Town can be informed about the effects of its policy decisions and express community concerns to regional, state, and federal agencies. In addition, the GMA requires that state agencies comply with local comprehensive plans and development regulations. Therefore, the Comprehensive Plan and implementing regulations allow the Town to assert local control over certain issues with the assurance that state agencies will respect its decisions in a way that will protect the Town's character, scale, and identity. 

Local Dialogue and Coordination 

The Town of Friday Harbor is an interdependent part of the greater San Juan Island community. At the level of local governance, this translates into the increasing need for close coordination of long-term planning efforts between the two agencies most affecting the community: The Town of Friday Harbor and San Juan County. 

Friday Harbor is the transportation gateway and center of commerce for San Juan Island. The ferry terminal, numerous businesses, government agencies, and community organizations serving the entire island population are located within Town of Friday Harbor limits. In addition to this year-round role, the Town and the island are also major destinations for seasonal residents and visitors. These characteristics and trends have resulted in several impacts to the Town resulting from external forces. Those impacts are having a profound effect on the Town's land use pattern, transportation network, and capital facilities. Even though many of the impacts on the Town are island-wide in nature, historically there has been no mechanism in place to ensure those issues are addressed and resolved by the Town and County.

 To read further: 

• Current Comprehensive Plan
• Land Use Designation Map
• Zoning Designation Map

A Request for Text Amendments or Land Use Map Amendments to the Town of Friday Harbor’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Regulations

The Town of Friday Harbor is accepting proposed amendments to its 2018 Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Regulations for the 2024 Amendment Cycle.

The current amendment cycle deadline is December 31, 2024.

Proposed Comprehensive Plan text amendments and Land Use Designation Map amendments should be in writing on forms provided by the Town.  The “Request for Change to Comprehensive Plan & Land Use Regulations” form is available at the link below, at Town Hall (60 Second St. S.), and by mailing a request to the Town of Friday Harbor, Community Development Department, P.O. Box 219, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.

• Request for Change to Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Regulations

After the close of the amendment acceptance period, the Town Council will review each suggestion received and either docket the amendment for Planning Commission review, table the suggestion to the following year, or choose no action. Docketed items will be processed by the Planning Commission with subsequent work sessions and a public hearing. The Planning Commission will then forward their recommendations to the Town Council for consideration and action.

General Recommendations

We value receiving comments and suggestions from the community. Comments may be submitted in person to Town Hall at 60 Second Street South; mailed to the Town of Friday Harbor, Community Development Department, P.O. Box 219, Friday Harbor, WA 98250; or emailed to CompPlanUpdate@fridayharbor.org with subject line “2024 Comprehensive Plan."