Critical Areas Ordinance Workshop

1. Critical Areas OrdinanceWorkshop March 21, 2007 Jill Silver Amy Hiatt George Yount

2. Overview • Background • Process • Timelines

3. Overview… • Background • Legislative • Shoreline Management Act 1971 • Growth Management Act 1990 • Forest Practices Act 1974, 1987, 1999 • Best Available Science 1995 • Guidance • Department of Community Trade and Economic Development • Washington Department of Ecology

4. Overview… • Process • Updates • Every 7 years • Timeline for 2007 • May - October

5. Rule Defined Critical Areas • Wetlands • Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas • Critical Aquifer Recharge Zones • Geologic Hazard Zones • Floodprone Zones

6. Critical Areas Mandate • Critical Areas regulations are to overlay all other land uses, including designated natural resource lands and designated urban growth areas, and are to preclude land uses and developments that are incompatible with the protection of critical areas. [WAC 365-190-020] • All lands are designated in one of three categories: urban, natural resource land, or rural land.

7. Fundamental Building Blocks of Land-Use Planning Under GMA • Urban Land (i.e. within a designated urban growth area) • Natural Resource Land (i.e. designated as agricultural, forest, or mineral resource land) • Rural land (which may include limited areas of more intense rural development and a variety of land uses.) • As long as critical areas are protected, “other non-critical portions of land can be developed as appropriate under the applicable land-use designation and zoning requirements.”

8. Best Available Science • RCW 36.70A.172(1) requires all local governments to include the best available science when adopting development regulations to designate and protect critical areas. • “…give special consideration to conservation or protection measures necessary to preserve or enhance anadromous fisheries.” • A local government “cannot ignore the BAS in favor of the science it prefers simply because the latter supports the decision it wants to make.”

9. CAO Recommendations • Administration of CAO • Clear, well-organized – Stands alone • Buffers • Flexible, predictable, based on science • Agriculture • Wetlands • Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas • Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas • Geologic Hazard Zones • Floodprone Zones

10. Land-Use Impact Levels • Used to determine buffer requirements • Types of land-use that can result in high, moderate, or low levels of impact to adjacent wetlands, and fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas (FWHCAs).

11. High Impact Land-Uses: • High-intensity agricultural activities (see Definitions); • Single-family residential use on parcels smaller than 1 acre; • Commercial, industrial, and institutional uses on lands designated as Rural Commercial, Rural Industrial, Public, or UGA; • Public roads; • Active recreation areas (see Definitions); • Class IV-General forest conversions, including conversion option harvest plans, on lands not designated as Resource Lands or Rural Residential.

12. Medium Impact Land-Uses: • Medium-intensity agricultural activities (see Definitions); • Single-family residential use on parcels of 1 acre to less than 5 acres; • Single-family residential use on parcels of 5 acres or larger with agricultural activities, landscaping, and impervious surfaces exceeding the limitations for Low Impact Land-Uses (see Definitions); • Private roads or driveways serving 3 or more residential parcels; • Paved trails; • Passive recreation areas (see Definitions); • Utility corridors (private or public) with a maintenance road; • Class IV-General forest conversions, including conversion option harvest plans, on lands designated as Resource Lands or Rural Residential.

13. Low Impact Land-Uses: • Low-intensity agricultural activities (see Definitions); • Single-family residential use on parcels of 5 acres or larger with agricultural activities, landscaping, and impervious surfaces not exceeding the limitations for Low Impact Land-Uses (see Definitions); • Private driveways serving no more than 2 residential parcels; • Unpaved trails; • Utility corridors (private or public) without a maintenance road; • Class I, II, III, and IV-Special forest practices on lands of any Comprehensive Plan land-use designation except Urban Growth Area; • Class IV-General non-conversion forest practices (equal to Class I, II, III, and IV-Special forest practices) conducted on lands platted after January 1, 1960 and of any Comprehensive Plan land-use designation except UGA.

14. Agriculture • WEC Settlement Agreement • Existing and Ongoing vs. New Agriculture • Lands of long-term commercial significance • Rural Residential Agricultural Activities • ‘Exemption’ vs. Alternative Regulation • Farm Plans, BMPs, and Monitoring • Adaptive Management and Enforcement

16. Wetlands RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON: • Wetlands Functions • DOE Best Available Science Volumes I & II • Wetlands in Washington State: A Synthesis of the Science • DOE Wetland Rating System • Moderate Risk Strategy • Issue: Who rates and delineates? By what method?

17. Wetland Buffer Recommendations • The following tables contain the prescribed buffer widths for each combination of factors, established in accordance with the Department of Ecology's Wetlands in Washington State - Volume 2: Guidance for Protecting and Managing Wetlands (Publication #05-06-008).

18. 1. For wetlands that have a habitat function score of twenty nine (29) points or more on the wetland rating form, the prescribed buffers shall be as follows:

19. 2. For wetlands that have a habitat function score of twenty to twenty eight (20-28) points on the wetland rating form, the prescribed buffers shall be as follows:

20. 3. For wetlands that have a habitat function score of nineteen (19) points or less on the wetland rating form, the prescribed buffers shall be as follows:

21. Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas • Channel Migration Zones • Rivers and Streams • Lakes and Ponds • Marine Shorelines • Wildlife Corridors • Regulatory Overlap

22. Channel Migration Zones • Contain all five rule-defined Critical Areas • Very high habitat value • Very high risk for development • Human health and safety issues • CAO regulations must be met or exceeded in SMP • Jefferson County is unique in having large functional CMZs

23. Banks prone to landsliding (i.e., mass wasting) are part of CMZs Lower Elwha River Courtesy of Department of Ecology

27. Rivers and Streams • Buffer widths based on BAS from years of negotiations in forestlands and in CAOs • Vegetation Management Standards • Applies to all critical areas • Hazard Trees • Noxious Weeds • View Corridors • Existing Development or Landscaping

28. FWHCA Buffer Recommendations • CMZs 100 – 200 feet from edge of CMZ • Shorelines 150 feet from OHWM • Fish-bearing 150 feet from OHWM • Non-fish, Perennial 100 feet from OHWM • Non-fish, Seasonal 50-100 feet from OHWM • Lakes > 20 acres • Lakes < 20 acres • Marine Shorelines (under development)

30. Forestry and Conversions • WAC 222 Forest Practices Rules • FP rules were developed for lands expected to remain in forestry, with gravel roads • FP rules apply to zoned forestlands and rural residential lands, less than 5K bf per year • CAO applies to: • UGAs – Quilcene, Brinnon, Port Hadlock • Conversions – loopholes re: buffers • NEEDS WORK!

32. CAO Implementation Resources • Mapping • Current Gaps • Need LiDAR • Inventory and Characterization Needs • Wetland Inventory (i.e. Adamus) • Wildlife Corridors (i.e. JLT Quimper) • Critical Areas (i.e. streams, wetlands)

34. Education and Resources • Washington State University • Conservation District • NGOs – NOSC, JLT, NWWI • State Agencies – WDFW, WDNR, WDOE • Watershed Stewardship and Resource Center • Web-based Resources and Information

35. Monitoring • DOE • Conservation District • County Staff • Tribes • NGOs • Streamkeepers (?)