“Adjacent” means areas adjacent to critical areas shall be considered to be within the jurisdiction of these requirements and regulations to support the intent of this title and ensure protection of the functions and values of critical areas. Adjacent shall include lands within a distance equal to the required buffer for the critical area as determined by the provisions of this chapter.

“Alteration” means any human induced change in an existing condition of a critical area or its buffer. Alterations include, but are not limited to grading, filling, channelizing, dredging, clearing (vegetation), construction, compaction, excavation, or any other activity that changes the character of the critical area.

“Anadromous fish” means fish that spawn and rear in freshwater and mature in the marine environment. While Pacific salmon die after their first spawning, adult char (bull trout) can live for many years, moving in and out of saltwater and spawning each year. The life history of Pacific salmon and char contains critical periods of time when these fish are more susceptible to environmental and physical damage than at other times. The life history of salmon, for example, contains the following stages: upstream migration of adults, spawning, inter-gravel incubation, rearing, smoltification (the time period needed for juveniles to adjust their body functions to live in the marine environment), downstream migration, and ocean rearing to adults.

“Averaging” means establishing the required buffer setback from a critical area, within the permitted parcel of land only, so that areas within the parcel determined to be more environmentally sensitive than others will have a larger buffer than the less sensitive areas. For every increase in setback for one area of the parcel, there will be an equal corresponding decrease in another area of the parcel. The total land area within the buffer shall remain the same as if the buffer were a uniform width.

“Best available science” means current scientific information used in the process to designate, protect, or restore critical areas, that is derived from a valid scientific process as defined by WAC 365-195-900 through 365-195-925.

“Best management practices (BMPs)” means conservation practices or systems of practices and management measures that:

Bioswale. A “bioswale,” or bio-filtration trench, is a vegetated stormwater treatment system that removes pollutants by means of sedimentation, filtration, soil adsorption, and plant uptake. They are typically configured as swales or filter strips.

“Buffer” means a vegetated area that is contiguous to and protects a critical area which is required for the continued maintenance, functioning, and/or structural stability of a critical area.

“Channel migration zone (CMZ)” means the lateral extent of likely movement along a stream or river during the next 100 years as determined by evidence of active stream channel movement over the past 100 years. Evidence of active movement over the 100-year time frame can be inferred from aerial photos or from specific channel and valley bottom characteristics. The time span typically represents the time it takes to grow mature trees that can provide functional large woody debris to streams. A CMZ is not typically present if the valley width is generally less than two bankfull widths, if the stream or river is confined by terraces, no current or historical aerial photographic evidence exists of significant channel movement, and there is no field evidence of secondary channels with recent scour from stream flow or progressive bank erosion at meander bends. Areas separated from the active channel by legally existing artificial channel constraints that limit bank erosion and channel avulsion without hydraulic connections shall not be considered within the CMZ.

“Clearing” means removal, damage or alteration of vegetation by physical or chemical means.

“Conservation easement” means a legal agreement that the property owner enters into to restrict uses of the land. Such restrictions can include, but are not limited to, passive recreation uses such as trails or scientific uses and fences or other barriers to protect habitat. The easement is recorded on a property deed, runs with the land, and is legally binding on all present and future owners of the property, therefore, providing permanent or long-term protection.

“Creation (establishment)” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics present to develop a wetland on an upland or deepwater site, where a wetland did not previously exist. Activities typically involve excavation of upland soils to elevations that will produce a wetland hydroperiod, create hydric soils, and support the growth of hydrophytic plant species. Establishment results in a gain in wetland acres.

“Critical areas” include any of the following areas or ecosystems: aquifer recharge areas, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, frequently flooded areas, geologically hazardous areas, and wetlands, as defined in Chapter 36.70A RCW and this title.

“Critical habitat” means habitat necessary for the survival of endangered, threatened, rare, sensitive or monitor species.

“Critical root zone” means that portion of the root zone that is the minimum necessary to maintain vitality and stability of the tree.

“Cumulative impacts” means the combined, incremental effects of human activity on ecological or critical areas functions and values. Cumulative impacts result when the effects of an action are added to or interact with other effects in a particular place and within a particular time. It is the combination of these effects, and any resulting environmental degradation, that should be the focus of cumulative impact analysis and changes to policies and permitting decisions.

“Delineation” means the precise determination of wetland boundaries in the field and the mapping thereof.

“Development permit” means any permit issued by the city, or other authorized agency, for construction, land use, or the alteration of land.

“Director” means the director of the city planning and community development department or their designee.

“Emergencies” means those activities necessary to prevent an immediate threat to public health, safety, or welfare, or that pose an immediate risk of damage to public or private property and that require remedial or preventative action in a time frame too short to allow for compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

“Enhancement” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a wetland site to heighten, intensify or improve specific function(s) or to change the growth stage or composition of the vegetation present. Enhancement is undertaken for specified purposes such as water quality improvement, flood water retention or wildlife habitat. Activities typically consist of planting vegetation, controlling nonnative or invasive species, modifying site elevations or the proportion of open water to influence hydroperiods, or some combination of these. Enhancement results in a change in some wetland functions and can lead to a decline in other wetland functions, but does not result in a gain in wetland acres.

“Erosion” means the process whereby wind, rain, water, and other natural agents mobilize and transport particles.

“Erosion hazard areas” means at least those areas identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Resources Conservation Service as having a “severe” rill and inter-rill erosion hazard.

“Fish habitat” means habitat that is used by fish at any life stage at any time of the year, including potential habitat likely to be used by fish that could be recovered by restoration or management and includes off-channel habitat.

“Flood” or “flooding” means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland waters and/or the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source.

“Floodplain” means the total land area adjoining a river, stream, watercourse, or lake subject to inundation by the base flood.

“Floodway” means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land area that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the surface water elevation more than one foot. Also known as the “zero rise floodway.”

“Forested wetland” means a wetland with at least 30 percent of the surface area covered by woody vegetation greater than 20 feet in height that is at least partially rooted within the wetland.

“Functions” or “functions and values” means the beneficial roles served by critical areas including, but not limited to, water quality protection and enhancement; fish and wildlife habitat; food chain support; flood storage, conveyance and attenuation; ground water recharge and discharge; erosion control; wave attenuation; protection from hazards; historical, archaeological, and aesthetic value protection; educational opportunities; and recreation. These beneficial roles are not listed in order of priority. Critical area functions can be used to help set targets (species composition, structure, etc.) for managed areas, including mitigation sites.

“Geologically hazardous areas” means areas that may not be suited to development consistent with public health, safety, or environmental standards, because of their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events as designated by WAC 365-190-080(4). Types of geologically hazardous areas include: erosion, landslide, seismic, mine, and volcanic hazards.

“Growth Management Act” means Chapter 36.70A RCW as amended.

“Habitat” means the combination of essential elements and ecological functions of natural systems that comprise the area or type of environment and its surroundings in which a particular kind of organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs. Habitat includes habitat forming processes which are the system-wide ecological processes (chemical, physical and biological) that create and maintain habitat elements. It is the disturbance processes that create unique habitat elements, enhance natural productivity, and drive biological processes that contribute to the ecological complexity and integrity of natural systems.

“Habitat conservation areas” means areas designated as fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas.

Habitats of Local Significance. These areas include a seasonal range or habitat element with which a given species has a primary association, and which, if altered, may reduce the likelihood that the species will maintain and reproduce over the long term. These might include areas of high relative density or species richness, breeding habitat, winter range, and movement corridors. These might also include habitats that are of limited availability or high vulnerability to alterations such as cliffs, talus, and wetlands (WAC 365-190-030).

“Hazard areas” means areas designated as frequently flooded areas or geologically hazardous areas due to potential for erosion, landslide, seismic activity, mine collapse, or other geological condition.

“Hazard tree” means any tree determined by an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)-certified arborist to be a hazard to people or property as a result of a risk assessment conducted according to ISA guiding principles.

“High intensity land use” means land use that includes the following uses or activities: commercial, urban, industrial, institutional, retail sales, residential (more than one unit/acre), high-intensity new agriculture (dairies, nurseries, greenhouses, raising and harvesting crops requiring annual tilling, raising and maintaining animals), high-intensity recreation (golf courses, ball fields), hobby farms.

“Impervious surface” means a hard surface area that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development or that causes water to run off the surface in greater quantities or at an increased rate of flow from the flow present under natural conditions prior to development. Common impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, rooftops, walkways, patios, driveways, parking lots or storage areas, concrete or asphalt paving, gravel roads, packed earthen materials, and oiled macadam or other surfaces which similarly impede the natural infiltration of stormwater.

“Infiltration” means the downward entry of water into the immediate surface of soil.

“Low impact development” means a method of managing stormwater that aims to mimic the predevelopment hydrologic conditions of the site by using existing soil, vegetation, and topography to detain runoff and remove pollutants.

“Low intensity land use” means land use that includes the following uses or activities: forestry (cutting of trees only), low-intensity open space (such as passive recreation and natural resources preservation), unpaved trails.

“Mature forested wetland” means a wetland where at least one acre of the wetland surface is covered by woody vegetation greater than 20 feet in height with a crown cover of at least 30 percent and where at least eight trees/acre are 80 to 200 years old or have average diameters at breast height (dbh) exceeding 21 inches (53 centimeters) measured from the uphill side of the tree trunk at four and one-half feet up from the ground.

“Mine hazard areas” means areas that are underlain by, adjacent to, or affected by mine workings such as adits, gangways, tunnels, drifts, or airshafts, and those areas of probable sink holes, gas releases, or subsidence due to mine workings. Factors that should be considered include: proximity to development, depth from ground surface to the mine working, and geologic material.

“Mitigation” means avoiding, minimizing, or compensating for adverse critical areas impacts.

“Moderate intensity land use” means land use that includes the following uses or activities: residential (one unit/acre or less), moderate-intensity open space (parks), moderate-intensity new agriculture (orchards and hay fields), trails, and logging roads.

“Monitoring” means evaluating the impacts of development proposals on the biological, hydrological, and geological elements of such systems, and assessing the performance of required mitigation measures through the collection and analysis of data by various methods for the purpose of understanding and documenting changes in natural ecosystems and features, including gathering baseline data.

“Mosaic of wetlands” means any group of wetlands that meet the following criteria:

“Native vegetation” means plant species that are indigenous to the area.

“Nonconformity” means a legally established existing use or legally constructed structure that is not in compliance with current regulations.

“Noxious weeds” means nonnative plants that have been introduced to the area and have a deleterious effect on native species or are difficult to control.

“Open space” means public or privately owned land that is undeveloped and may not be developed due to designation, deed restriction or conservation easement.

“Ordinary high water mark” means the mark on lake and stream shorelines which will be found by examining the beds and bank and ascertaining where the presence and action of waters are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to mark upon the soil a character distinct from that of the abutting upland in respect to vegetation.

“Practical alternative” means an alternative that is available and capable of being carried out after taking into consideration cost, existing technology, and logistics in light of overall project purposes, and has less impact to critical areas.

“Preservation (protection/maintenance)” means the removal of a threat to, or preventing the decline of, wetland conditions by an action in or near a wetland. This term includes the purchase of land or easements, repairing water control structures or fences, or structural protection. Preservation does not result in a gain of wetland acres but may result in a gain in functions over the long term.

“Project area” means all areas within 50 feet of the area proposed to be disturbed, altered, or used by the proposed activity or the construction of any proposed structures. When the action binds the land, such as a subdivision, short subdivision, binding site plan, planned unit development, or rezone, the project area shall include the entire parcel, at a minimum.

“Qualified professional” means a person with expertise in the pertinent scientific discipline directly related to the critical area in question. The qualified professional shall have a minimum of a B.S. or B.A., or equivalent certification, and a minimum of five years of directly related work experience.

“Recharge” means the process involved in the absorption and addition of water to ground water.

“Redevelopment” means any proposal to expand or change any existing land use, buildings and/or facilities that involves exterior structural addition and/or alteration of a total of 5,000 square feet or more in area of any lot or land parcel.

“Reestablishment” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of returning natural or historic functions to a former wetland. Activities could include removing fill material, plugging ditches, or breaking drain tiles. Reestablishment results in a gain in wetland acres.

“Rehabilitation” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of repairing natural or historic functions of a degraded wetland. Activities could involve breaching a dike to reconnect wetlands to a floodplain or return tidal influence to a wetland. Rehabilitation results in a gain in wetland function but does not result in a gain in wetland acres.

“Repair or maintenance” means an activity that restores the character, scope, size, and design of a serviceable area, structure, or land use to its previously authorized and undamaged condition. Activities that change the character, size, or scope of a project beyond the original design and drain, dredge, fill, flood, or otherwise alter critical areas are not included in this definition.

“Restoration” means measures taken to restore an altered or damaged natural feature, including: active steps taken to restore damaged wetlands, streams, protected habitat, or their buffers to the functioning condition that existed prior to an unauthorized alteration; and actions performed to reestablish structural and functional characteristics of the critical area that have been lost by alteration, past management activities or catastrophic events.

“Riparian habitat” means areas adjacent to aquatic systems that contain elements of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that mutually influence each other. The width of these areas extends to that portion of the terrestrial landscape that directly influences the aquatic ecosystem by providing shade, fine or large woody material, nutrients, organic and inorganic debris, terrestrial insects, or habitat for riparian-associated wildlife. Widths shall be measured from the ordinary high water mark or from the top of bank if the ordinary high water mark cannot be identified. It includes the entire extent of the floodplain and the extent of vegetation adapted to wet conditions as well as adjacent upland plant communities that directly influence the stream system. Riparian habitat areas include those riparian areas severely altered or damaged due to human development activities.

“Scientific process” means a valid scientific process is one that produces reliable information useful in understanding the consequences of a decision. The characteristics of a valid scientific process are as follows:

“Seeps” means a spot where water oozes from the earth, often forming the source of a small stream.

“Seismic hazard areas” means areas that are subject to severe risk of damage as a result of earthquake-induced ground shaking, slope failure, settlement, or soil liquefaction.

“SEPA” means Washington State Environmental Policy Act, Chapter 43.21C RCW.

“Shorelines” means all of the water areas of the state as defined in RCW 90.58.030, including reservoirs and their associated shorelands, together with the lands underlying them except:

“Shorelines of the state” means the total of all “shorelines,” as defined in RCW 90.58.030(2)(d), and “shorelines of statewide significance” within the state, as defined in RCW 90.58.030(2)(c).

“Shorelines of statewide significance” means those areas defined in RCW 90.58.030(2)(e).

“Significant” means measurable, detectable or likely to have noticeable influence or effect.

“Soil survey” means the most recent soil survey for the local area or county by the National Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Species” means any group of animals classified as a species or subspecies as commonly accepted by the scientific community.

“Species, endangered” means any fish or wildlife species that is threatened with extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range and is listed by the state or federal government as an endangered species.

“Species of local importance” means those species of local concern due to their population status or their sensitivity to habitat manipulation, or that are game species.

“Species, priority” means any fish or wildlife species requiring protective measures and/or management guidelines to ensure their persistence as genetically viable population levels as classified by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, including endangered, threatened, sensitive, candidate and monitor species, and those of recreational, commercial, or tribal importance.

“Species, threatened” means any fish or wildlife species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout a significant portion of its range without cooperative management or removal of threats, and is listed by the state or federal government as a threatened species.

“Stream Type F” means waters generally classified according to WAC 222-16-031 and specifically as follows:

Segments of natural waters that are not classified as Type S water and have a high fish, wildlife, or human use. These are segments of natural waters and periodically inundated areas of their associated wetlands, which:

“Stream Type F” also means waters generally classified according to WAC 222-16-031 and specifically as follows:

Segments of natural waters that are not classified as Type S waters and have a moderate to slight fish, wildlife, and human use. These are segments of natural waters and periodically inundated areas of their associated wetlands which:

“Stream Type Np” means waters classified according to WAC 222-16-031 as follows:

All segments of natural waters within the bankfull width of defined channels that are perennial non-fish habitat streams. Perennial streams are waters that do not go dry any time of a year of normal rainfall. However, for the purpose of water typing, Type Np waters include the intermittent dry portions of the perennial channel below the uppermost point of perennial flow. If the uppermost point of perennial flow cannot be identified with simple, nontechnical observations (see State Forest Practices Board Manual, Section 23), then Type Np waters begin at a point along the channel where the contributing basin area is at least 52 acres in Western Washington.

“Stream Type Ns” means waters classified according to WAC 222-16-031 as follows:

All segments of natural waters within the bankfull width of the defined channels that are not Type S, F or Np waters. These are seasonal, non-fish habitat streams in which surface flow is not present for at least some portion of the year and are not located downstream from any stream reach that is a Type Np water. Type Ns waters must be physically connected by an above-ground channel system to Type S, F, or Np waters.

“Stream Type S” means all waters, within their ordinary high-water mark, as inventoried as “shorelines of the state” under Chapter 90.58 RCW and the rules promulgated pursuant to Chapter 90.58 RCW, but not including those waters’ associated wetlands as defined in Chapter 90.58 RCW.

“Sub-basin” means the drainage area of the highest order stream containing the subject property impact area. Stream order is the term used to define the position of a stream in the hierarchy of tributaries in the watershed. The smallest streams are the highest order (first order) tributaries. These are the upper watershed streams and have no tributaries of their own. When two first order streams meet, they form a second order stream, and when two second order streams meet they become a third order stream, and so on.

“Surety” means a financial guarantee (bond or assignment of funds, or comparable instrument) established to ensure that work required by a CAO permit or approval is completed satisfactorily.

“Unavoidable” means adverse impacts that remain after all appropriate and practicable avoidance and minimization have been achieved.

“Vulnerability” means the combined effect of susceptibility to contamination and the presence of potential contaminants.

“Water type: watercourse” means any portion of a channel, bed, bank, or bottom waterward of the ordinary high water line of waters of the state including areas in which fish may spawn, reside, or through which they may pass, and tributary waters with defined beds or banks, which influence the quality of fish habitat downstream. This definition includes watercourses that flow on an intermittent basis or which fluctuate in level during the year and applies to the entire bed of such watercourse whether or not the water is at peak level. This definition does not include irrigation ditches, canals, stormwater runoff devices, or other entirely artificial watercourses, except where they exist in a natural watercourse that has been altered by humans.

“Wetlands” means areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of the construction of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands may include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas created to mitigate conversion of wetlands.

“Wetland types” means the descriptive classes of the wetlands taxonomic classification system of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Cowardin, et al., 1979). [Ord. 2016-02-005 § 34; Ord. 2010-08-050; Ord. 2005-11-092].