Randy Lewis
WCMAC Ports Seat

Randy is a new member of the WCMAC as the ports representative. Randy is the Director of Environmental and Engineering Services for the Port of Grays Harbor. Randy retired from the U.S. Coast Guard after 21 years of service and became the City Administrator for the City of Westport from 1998 until coming to his current position last March. He has a strong commitment to improving the city and local industries as well as great professional experiences with a variety of shoreline and land use planning processes. He is excited to apply his experiences in things like permitting, project development, and project management as the new WCMAC ports seat.

• What does marine spatial planning mean to you?
  Effective planning involves setting a vision, goals, and outcomes that help facilitate the development of policies and regulations. These policies and regulations do more than just enforce standards, but really become a vehicle to see the plan become real over time. A very important piece of good planning is accurately identifying where you are before you set a course to get to where you want to be. That is a critical element in Marine Spatial Planning and the current work of the WCMAC, because we don’t have an existing plan or complete use analysis from which to build. Understanding who is using state waters and how those uses coordinate or are in conflict is important before discussing and planning for new uses. Creating the “picture” of where we are will be very useful, not just for planning, but for much wider applications that we probably are not aware of yet.
• How did you get involved and why are you involved in the planning process?
  In reality, I am on the board because I replaced the previous port representative when I came to my current position and was the logical choice to be appointed. I have been involved in the MSP process since the beginning, initially in local stakeholder meetings as a representative of the City of Westport. It has been interesting to be involved in the process from both sides of the table so to speak.
• What do you hope the WCMAC can accomplish with the Washington Marine Spatial Plan?
  I think it is important to recognize that the MSP is a small but important piece in much larger processes, and that any good plan must be a living document that is updated as new information or uses come to light. Since we are creating an entirely new plan, my hope is that we create a solid foundation of information and initial recommendations that will be used as a basis for future planning, and the development of policies long into the future. An important measure of success for me will be how much of this plan has to be redone during the first update. If at that time whoever does that update is able to update our work with new information and data to take the next step, then we will have succeeded.
• Any fun fact that you would like to include?
  Personally, I love the outdoors and our coast. I also love helping people to grow and develop. When my job duties allowed, I really enjoyed volunteering as a coach and was a referee for several sports. I loved helping a young person work and practice and then master a skill they hadn’t done before and often that they didn’t believe they could. Regarding the MSP process, I was involved in all sides of the planning process during my time at the City of Westport. I have been a project developer and proponent on behalf of the city, a regulatory reviewer for the city, and a commenter on projects outside the city’s jurisdiction. That experience has helped me, at least on some level, to understand the perspective of the different parties to the entire MSP process.