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This section defines specific terms to be applied where used in Chapter 19.37 EMC.

Alteration” means any human-induced action which impacts the existing condition of a critical area. Alterations include but are not limited to grading; filling; dredging; draining; channelizing; cutting, pruning, limbing or topping, clearing, relocating or removing vegetation; applying herbicides or pesticides or any hazardous or toxic substance; discharging pollutants; grazing domestic animals; paving, construction, application of gravel; modifying for surface water management purposes; or any other human activity that impacts the existing vegetation, hydrology, wildlife or wildlife habitat. Alteration does not include walking, passive recreation, fishing or other similar activities.

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.

Biological assessment” is an evaluation of the potential effects of a proposed action on listed and proposed species and designated and proposed critical habitat and determination whether any such species or habitat is likely to be adversely affected by the action.

Biologist” means a person who has earned a degree in biological sciences from a college or university, with practical experience that includes at least two years’ expertise in matters involving wetlands biology or stream ecology in the Pacific Northwest.

Bog” means wetlands with extensive living sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat and a distinctive flora that results from the acidic substrate.

Buffer” means an area which provides the margin of safety through protection of slope stability, attenuation of surface water flows and erosion controls necessary to minimize risk to the public from loss of life or well-being or property damage resulting from natural disasters, or an area which is an integral part of the natural system and which provides shading, input of organic debris and coarse sediments, room for variation in stream or wetland boundaries, habitat for wildlife and protection from harmful intrusion necessary to protect the public from losses suffered when the functions and values of important aquatic resources are degraded.

Buffer management” means an activity proposed by a public agency, public utility, or private entity, and approved by the planning director, within a buffer required by this title, that is proposed to:

1. Reduce or eliminate a verified public safety hazard;

2. Maintain or enhance wildlife habitat diversity; or

3. Maintain or enhance the fishery or other functions of stream, wetland, or terrestrial ecosystems.

Buildable area” means the lot area minus undevelopable areas.

Channel gradient” refers to a measurement over a representative section of at least five hundred linear feet, where available, with at least ten evenly spaced measurement points along the normal stream channel, but excluding unusually wide areas of negligible gradient such as marshy or swampy areas, beaver ponds, and impoundments. Channel gradient may be determined utilizing stream profiles plotted from United States Geological Survey topographic maps (see Washington Forest Practices Board Manual, Section 23) or a more detailed survey specific to the project site and/or area.

Compensation” means the replacement, enhancement, or creation of an undevelopable critical area equivalent in functions, values and size to those being altered or lost to development.

Compensation, in-kind” means the replacement of wetlands with substitute wetlands whose characteristics closely approximate those destroyed or degraded by a regulated activity.

Compensation, off-site” means the replacement of wetlands away from the lot on which a regulated wetland has been impacted.

Compensation, on-site” means the replacement of wetlands on or adjacent to the lot on which a wetland has been impacted by a regulated activity.

Compensation, out-of-kind” means the replacement of wetlands with substitute wetlands whose characteristics do not closely approximate those destroyed or degraded by a regulated activity.

Critical area” means geologically hazardous areas, wetlands, lakes, ponds, streams, frequently flooded (flood hazard) areas, and fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, as defined in Chapter 36.70A RCW and this chapter.

Critical area protective covenant” means a covenant granted for the protection of a critical area and its buffer through the maintenance of the natural environment. The covenant prohibits alteration of the area and must be duly recorded on appropriate documents of title and filed with the Snohomish County auditor.

Critical area tract” means a legally created, nonbuilding lot containing a critical area which is subject to a critical area protective covenant and which shall be duly recorded on the appropriate documents of title and filed with the Snohomish County auditor.

Culvert” means a short section of pipe placed in a stream and filled over in order to provide a stream crossing.

Development” means all structures, uses or other alterations or modifications of the natural landscape occurring above or below ground or water on a particular lot. Within the riparian habitat zone or the special flood hazard area, the definition of “developmentshall also include removal of substantial native vegetation, or alteration of natural site characteristics.

Enhancement” means an action which increases the functions and values of a stream or wetland or terrestrial ecosystem.

Erosion hazard areas” means those areas of the city with slopes of twenty-five percent and greater in Qva and Qal geologic units; exposed slopes of greater than twenty-five percent in other geologic units; and drainage areas which receive stormwater discharge.

Exotic” means any species of plant or animal that is nonnative to the subject lot or area.

Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas” means an area of habitat that is necessary and suitable for maintaining individual species, species diversity, or biological diversity. Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas include:

1. Habitats of primary association;

2. Streams/riparian corridors;

3. Continuous vegetative corridors linking watersheds;

4. Significant biological areas listed by the city; and

5. Lakes.

Functions and values” or “functional 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, recreation, educational opportunities, aesthetics, and slope and soil stabilization.

Geologically hazardous areas” means areas susceptible to erosion, landslide, seismically induced soil failure, or other geological events.

Geologist” means a person who is licensed in the state of Washington under the provisions of Chapter 18.220 RCW and Chapter 308-15 WAC, and who has at least one year of practical experience in the Pacific Northwest.

Habitat assessment” means a written report based on a site investigation process to evaluate the potential presence or absence of a regulated fish or wildlife species or habitat potentially affected by a development proposal, and containing an assessment of the potential impacts of the proposal on any regulated species or habitat subject to these regulations.

Habitat management plan” means an activity proposed by a public agency or private entity, and approved by the planning director, within an area which may impact a fish and wildlife habitat conservation area to preserve, protect or enhance the fish and wildlife habitat conservation area.

Habitats of primary association” means a critical component(s) of the habitats of federally or state-listed endangered, threatened, candidate, sensitive, and priority wildlife or plant species which, if altered, may reduce the likelihood that the species will maintain and reproduce over the long term. Habitats of primary association include, but are not limited to, winter ranges, migration ranges, breeding sites, nesting sites, regular large concentrations, communal roosts, roosting sites, staging areas, and “priority habitats” listed by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Habitats, priority” include:

1. Wetlands;

2. Riparian zones;

3. Marine/estuarine shorelines;

4. Urban natural open space. This includes areas that are not critical areas, but may include parks and other deeded open space areas that are actively managed to protect native plants and animals.

Hazard tree” means any tree that poses a threat to public safety, or poses an imminent risk of damage to private property. “Hazard tree” includes any tree that, under normal environmental conditions or in windstorms common to the Pacific Northwest, is likely to cause damage to a structure with frequent human use, including residential structures, a place of employment or public assembly, and other similar places, or damage to an approved public road or utility facility.

Hillsides” means geological features on the landscape having slopes of fifteen percent or greater.

Hydric soil” means a soil that is saturated, flooded or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part. The presence of hydric soil shall be determined following the methods described in the Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands.

In-lieu fee (ILF) mitigation” means a program involving the restoration, establishment, enhancement, and/or preservation of aquatic resources through funds paid to a program sponsor to satisfy compensatory mitigation requirements for unavoidable impacts to wetlands and other aquatic resources. Per federal rule, sponsorship of ILF programs is limited to governmental, tribal, or nonprofit natural resource management entities. Similar to a wetland mitigation bank, an ILF program sells credits to permittees whose unavoidable impacts occur within a specified geographic area (service area). When credits are purchased from the ILF program, the permittee’s obligation to provide compensatory mitigation is then transferred to the ILF program sponsor. The sponsor is then required to implement mitigation within a specified time frame, working with regulatory agencies to make sure impacts are fully mitigated. ILF programs are approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Lake” means a natural or artificially created permanent body of water with an average depth of six feet or greater and an area larger than twenty acres, as measured at the ordinary high water mark.

Land use impacts, high” means commercial, industrial, institutional, retail sales, high-intensity recreation (golf courses, ball fields), and residential uses with a density of more than one dwelling unit per acre and other similar uses.

Land use impacts, low” means low-intensity open space (such as passive recreation and natural resources preservation) and unpaved trails and other similar uses.

Land use impacts, moderate” means residential uses with a density of one unit per acre or less, moderate-intensity open space (parks), and paved trails and other similar uses.

Landslide” means episodic downslope movement of a mass of soil or rock that includes but is not limited to rock falls, slumps, mudflows, earth flows, and avalanches.

Landslide hazard areas” means those areas of the city subject to a risk of landslide based on a combination of geologic, topographic, and hydrologic factors.

Low impact development (LID)” means a stormwater management strategy that emphasizes conservation and the use of existing natural site features integrated with distributed, small-scale stormwater controls to more closely mimic natural hydrologic patterns in developed settings.

Marsh” means an area permanently inundated by water less than six feet deep and occupied predominantly by an emergent wetland vegetation community.

Mitigation” means avoiding, minimizing, or compensating for adverse impacts and includes the use of any or all of the following actions:

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, by using appropriate technology, or by taking affirmative steps to avoid or reduce impacts;

3. Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating or restoring the affected critical area;

4. Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation or maintenance operations during the life of the development proposal;

5. Compensating for the impact by replacing or enhancing substitute critical areas;

6. Monitoring the required mitigation area and taking remedial action when necessary.

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

Native vegetation” means vegetation on a site or plant species which are indigenous to the area in question; or if the site has been cleared, species of a size and type that were on the site on the effective date of this title or reasonably could have been expected to have been found on the site at the time it was cleared.

Normal rainfall” means that rainfall that is at or above the mean of the accumulated rainfall record, based upon the water year, for the city as recorded at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport, or other local rainfall recording station recognized by the city.

Open water component” means water in dispersed patches covering forty to sixty percent of the wetland which have not less than six inches and not more than six feet of standing water for at least ten months of the year.

Ordinary high water mark” means the mark that will be found by examining the channel bed and banks of a stream, lake or pond and ascertaining where the presence and action of waters are so common and usual, and so long maintained in all years of normal rainfall, as to mark upon the soil a character distinct from that of the abutting upland in respect to vegetation. In any area where the ordinary high water mark cannot be found, the line of mean high water shall substitute. In braided channels and alluvial fans, the ordinary high water mark or substitute shall be measured so as to include the entire stream feature.

Plant associations of infrequent occurrence” means one or more plant species on a landform type which, because of the rarity of the habitat or the species involved or both, or for other botanical or environmental reasons, do not occur frequently in Everett or Snohomish County.

Pond” means an area permanently inundated by water in excess of six feet deep and less than twenty acres and larger than two thousand five hundred square feet in area as measured at the ordinary high water mark.

Protected area” means lands that lie within the boundaries of the floodway and riparian corridor.

Reasonable use” or “reasonable economic use” means a legal concept that has been articulated by federal and state courts in regulatory takings cases.

Restoration” means the return of a stream or wetland, or terrestrial ecosystem, to a state in which its functions and values significantly approach its unaltered state.

Riparian corridor” means a perennial, intermittent, ephemeral stream or swale including its channel bottom, lower and upper banks, and area beyond the top of the upper bank which influences the stream through shading and organic matter input, and is influenced by the presence of water, particularly in regard to plant composition. The riparian corridor is the transitional area between aquatic and upland ecosystems and does not necessarily include the entire floodplain of a stream.

Salmonid” means a member of the fish family Salmonidae. In the city these include Chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink salmon; cutthroat, brook, brown, rainbow and steelhead trout; and Dolly Varden, kokanee and char.

Seismic hazard areas” means those areas of the city subject to severe risk of earthquake damage as a result of seismically induced ground shaking, settlement, or soil liquefaction. These conditions occur in areas underlain by cohesionless soils of low density sometimes in association with a shallow ground water table.

Significant biological areas” means the following areas of the city:

1. Plant associations of infrequent occurrence;

2. Commercial and recreational shellfish areas;

3. Kelp and eelgrass beds;

4. Herring, sand lance, and smelt spawning areas;

5. State natural area preserves and natural resource conservation areas; and

6. Those areas listed in the 1981 SEPA Resource Inventory as significant biological areas, which are:

a. Maulsby Swamp;

b. Kasch Park (Bomarc) Bog;

c. Simpson Lee site Category I wetlands;

d. Narbeck Swamp;

e. Jetty Island.

Significant surface water connection” means a surface water flow that is continuous for thirty days or more during years of normal rainfall.

Steep slopes” means any ground that rises ten feet or more for every twenty-five feet of horizontal distance, thus having a grade of forty percent or steeper. A slope is delineated by establishing its toe and top:

1. Toe” of a steep slope is the lowermost limit of the area where the ground surface rises ten feet or more vertically within a horizontal distance of twenty-five feet.

2. Top” of a steep slope is a distinct, sharp break in slope which separates slopes inclined at less than forty percent from slopes equal to or greater than forty percent. Where no distinct break in slope exists, the top of the steep slope shall be the uppermost limit of the area where the ground surface drops ten feet or more vertically within a horizontal distance of twenty-five feet.

Stream” means those areas where naturally occurring surface waters flow sufficiently to produce a defined channel or bed which demonstrates evidence of the passage of water including, but not limited to, bedrock channels, gravel beds, sand and silt beds and defined-channel swales. A “defined channel or bed” means a watercourse that is scoured by water or contains deposits of mineral alluvium. The channel or bed need not contain water during the entire year. Streams do not include watercourses which were created entirely by artificial means, such as irrigation ditches, canals, roadside ditches or storm or surface water run-off features, unless the artificially created watercourse contains salmonids or conveys a stream that was naturally occurring prior to the construction of the artificially created watercourse.

Stream channel bottom” means the submerged portion of the stream cross-section which is totally an aquatic environment. The channel bottom may be seasonally dry.

Stream, Type F” means those streams defined in WAC 122-16-030, Water Typing System, as Type F water.

Stream, Type Np” means those streams defined in WAC 122-16-030, Water Typing System, as Type Np water.

Stream, Type Ns” means those streams defined in WAC 122-16-030, Water Typing System, as Type Ns water.

Stream, Type S” means those streams defined in WAC 122-16-030, Water Typing System, as Type S water.

Swamp” means an area permanently saturated or inundated by water, and occupied predominantly by either a scrub-shrub or forested wetland vegetation community.

Unavoidable and necessary impacts” means impacts to regulated critical areas after the applicant proposing to alter a regulated critical area has demonstrated that no reasonable alternative exists for the proposed project.

Undevelopable area” means:

1. Regulated wetlands;

2. Geologically hazardous areas which are determined by supporting studies to be unsuitable for development;

3. Streams;

4. Habitats of primary association;

5. Plant associations of infrequent occurrence.

Undisturbed, relatively” is defined in question H2.0 of the 2014 Washington State Wetland Rating System for Western Washington.

Unstable soils” means soils which by their physical nature are not suitable to support buildings, roads, utilities or other manmade development related improvements, or which have the potential for slope failure, erosion, or subsidence. Unstable soils include, but are not limited to, those areas defined as landslide hazard areas, erosion hazard areas, and seismic hazard areas, or other soils which have been determined by the public works director or the building official to be unsuitable for building foundations or structural support.

Upper bank” means that portion of the topographic cross-section of a stream which extends from the break in the general slope of the surrounding land to the ordinary high water mark.

Wetland boundary” means, for the purposes of the calculation of the area of the wetland, the total extent of the wetland, both on site and off site.

Wetland class” means a description of vegetation habitat based on the predominant life forms that occupy a particular layer of vegetation and possess an aerial coverage of thirty percent or greater of the entire wetland. The basis for these descriptive classes is derived from the Wetlands Taxonomic Classification System of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Cowardin et al., 1979).

Wetland, contiguous” means wetland systems connected by hydric soils or a significant surface water connection. For purposes of this title, wetlands will not be considered contiguous if the only hydrologic connection is a Category I, II or III stream, or if the wetlands had historically been connected but are now separated by a legal fill or culvert which is one hundred feet or more in length.

Wetland edge” means the line delineating the outer edge of a wetland established by using the Washington State Wetlands Identification and Delineation Manual (Ecology Publication No. 96-94, 1997).

Wetland, estuarine” means a tidal fringe wetland found along the mouth of a river and influenced by tidal activity. Water flows and depths are controlled by tidal cycles in the adjacent ocean. Estuarine wetlands have a salinity higher than 0.5 parts per thousand.

Wetland mitigation bank” means a site where wetlands are restored, created, enhanced, or, in exceptional circumstances, preserved, expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation in advance of authorized impacts to similar resources. Banks typically involve the consolidation of many small wetland mitigation projects into a larger, potentially more ecologically valuable site. Such consolidation encourages greater diversity of habitat and wetland functions. It also helps create more sustainable systems. Banks provide a greater likelihood of success over permittee-responsible mitigation projects, since the banks are up and running before unavoidable damage occurs to a wetland(s) at another site.

Wetlands” means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Regulated wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, ponds, bogs and similar areas. Regulated 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 created as mitigation and wetlands modified for approved land use activities shall be considered as regulated wetlands. For identifying and delineating regulated wetlands, the city shall use the Washington State Wetland Identification and Delineation Manual.

Wetlands,” for the purpose of inventory mapping, means lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. Wetlands must have one or more of the following three attributes:

1. At least periodically, the soil supports predominantly hydrophytes;

2. The substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil;

3. The substrate is nonsoil and saturated with water at some time during the growing season of each year.

Wetlands include all areas waterward from the wetland edge. Where the vegetation has been removed, or substantially altered, a wetland shall be determined by the presence or evidence of hydric or organic soils.

Wetlands, emergent” means a regulated wetland that does not qualify as a forested wetland or a scrub-shrub wetland with at least thirty percent of the surface area covered by erect, rooted, herbaceous vegetation as the uppermost vegetative strata.

Wetlands, forested” means a regulated wetland with at least thirty percent of the surface area covered by woody vegetation greater than twenty feet in height.

Wetlands, isolated” means those wetlands which:

1. Are outside of and not contiguous to any one-hundred-year floodplain or riparian corridor of a lake, river, or stream; and

2. Have no contiguous hydric soil or surface water connection between the wetland and another surface water body.

Wetlands, riparian” means those wetlands that generally occur within a riparian corridor that is contiguous to or has a surface hydrologic connection with a stream. Wetlands formed by hillside seeps that are not hydrologically affected by water in a nearby stream are not riparian wetlands. However, wetlands on a hillside may be riparian wetlands if adjacent to a stream that flows down the hillside.

Wetlands, scrub-shrub” means a regulated wetland that does not qualify as a forested wetland with at least thirty percent of its surface area covered by woody vegetation less than twenty feet in height as the uppermost strata. (Ord. 3774-20 § 5(D) (Exh. 3), 2020.)