Chapter 19.02
DEFINITIONS
Sections:
19.02.010 Definitions.
For purposes of this title, the following words shall have the definitions set out below:
“Active fault” means a fault that is likely to undergo renewed movement within a period of time of concern to humans. Faults are commonly considered to be active if the fault has moved one or more times in the last ten thousand years, but faults may also be considered active in some cases if movement has occurred in the last five hundred thousand years.
“Administrator” means the Skamania County community development department director or designee responsible for administration of this title.
“Agricultural activities” means agricultural uses and practices including, but not limited to: producing, breeding, or increasing agricultural products; rotating and changing agricultural crops; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie fallow in which it is plowed and tilled but left unseeded; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant as a result of adverse agricultural market conditions; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant because the land is enrolled in a local, state, or federal conservation program, or the land is subject to a conservation easement; conducting agricultural operations; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural equipment; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural facilities; provided, that the replacement facility is no closer to the critical area than the original facility; and maintaining agricultural lands under production or cultivation. Examples of agricultural activities include: raising, harvesting and selling of crops; feeding, breeding, management and sale of, or production of, livestock, poultry, fur-bearing animals or honeybees; dairying and the sale of dairy products; any other agricultural or horticultural use, including Christmas trees; operation, maintenance and conservation measures of farm and stock ponds or drainage ditches, or irrigation systems; changes between agricultural activities, and normal maintenance or repair of existing serviceable structures, facilities or improved areas.
“Agricultural activities, existing and ongoing” means any agricultural activities conducted on agricultural land defined in RCW 84.34.020(2) within the last five years. Any activity that would cultivate land that has not been cultivated, or has lain idle, for more than five years shall be considered a new agricultural activity, not existing and ongoing.
“Agricultural resource land” means land primarily devoted to the commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy, apiary, vegetable, or animal products or of berries, grain, hay, straw, turf, seed, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax imposed by RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, finfish in upland hatcheries, or livestock, and that has long-term commercial significance for agricultural production. These lands are referred to in this title as agricultural resource lands to distinguish between formally designated lands and other lands used for agricultural purposes.
“Alluvial fan” means a low, outspread, relatively flat to gently sloping mass of loose alluvium, shaped like an open fan, deposited by a stream where it issues from a narrow valley, or where a tributary stream issues into the main stream, or wherever a constriction in a valley abruptly ceases or the gradient of the stream suddenly decreases; it is steepest near the mouth of the valley where its apex points upstream, and it slopes gently and convexly outward with gradually decreasing gradient.
“Alteration” means a human action that results in a physical change to the existing condition of land or improvements, including, but not limited to: clearing vegetation, filling and grading, and construction of structures or facilities including impervious surfaces.
“Anadromous fish” means fish that spawn in fresh water and mature in the marine environment.
“Aquatic area” means the water area of a stream, pond or lake measured at the ordinary high water mark.
“Aquifer” means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or spring.
“Base flood” means the flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. Designations of base flood areas on flood insurance maps always include the letter A or V.
“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: (1) control soil loss and reduce water quality degradation caused by high concentrations of nutrients, animal waste, toxics, or sediment; (2) minimize adverse impacts to surface water and groundwater flow and circulation patterns and to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of wetlands; (3) protect trees, vegetation, and soils designated to be retained during and following site construction and use native plant species appropriate to the site for revegetation of disturbed areas; and (4) provide standards for proper use of chemical herbicides within critical areas.
“Bog” means a peat wetland with a high percent of cover of sphagnum moss and/or predominantly sphagnum peat in the rooting zone, low nutrient availability, low pH and resulting distinctive flora.
“Buffer” means the zone contiguous with a critical area that is required for the continued maintenance, function, and structural stability of the critical area.
“Channel migration zone (CMZ)” means the area along a river within which the channel(s) can be reasonably predicted to migrate over time as a result of natural and normally occurring hydrological and related processes when considered with the characteristics of the river and its surroundings.
“Clearing” means the destruction or removal of vegetation from a site by physical, mechanical, chemical or other means. This does not include landscape maintenance or pruning consistent with accepted horticultural practices that does not impair the health or survival of the trees or native vegetation.
“Conservation easement” means an interest or right of use over a property, less than fee simple, to protect, preserve, maintain, improve, restore, limit the future use of, or conserve for open space purposes any land or improvement on the land.
“Critical aquifer recharge area (CARA)” means areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water, including areas where an aquifer that is a source of drinking water is vulnerable to contamination that would affect the potability of the water, or is susceptible to reduced recharge.
“Critical areas” means any of the following areas or ecosystems: (1) wetlands; (2) areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water; (3) fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas; (4) frequently flooded areas; and (5) geologically hazardous areas.
“Critical areas review permit” means a written authorization issued by the community development department declaring that an identified development or regulated activity complies with the provisions of this title.
“Critical facilities” include, but are not limited to, schools; nursing homes; hospitals; police, fire and emergency response installations; public and private utilities and infrastructure that are vital to maintaining or restoring normal services to areas damaged by hazard events; and installations that produce, use, or store hazardous materials or hazardous waste.
“Cumulative impact” 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 the effects of other actions 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.
“Department” means the Skamania County community development department.
“Development” means a regulated project involving property improvement or a change of physical character within the site; the act of using land for building or extractive purposes. Development shall include, but shall not be limited to, the activities identified in Section 19.01.060.
“Ecological functions” means the work performed or the role played by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the maintenance of the aquatic and terrestrial environments that constitute the critical area’s natural ecosystem.
“Enhancement” means alteration of an existing resource to improve or increase its functions and processes without degrading other existing functions. Enhancements are to be distinguished from resource creation or restoration projects.
“Erosion” means the general process or the group of processes whereby the materials of the earth’s crust are loosened, dissolved, or worn away, and simultaneously moved from one place to another, by natural forces, which include weathering, solution, corrosion, and transportation, but usually exclude mass wasting (American Geological Institute, 1998).
“Erosion hazard area” means those areas containing soils which, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Soil Survey Program, may experience significant erosion. Erosion hazard areas also include channel migration zones.
“Excavation” means the artificial movement of earth materials.
“Exempt” means an activity that is within a critical area or its buffer and is subject to the exemption provisions of Section 19.01.070 or the exemption provisions of the individual chapters of this title; provided, that such activities are otherwise consistent with other local, state, and/or federal laws and requirements.
“Feasible” means an action, such as a development, mitigation, or restoration project, meets all of the following conditions:
1. The action can be accomplished with technologies and methods that have been used in the past in similar circumstances, or studies or tests have demonstrated in similar circumstances that such approaches are currently available and likely to achieve the intended results;
2. The action provides a reasonable likelihood of achieving its intended purpose; and
3. The action does not physically preclude achieving the project’s primary intended legal use.
In cases where this title requires certain actions unless they are infeasible, the burden of proving infeasibility is on the applicant. In determining an action’s infeasibility, the county may weigh the action’s relative public costs and public benefits, considered in short- and long-term time frames.
“Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)” means the agency that oversees the administration of the National Flood Insurance Program (44 CFR).
“Filling” means a deposit of earth or other natural or human-made material placed by artificial means.
“Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas” means areas that serve a critical role in sustaining needed habitats and species for the functional integrity of the ecosystem, and which, if altered, may reduce the likelihood that the species will persist over the long term. These areas may include, but are not limited to, rare or vulnerable ecological systems, communities, and habitat or habitat elements including seasonal ranges, breeding habitat, winter range, and movement corridors; and areas with high relative population density or species richness. These areas may also include locally important habitats and species. Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas do not include such artificial features or constructs as irrigation delivery systems, irrigation infrastructure, irrigation canals, or drainage ditches that lie within the boundaries of, and are maintained by, a port district or an irrigation district or company.
“Flood” means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
1. The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
2. The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any sources.
“Flood insurance rate map (FIRM)” means the official map on which the Federal Insurance Administration has delineated many areas of flood hazard, floodways, and the risk premium zones (CFR 44 Part 59).
“Flood insurance study” means the official report provided by the Federal Insurance Administration that includes the flood profiles and the FIRM (CFR 44 Part 59).
“Floodplain” is synonymous with “one-hundred-year floodplain” and means the land area susceptible to being inundated by stream-derived waters with a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The limits of this area are based on flood regulation ordinance maps.
“Floodproofing” means any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures, and their contents.
“Floodway” means the area that either: (1) has been established in FEMA flood insurance rate maps or floodway maps or letters of exemption for specific properties; or (2) consists of those portions of a river valley lying streamward from the outer limits of a watercourse upon which flood waters are carried during periods of flooding that occur with reasonable regularity, although not necessarily annually, said floodway being identified, under normal condition, by changes in surface soil conditions or changes in types or quality of vegetative ground cover condition, topography, or other indicators of flooding that occurs with reasonable regularity, although not necessarily annually. Regardless of the method used to identify the floodway, the floodway shall not include those lands that can reasonably be expected to be protected from flood waters by flood control devices maintained by or maintained under license from the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state.
“Frequently flooded areas” means lands in the floodplain subject to at least a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year, or within areas subject to flooding due to high groundwater. These areas include, but are not limited to, streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and areas where high groundwater forms ponds on the ground surface.
“Functionally isolated buffer areas” means areas that are functionally separated from a critical area and do not protect the critical area from adverse impacts due to preexisting roads, railroads, levees, structures, or vertical separation.
“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, groundwater recharge and discharge, erosion control, and recreation enjoyment and other values.
“Geologically hazardous areas” means areas that because of their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events (as designated by WAC 365-190-080(4)) are not suited to the siting of commercial, residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or safety concerns.
Geologist. See definition under “Qualified professional.”
“Geotechnical report or geotechnical analysis” means a scientific study or evaluation conducted by a qualified expert that includes a description of the ground and surface hydrology and geology, the affected land form and its susceptibility to mass wasting, erosion, and other geologic hazards or processes, conclusions and recommendations regarding the effect of the proposed development on geologic conditions, the adequacy of the site to be developed, the impacts of the proposed development, alternative approaches to the proposed development, and measures to mitigate potential site-specific and cumulative geological and hydrological impacts of the proposed development, including the potential adverse impacts to adjacent and down-current properties. Geotechnical reports shall conform to accepted technical standards and must be prepared by qualified professional engineers or geologists who have professional expertise about the regional and local geology and processes.
“Grading” means the deliberate movement or distribution of the soil, sand, rock, gravel, sediment or other material on a site in a manner that alters the natural contour of the land.
“Groundwater” means water in a saturated zone or stratum beneath the surface of land or a surface water body.
“Habitat” means the place or type of site where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows.
“Habitat conservation areas” means areas designated as fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas. See Section 19.05.010(B) or WAC 365-190-130(2).
“Habitats of local importance” means those areas that include a seasonal range or habitat element with which a given species has a primary association and that, if altered, may reduce the likelihood that the species will maintain and reproduce over the long term. These might include areas of high relative population 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).
“Hazardous substances” means any liquid, solid, gas, or sludge, including any material, substance, product, commodity, or waste, regardless of quantity, that exhibits any of the physical, chemical, or biological properties described in WAC 173-303-090 or 173-303-100.
“Hearing examiner” means an appointed official vested with the duties established by Chapter 2.80.
“Historic condition” means the condition of the land, including flora, fauna, soil, topography, and hydrology, that existed before the area and vicinity were developed or altered by human activity.
“Hydric soil” means a soil that formed under conditions of saturation, flooding or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part.
“Hydrology” means the properties of the water, including circulation and distribution, on and below the ground.
“Hydrophytic (or wetland) vegetation” means those plants which have adapted to growing in the low-oxygen (anaerobic) conditions associated with prolonged saturation or flooding.
“Hyporheic zone” means area under or beside a stream channel or floodplain that contributes water to the stream and performs ecological functions such as removing excessive nutrients and toxic compounds, water storage, support of vegetation, sediment storage, and maintenance of base flows.
“Impervious surface area” means any nonvertical surface artificially covered or hardened so as to prevent or impede the percolation of water into the soil mantle including, but not limited to, roof tops, swimming pools, paved or graveled roads and walkways or parking areas and excluding landscaping and surface water retention/detention facilities.
“Intermittent (or seasonal) streams” means streams that do not have surface flow during at least some portion of the year.
“Lahar” means a rapidly flowing mixture of soil, pyroclastic and other rock debris, and water that originates on the slopes of volcanoes.
“Lake” means a body of standing water in a depression of land or expanded part of a river, including reservoirs, of twenty acres or greater in total area. A lake is bounded by the ordinary high water mark or, where a stream enters a lake, the extension of the elevation of the lake’s ordinary high water mark within the stream.
“Landscaping” means any combination of living plants, such as trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, flowers or grass; natural features such as rock, stone, bark chips or shavings; and structural features, including but not limited to fountains, reflecting pools, outdoor artwork, screen walls, fences, or benches that have been installed for the primary purpose of beautifying a development or property. Landscaping does not include plantings installed as mitigation for impacts to critical areas or critical area buffers.
“Landslide” means episodic downslope movement of a mass of soil or rock that includes, but is not limited to, rock falls, slumps, mudflows, and earth flows.
“Landslide hazard areas” means areas subject to landslides based on a combination of geologic, topographic, and hydrologic factors. They include any areas susceptible to landslide because of any combination of bedrock, soil, slope (gradient), slope aspect, structure, hydrology, or other factors, and include, at a minimum, the following:
1. Areas of historic failures, such as:
a. Those areas delineated by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service as having a significant limitation for building site development;
b. Those coastal areas mapped as class u (unstable), uos (unstable old slides), and urs (unstable recent slides) in the Department of Ecology Washington coastal atlas; or
c. Areas designated as quaternary slumps, earthflows, mudflows, lahars, or landslides on maps published by the United States Geological Survey or Washington Department of Natural Resources;
2. Areas with all three of the following characteristics:
a. Slopes steeper than fifteen percent;
b. Hillsides intersecting geologic contacts with a relatively permeable sediment overlying a relatively impermeable sediment or bedrock; and
c. Springs or groundwater seepage;
3. Areas that have shown movement during the Holocene epoch (from ten thousand years ago to the present) or which are underlain or covered by mass wastage debris of this epoch;
4. Slopes that are parallel or subparallel to planes of weakness (such as bedding planes, joint systems, and fault planes) in subsurface materials;
5. Slopes having gradients steeper than eighty percent subject to rockfall during seismic shaking;
6. Areas potentially unstable as a result of rapid stream incision, stream bank erosion, and undercutting by wave action, including stream channel migration zones;
7. Areas that show evidence of, or are at risk from snow avalanches;
8. Areas located in a canyon or on an active alluvial fan, presently or potentially subject to inundation by debris flows or catastrophic flooding; and
9. Any area with a slope of forty percent or steeper and with a vertical relief of ten or more feet except areas composed of bedrock. A slope is delineated by establishing its toe and top and measured by averaging the inclination over at least ten feet of vertical relief.
“Lateral spread” means a type of earthquake-induced landslide. Areas subject to lateral spreading are typically gently sloping or flat sites underlain by liquefiable sediments adjacent to an open face, such as river banks. Liquefied soils adjacent to open faces may flow in that direction, resulting in lateral displacement and surface cracking.
“Liquefaction” means a process in which the strength and density of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid pressure. It occurs in soils in which the space between individual particles is completely filled with water (e.g., saturated soils). During an earthquake, the water pressure between the particles increases to the point where the soil particles can readily move with respect to each other, and thus the soil loses strength. Liquefaction can induce significant ground settlement, bearing-capacity failure, and lateral spreading.
“Mitigation, compensatory” means replacing or otherwise offsetting project-induced losses or impacts to a critical area or its buffer.
“Mitigation, in-kind” means replacing critical areas with substitute areas whose characteristics, functions, and values closely approximate those negatively impacted by a regulated activity.
“Mitigation, off-site” means replacing a critical area in a location other than its impacted site.
“Mitigation, on-site” means replacing a critical area at, or adjacent to, its impacted site.
“Mitigation, out-of-kind” means replacing a critical area with a substitute area whose characteristics are not a close approximation of those negatively impacted by a regulated activity.
“Mitigation sequence” means the process of minimizing or compensating for adverse environmental impact(s) on a critical area. The type(s) of mitigation required shall be considered and implemented, where feasible, in the following sequential order of preference: (1) avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action; (2) minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation; (3) rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment; (4) reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action; (5) compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments; or (6) monitoring the impact and taking appropriate measures to achieve the identified goal.
“Mitigation, wetland compensatory” 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 or degraded wetland. For the purposes of tracking net gains in wetland acres, wetland mitigation may include one or more of the following elements:
1. “Reestablishment” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of returning its natural or historic functions to a former wetland. Reestablishment results in a gain in wetland acres (and functions). Activities could include removing fill material, plugging ditches, or removing existing drainage structures.
2. “Rehabilitation” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of returning its natural or historic functions to a degraded wetland. Rehabilitation results in a gain in wetland function but does not result in a gain in wetland acres. Activities could involve breaching a dike to reconnect wetlands to a floodplain or returning tidal influence to a wetland.
3. “Establishment” means the manipulation of the existing physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a site to develop a wetland in an upland or deepwater location where a wetland did not previously exist.
4. Creation. See “Establishment.”
5. “Enhancement” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of an existing wetland site to heighten, intensify, or improve specific function(s) or to change the growth stage or composition of the vegetation present.
6. “Preservation” means actions taken to ensure the permanent protection of existing, high-quality wetlands.
“Monitoring” means the collection of data by various methods for the purpose of understanding natural systems and features, evaluating the impact of development proposals on such systems, and/or assessing the performance of mitigation measures imposed as conditions of development.
“National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)” means federal environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment.
“Native vegetation” means plant species or communities indigenous to the region, including extirpated species.
“Natural waters” means all waters excluding only water conveyance systems which are artificially constructed and actively maintained for irrigation or stormwater runoff.
Nonfederally Regulated Wetlands. “Nonfederally regulated (formerly isolated) wetland” means a wetland that is determined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to not qualify as a water of the United States. Nonfederally regulated wetlands may perform important functions and are protected by state law (Chapter 90.48 RCW) whether or not they are protected by federal law.
Ordinary High Water Mark (OHWM). On all lakes, streams, and tidal water, OHWM is that mark that will be found by examining the bed and banks 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.
Oregon White Oak Woodland. Priority Oregon white oak woodlands are stands of pure oak or oak/conifer associations where canopy coverage of the oak component of the stand is twenty-five percent; or where total canopy coverage of the stand is less than twenty-five percent, but oak accounts for at least fifty percent of the canopy coverage present. The latter is often referred to as an oak savanna. East of the Cascades, priority oak habitat is stands five acres in size. In urban or urbanizing areas, single oaks, or stands of oaks less than one acre, may also be considered priority habitat when found to be particularly valuable to fish and wildlife (i.e., they contain many cavities, have a large diameter at breast height [DBH], are used by priority species, or have a large canopy).
“Preservation” means removing a threat to, or preventing the decline of, wetland conditions by an action in or near a wetland.
“Primary association” means the area used on a regular basis by, is in close association with, or is necessary for the proper functioning of the habitat of a critical species.
“Priority habitat” means habitat types or elements with unique or significant value to one or more species as classified by WDFW.
“Pyroclastic flow” means fluidized avalanches of hot, dry pyroclastic debris and gases that descend a volcano’s flanks and beyond at speeds of ten to hundreds of meters per second. A flow is composed of two parts:
1. A ground-hugging dense basal flow that is the pyroclastic flow proper; and
2. An overriding turbulent ash-cloud surge of ash winnowed from the flow.
“Qualified professional” means a person with experience and training in the pertinent scientific discipline, and who is a qualified expert with expertise appropriate for the relevant critical area subject in accordance with WAC 365-195-905(4). A qualified professional must have obtained a BS or BA or equivalent degree in biology, engineering, environmental sciences, fisheries, geomorphology or related field, and two years of related work experience or an individual acting under the direction of a qualified professional.
1. A qualified professional for fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas or wetlands must have a degree in biology or a related environmental science and professional experience related to the subject. For wetlands, the professional must have at least two years of full-time work experience as a wetlands professional, including delineating wetlands using the federal manual and supplements, preparing wetland reports, conducting function assessments, and developing and implementing mitigation plans, or an individual working under the direction of a professional with these qualifications.
2. A qualified professional for a geological hazard must be a professional engineer or geologist, licensed in the state of Washington.
3. A qualified professional for critical aquifer recharge areas must be a licensed geologist in Washington State holding a current specialty license in hydrogeology.
“Recharge” means the process involved in the absorption and addition of water to groundwater.
“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.
“Resident game fish” means game fish as described in the Washington Game Code that spend their life cycle in fresh water.
“Restoration, restore, or ecological restoration” means the reestablishment or upgrading of impaired ecological processes or functions. This may be accomplished through measures including, but not limited to, revegetation, removal of intrusive structures and removal or treatment of toxic materials. Restoration does not imply a requirement for returning the critical area to aboriginal or pre-European settlement conditions.
“Revised Code of Washington (RCW)” means a compilation of all permanent laws now in force. It is a collection of Session Laws (enacted by the Legislature, and signed by the Governor, or enacted via the initiative process), arranged by topic, with amendments added and repealed laws removed.
“Riparian” means of, on, or pertaining to the banks of a river, stream or lake.
“Riparian area” means that area immediately adjacent to streams, ponds, lakes and wetlands that directly contributes to the water quality and habitat components of the water body, including but not limited to upland areas immediately adjacent to the water body that directly contribute shade, nutrients, cover or debris.
“Riparian habitat areas” 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 horizontally 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 aquatic ecosystem.
“Riverine” means relating to, formed by or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook, etc.
“Runoff” means water that is not absorbed into the soil but rather flows along the ground surface following the topography.
“Salmonid” means a member of the fish family Salmonidae, including but not limited to Chinook, coho, chum, sockeye, and pink salmon; cutthroat, brook, brown, rainbow, and steelhead trout; kokanee; and native char (bull trout and Dolly Varden).
“Sedimentation” means the process of depositing materials from a liquid, especially in bodies of water.
“Seismic hazard areas” means areas subject to severe risk of damage as a result of earthquake-induced ground shaking, slope failure, settlement, soil liquefaction, debris flows, or lahars.
“Setback” means the distance an activity, building, or structure must be located from a critical area or its buffer.
“Slope” means an inclined earth surface, the inclination of which is expressed as the ratio of horizontal distance to vertical distance. In these regulations, the calculation of slope shall be specific to the area that will be disturbed by the proposed development and not to the entire parcel or lot. Slopes are generally expressed as a percentage; percentage of slope refers to a given rise in elevation over a given run in distance. A twenty percent slope, for example, refers to a twenty-foot rise in elevation over a distance of one hundred feet. A one hundred percent slope equals a forty-five-degree angle.
“Species” means any group of animals classified as a species or subspecies as commonly accepted by the scientific community.
“State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA)” means Chapter 43.21C RCW.
“Steep slopes” means those slopes thirty percent or steeper within a vertical elevation change of at least ten feet. A slope is defined by establishing its toe and top and is measured by averaging the inclination over at least ten feet of vertical relief.
“Stream” means those areas where surface waters flow sufficiently to produce a defined channel or bed. A defined channel or bed is an area which demonstrates clear evidence of the passage of water and includes but is not limited to bedrock channels, gravel beds, sand and silt beds and defined-channel swales. The channel or bed need not contain water year-round. This definition is not meant to include irrigation ditches, canals, storm or surface water runoff devices or other entirely artificial watercourses unless they are used by salmon or used to convey streams naturally occurring prior to construction.
“Turbidity” means the cloudy condition of a body of water that contains suspended material, such as clay or silt particles, dead organisms, or small living plants or animals.
“Unavoidable” means adverse impacts that remain after all appropriate and practicable avoidance and minimization has been achieved.
“Vegetation” means plant life growing below, at, and above the soil surface.
“Volcanic hazard areas” means areas subject to pyroclastic flows, lava flows, debris avalanche, or inundation by debris flows, lahars, mudflows, or related flooding.
“Water quality” means the physical characteristics of water within a critical area, including water quantity, hydrological, physical, chemical, aesthetic, recreation-related, and biological characteristics.
Water Quantity. This term refers only to development and uses that are regulated under this title and that affect water quantity, such as impermeable surfaces and stormwater handling practices. Water quantity, for the purposes of this title, does not mean the withdrawal of groundwater or the diversion of surface water pursuant to RCW 90.03.250 through 90.03.340.
“Watershed” means the region drained by or contributing water to a stream, lake, or other body of water.
“Water table” means the upper surface of the free groundwater in a zone of saturation except when separated by an underlying of groundwater by unsaturated material.
“Water typing system” means the system used to classify freshwater surface water systems per WAC 22-16-030 and 22-16-031. Current regulations establish interim water typing (1 – 5) until fish habitat water type maps are available for permanent water typing (S, F, Np, Ns) (WAC 222-16-031).
“Wetland” or “wetlands” means areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater 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 non wetland areas to mitigate the conversion of wetlands.
“Wetlands rating system” means the Washington State Wetland Rating System for Eastern Washington: 2014 Update, and the Washington State Wetland Rating System for Western Washington: 2014 Update, Washington State Department of Ecology, effective January 2015 or as amended. (Ord. 2020-03, 2-25-20)