Chapter 17.08
DEFINITIONS
Sections:
17.08.010 General interpretation.
17.08.010 General interpretation.
A. For the purposes of the UDC, all words shall have their normal and customary meanings, unless specifically defined otherwise in this section. Words used in the present tense shall include the future. The singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular. The word "person" includes a corporation, partnership, association, or organization as well as an individual. The word "shall" is mandatory and the word "may" denotes the use of discretion in making a decision.
B. In the event that a term utilized within the provisions of the Unified Development Code, whether relating to building and construction, zoning, or subdivision of land, is not defined within the municipal code but is defined in the Revised Code of Washington or a provision of the Washington Administrative Code, as on file in the office of the city clerk-treasurer, that definition shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference and shall be applicable to the extent not plainly inconsistent with this section. In the event there are multiple definitions, the administrator shall have the authority to determine the one which is most consistent with the intent and purpose of the particular use. (Ord. 1061 §3, 2005: Ord. 1047 §§2(part), 3(part), 2004).
17.08.020 Definitions.
A. "A" Definitions.
1. "Accessory dwelling unit" means a subordinate dwelling unit with complete, independent living facilities on the same lot or parcel and detached from, attached to, or contained within an existing single-family dwelling.
2. "Accessory structure" means a detached, subordinate building, located on the same lot, the use of which is clearly incidental to that of the principal building or to the principal use of the land. The definition of "accessory structure" does not include metal freight containers or semi-truck trailers, or private garages.
3. "Accessory use" means a use incidental and subordinate to the principal use on the same lot.
4. "Administrator" means the director of community development, or his/her designee.
5. "Adult bookstore" means an establishment having as a substantial or significant portion of its stock-in-trade books, magazines, tapes, or films that are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to sexual activities or anatomical areas. An adult bookstore shall, for the purposes of the UDC, be an adult entertainment business.
6. "Adult entertainment business" means any business which, as a substantial portion of its operations, offers for sale or viewing for any consideration any photographic or film depictions or devices or paraphernalia that depict or are characterized by an emphasis on the depiction, description, or engagement in specified sexual activities or anatomical areas including male or female sexual organs, buttocks, or female’s breasts. For the purposes of this definition, the term "paraphernalia" shall not be deemed to include condoms or other birth control measures.
7. "Adult family home" means the regular family dwelling unit of a person or persons who provide personal care, room, and board to no more than four adults not related by blood or marriage to the person or persons providing the services. An adult family home may have a maximum of six adults if licensed pursuant to Chapter 70.128 RCW by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.
8. Affordable Housing. For renter-occupied housing, affordable housing is when monthly housing costs are thirty-three percent or less of a low- and moderate-income household’s total monthly income. For owner-occupied housing, the cost of an affordable home is three times the annual income of a low- or moderate-income household. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annually establishes "low- and moderate-income" levels for households in Grays Harbor County.
9. "Agriculture" means the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, and animal and poultry husbandry and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating, or storing produce.
10. "Agricultural produce stand" means the display and retail sales of agricultural products produced on the property they are grown on and less than two hundred square feet in area.
11. "Alley" means a public right-of-way affording a secondary means of vehicular access to abutting lots and not intended for general traffic circulation.
12. "Applicant" means any person who files a permit application with the city of Elma and who is either the owner, beneficial owner, contract purchaser, or authorized agent of such owner of the land on which the proposed activity would be located.
13. "Aquifer recharge area" means an area with a critical recharging effect on an aquifer that is vulnerable to contamination and is used as a sole source of potable water supply. Aquifer recharge areas are those areas designated pursuant to:
a. The Federal Safe Drinking Water Act;
b. Chapters 90.44, 90.48 and 90.54 RCW; and
c. Chapters 173-100 and 173-200 WAC.
14. "Automobile service station" means any premises that sells gasoline and other petroleum products and/or conducts light maintenance activities such as engine tune-ups, lubrication, minor repairs, and carburetor cleaning. Service stations shall not include premises for conducting heavy automobile maintenance activities such as engine overhauls, automobile painting, and body fender work.
15. "Automobile heavy maintenance and repair shop" means any premises for conducting heavy automobile maintenance activities such as engine overhauls, automobile painting, and body fender work.
B. "B" Definitions.
1. "Bars and/or cocktail lounges" means any premises selling alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. It shall not mean a premises that sells beverages in conjunction with the sale of food for consumption on the premises.
2. "Bed and breakfast inn" means a dwelling unit that contains no more than three guest rooms where lodging, with or without meals, is provided for compensation.
3. "Binding site plan" means drawing(s) made and approved in accordance with the provisions of Section 16.04.190 of the UDC which contains inscriptions and attachments setting forth such appropriate limitations and conditions for the use of the land as are established by the city, and which contains provisions requiring any development to be in conformance with the site plan.
4. "Block" means a group of lots, tracts, or parcels within well-defined and fixed boundaries.
5. "Boarding house" means an establishment providing long-term lodging for four or more persons where meals are regularly prepared and served for compensation.
6. "Bond" means a form of insurance or financial security provided to guarantee completion of required improvements or maintenance.
7. "Boundary line adjustment" means a division of land for the purpose of alteration by minor adjustment of boundary lines, between platted or unplatted lots or parcels or both, which does not create any additional lot, tract, parcel, site or division nor create any lot, tract, parcel, site or division which:
a. Contains area and dimension not meeting requirements for width and area for a building site;
b. Violates restrictive covenants contained on the face of a final plat, short plat, binding site plan or other land division;
c. Violates conditions of the preliminary plat, short plat, large lot plat, or other land division approval; or
d. Does not have legal access.
8. "Building" means any structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.
9. "Building envelope" means the area of a lot that delineates the limits where a building may locate on the lot.
10. "Building coverage" means the percentage of the lot area that is covered by building area, which includes the total horizontal area when viewed in plan.
11. "Building height" means the vertical distance measured from the highest elevation of the natural grade of the property where the footprint of the building will be located to the highest point of the roof, excluding chimneys and antennas.
12. "Bulk fuel and chemical storage" means the storage of fuel or chemicals in structures or tanks for subsequent wholesale distribution or sale.
"C" Definitions.
1. "Cemeteries" means land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for cemetery purposes, including columbariums, crematories, mausoleums, and mortuaries when operated in conjunction with and within the boundaries of such cemetery.
2. "City" means city of Elma.
3. "Clear vision triangle" means an area maintained for vision safety purposes lying between the front lot line and the side lot line adjacent to a street and a line connecting points of these lot lines thirty feet from their intersection.
4. "Cluster development" means a development design technique that concentrates buildings in specific areas on a site to allow the remaining land for use as recreation, common open space, and protected critical areas.
5. "Commercial recreation areas/facilities" means an area operated for profit and devoted to facilities and equipment for recreational purposes, including swimming pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, and similar uses whether the use of such area is limited to private membership or whether open to the public upon payment of a fee.
6. "Commercial use" means an occupation, employment, or enterprise carried on for profit by an owner, lessee or licensee.
7. "Community facilities" means any use of land, water, or building by the city of Elma for providing services to the public, including, but not limited to, administrative offices, police stations, fire stations, community centers, parks, libraries and the like.
8. "Conditional use" means a use allowed in one or more zones but which, because of characteristics peculiar to such use, the size, technological processes or equipment, or because of the exact location with reference to surroundings, streets and existing improvements or demands upon public facilities, requires a special permit in order to provide a particular degree of control to make such uses consistent and compatible with other existing or permissible uses in the same zone(s).
9. "Condominium" means the division of a building or land pursuant to the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, Chapter 64.32 RCW, or to the Condominium Act, Chapter 64.32 RCW.
10. "Conservation areas" means lands within the city of Elma that consist of critical areas, undeveloped areas, land used for agricultural purposes, undeveloped shorelines to water bodies, and places of cultural or aesthetic importance with or without buildings.
11. "Contractor yards" means a service establishment primarily engaged in general contracting or subcontracting in the building construction trades. These include administrative offices, workshops, and the indoor or outdoor storage of tools, equipment, materials and vehicles.
12. "County auditor" as defined in Chapter 36.22 RCW or the office or person assigned such duties in Grays Harbor County.
13. "County treasurer" as defined in Chapter 36.29 RCW or the office or the person assigned such duties in Grays Harbor County.
14. "Critical areas" means and includes the following areas and ecosystems as defined in RCW 36.70A.030 and WAC 365-195-200:
a. Wetlands;
b. Areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water;
c. Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas;
d. Frequently flooded areas; and
e. Geologically hazardous areas.
D. "D" Definitions.
1. "Day care center" means an agency that regularly provides care for a group of children for periods of less than twenty-four hours (RCW 74.15.020).
2. "Dedication" means the deliberate appropriation of land by an owner for any general and public uses, reserving to himself or herself no other rights than such as are compatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public uses to which the property has been devoted. The intention to dedicate shall be evidenced by the owner by the presentment for filing of a final plat or short plat showing the dedication thereon; and, the acceptance by the public shall be evidenced by the approval of such plat for filing by the appropriate governmental unit.
3. "Density" means the number of dwelling units permitted per acre of land, excluding streets and easements and critical areas. Critical areas shall be excluded in accordance with critical areas density calculations (UDC 6.071 and Section 17.28.071).
4. "Drive-in restaurant" means a retail outlet that sells food or beverages for consumption to customers in motor vehicles.
5. "Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms physically arranged so as to create an independent housekeeping establishment for occupancy by one household with separate toilet(s) and facilities for cooking and sleeping.
"E" Definitions.
1. "Easement" means a right granted by a property owner to specifically named parties or to the general public for the use of certain areas or strips of land for particular purposes. Where appropriate to the context, easement may also refer to the land covered by the rights granted. This may include pedestrian paths, bicycle paths, utility easements, drainage, open space, etc.
"F" Definitions.
1. "Family day care center" means a child daycare provider who regularly provides child day care for not more than twelve children in the provider’s home in the family living quarters (RCW 74.15.020).
2. "Final plat" means the final drawing of the subdivision and dedication prepared for filing for record with the county auditor and containing all elements and requirements set forth in this chapter and in local regulations adopted under this chapter.
3. "Fish and wildlife habitat area" means land managed for maintaining species in suitable habitats within their natural geographic distribution so that isolated subpopulations are not created. This does not mean maintaining all individuals of all species at all times, but it does mean cooperative and coordinated land use planning is critically important among counties and cities in a region. In some cases, intergovernmental cooperation and coordination may show that it is sufficient to assure that a species will usually be found in certain regions across the state. Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas include areas with which endangered, threatened, and sensitive species have a primary association; waters of the state; state natural area preserves and natural conservation areas; and streams and rivers planted with game fish by a governmental agency.
4. "Floodway" means those portions of the area 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. The floodway shall not include those lands that can reasonably be expected to be protected from floodwaters by flood control devices maintained by or maintained under license from the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state.
5. "Floor area" means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the floors of a building or buildings, measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls and from the center line of division walls. Floor area shall include basements, elevator shafts and stairwells at each floor, mechanical equipment rooms or attic spaces with headroom of seven feet six inches or more, penthouse floors, interior balconies and mezzanines, and enclosed porches. Accessory water tanks, cooling towers, mechanical equipment or attic spaces with headroom less than seven feet six inches, exterior steps or stairs, terraces, breezeways, and open spaces are not included in calculating floor area.
6. "Frequently flooded areas" means lands in the flood plain subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. These areas include, but are not limited to, streams, rivers, lakes, coastal areas, wetlands and the like. The one hundred-year flood plain designations of the National Flood Insurance Program delineate the presence of frequently flooded areas.
7. "Forest practices" means any activity conducted on or directly pertaining to forest land and relating to growing or harvesting timber, or the processing of timber on a harvest site for less than thirty days per calendar year, including but not limited to, road and trail construction and maintenance; harvest, final and intermediate; pre-commercial thinning; reforestation; fertilization; prevention and suppression of diseases and insects; salvage of trees; and brush control. Chapter 76.09 RCW, the Washington State Forest Practices Act, and Chapter 222 WAC, regulate forest practices.
"G" Definitions.
1. "Geologically hazardous areas" means areas that because of the susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events, are not generally suited to locating commercial, residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or safety concerns. Geologically hazardous areas are characterized by slopes greater than fifteen percent and known erosion, landslides, settling, rock slide, debris flow and/or seismic hazards as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.
"H" Definitions.
1. "Hearing examiner" means the hearing examiner for the city of Elma, as provided in Chapter 2.20 of the Elma Municipal Code.
2. "Home occupations" means any commercial use conducted as an accessory use within a dwelling unit or accessory structure and which does not alter the exterior of the property or affect the residential character of the neighborhood.
3. "Hospital" means an institution specialized in giving clinical, temporary, and emergency services of a medical or surgical nature to human patients and injured persons, and licensed by state law to provide facilities in surgery, obstetrics, and general medical practice.
4. "Hotel or motel" means an establishment offering transient lodging accommodations to the general public and providing additional services, such as restaurants, meeting rooms, and recreational facilities.
5. "Household" means a number of individuals living together in a dwelling unit not exceeding the maximum occupant load permitted by the building code.
6. "Housing for the elderly" means a building or group of buildings containing dwellings where the occupancy of the dwellings is restricted to persons sixty years of age or older or couples where either spouse is sixty years of age or older. This does not include a development that contains convalescent or nursing facilities.
I. "I" Definitions.
1. "Impervious cover" means any structure, surface or improvement that reduces and/or prevents absorption of storm water into land. Porous paving, paver blocks, gravel, crushed stone, crushed shell, elevated structures (including boardwalks) and other similar structures, surfaces or improvements are considered impervious cover. Grass, lawns or any other vegetation are not considered impervious cover.
2. "Industrial park" means a planned, coordinated development of a tract of land with two or more separate industrial buildings. Such development is planned, designed, constructed, and managed on an integrated and coordinated basis with special attention given to on-site vehicular circulation, parking, utility needs, building design and orientation, and open space.
3. "Industry, heavy" means a use engaged in the basic processing and manufacturing of materials or products predominately from extracted or raw materials, or a use engaged in storage of or manufacturing processes using flammable or explosive materials, or storage or manufacturing processes that potentially involve hazardous conditions.
4. "Industry, light" means a use engaged in the manufacture, predominately from previously prepared materials, of finished products or parts, including processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment, packaging, incidental storage, and sales, and distribution of such products, but excluding basic industrial processing.
"J" Definitions.
"K" Definitions.
1. "Kennel" means a business for housing dogs, cats, or other household pets that may include grooming, breeding, boarding, training, or the selling of animals.
L. "L" Definitions.
1. "Land division" means the process by which individual lots, parcels, or tracts are created. Land divisions include, but are not limited to, short plats, long plats, and binding site plans.
2. "Life care facility" means a facility for the transitional residency of elderly and/or disabled persons, progressing from independent living in single-family dwelling units to congregate apartment living where residents share common meals and culminating in a full health and continuing care nursing home facility.
3. "Livestock, large" means cattle, horses, and other livestock generally weighing over five hundred pounds.
4. "Livestock, small" means hogs, excluding pigs not weighing more than one hundred twenty pounds and standing twenty inches or less at the shoulder, which are kept as household pets or small animals, sheep, goats, miniature horses, llamas, alpaca, and other livestock generally weighing under five hundred pounds.
5. "Lot" means a fractional part of divided lands having fixed boundaries, being of sufficient area and dimension to meet minimum zoning requirements for width and area. The term shall include tracts or parcels.
6. "Lot area" means the total horizontal area within the lot lines of a lot.
7. "Lot coverage" means the percentage of lot area that is covered by building area and impervious cover.
8. "Lot, corner" means a platted lot abutting two road rights-of-way at their intersection.
9. Lot, Interior. An interior lot is a lot other than a corner lot.
10. "Lot line" means the boundary line of a lot.
11. "Lot line, front" means, on an interior lot, the lot line abutting a street; or, on a corner lot, the shorter lot line abutting a right-of-way.
12. "Lot of record" means a lot whose existence, location, and dimensions have been legally recorded or registered in a deed or plat.
13. "Lot width" means the horizontal distance between side lot lines abutting a street.
"M" Definitions.
1. "Manufactured home" means a single-family dwelling unit constructed after June 15, 1976, in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements for manufactured housing, and bearing the appropriate insignia indicating such compliance. It is a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities.
2. "Manufactured home, designated" means a manufactured home constructed after June 15, 1976, in accordance with state and federal requirements for manufactured homes, which: 1) is comprised of at least two fully. enclosed parallel sections each of not less than twelve feet wide by thirty-six feet long; 2) was originally constructed with and now has a composition or wood shake or shingle, coated metal, or similar roof of not less than 3:12 pitch; 3) has exterior siding similar in appearance to siding materials commonly used on conventional site-built uniform building code single-family dwelling units; and 4) has skirting that either matches the exterior siding or a masonry perimeter foundation.
3. "Manufactured home park" means a site under single ownership and control that contains spaces with required improvements and utilities that is leased for the long-term placement of manufactured homes and that may include services and facilities for residents.
4. "Medical clinic" means a building designed and used for the diagnosis and treatment of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities.
5. "Mineral extraction" means the removal of naturally occurring materials from the earth for economic use. Extraction materials include nonmetallic minerals such as sand, gravel, clay, coal and stone.
6. "Mineral resource land" means an area that include gravel, sand and valuable metallic substances.
7. "Multi-family dwelling" means a building, or portion thereof, used for occupancy by three or more households living independently of each other and containing three or more dwelling units.
"N" Definitions.
1. "Non-commercial recreation areas/facilities" means areas, facilities, and/or equipment maintained and operated by the city of Elma or a nonprofit organization for public recreational purposes, including but not limited to parks, swimming pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, golf courses, natural areas and other similar uses.
2. "Nonconforming structure" means any structure that does not meet the minimum requirements for height or location for its land use district but which complied with applicable regulations at the time the use was established.
3. "Nonconforming lot" means a lawfully established lot of record that does not comply with the lot width or area requirements for its land use district but which complied with applicable regulations at the time the use was established.
4. "Nonconforming use" means a lawfully established use that does not comply with the use regulations for its land use district but which complied with applicable regulations at the time the use was established.
"O" Definitions.
1. "Office park" means a large tract of land that has been planned, developed, and operated as an integral facility for a number of separate office buildings and supporting ancillary uses with special attention given to circulation, parking, utility needs, aesthetics, and compatibility.
2. "Off-site" means areas separate from the project site, not including streets located on the perimeter of the project site.
3. "Open record public hearing" means a hearing, conducted by a single hearing body or officer authorized by the city of Elma to conduct such hearings that creates the city’s record through testimony and submittal of evidence and information, under procedures prescribed by ordinance or resolution. An open record hearing may be held before the city’s decision on a project permit to be known as an "open-record pre-decision hearing." An open-record hearing may be held on an appeal, to be known as an "open-record appeal hearing," if no open-record pre-decision hearing has been held on the project permit (RCW 36.70B.020(3)).
4. "Ordinary high water mark" means the mark on all lakes, streams, and tidal water 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, in respect to vegetation as that condition exists on June 1, 1971, as it may naturally change thereafter, or as it may change thereafter in accordance with permits issued by a local government or the department; provided that in any area where the ordinary high water mark cannot be found, the ordinary high water mark adjoining fresh water shall be the line of mean high water.
5. "Outdoor sales" means the selling of any goods, materials, merchandise, or vehicles for more than twenty-four consecutive hours, in an area open to the sky and/or visible from adjacent properties or rights-of-way. The display of said goods, materials, merchandise, or vehicles shall, for the purpose of the UDC, constitute selling.
6. "Outdoor storage" means the keeping, in an unroofed area, of any goods, junk, material, merchandise, or vehicles in the same place for more than twenty-four hours.
7. "Owner" means the owner of record as determined by the records of the assessor, provided that the owner under a real estate contract is the purchaser-vendee and the owner of mortgaged property is the mortgagor.
"P" Definitions.
1. "Parking lot" means a tract of land used for the temporary parking of motor vehicles when such use is not accessory to any other use.
2. "Parking, RV and boat" means a tract of land used for the short- or long-term parking of recreational vehicles and boats, including with or without covered stalls or garages.
3. "Parking, shared" means the development and use of parking areas on separate properties for joint use by two or more businesses.
4. "Parking space" means an unobstructed space or area other than a street or alley permanently reserved and maintained for the parking of one motor vehicle. The angle of a parking space is measured from centerline of the parking space and the centerline of the aisle.
5. "Permitted use" means a use by right that is specifically authorized in a particular land use district.
6. "Person" means every person, firm, partnership, association, social or fraternal organization, corporation, estate, trust, receiver, syndicate, branch of government, or any other group or combination acting as a unit.
7. "Personal services" means establishments that may include beauty parlors, shops or salons; barbershops; health clubs; martial arts studios; electrolysis services; manicurists; and the like.
8. "Personal wireless services" means any of the technologies as defined by Section 704(a)(7)(c)(i) of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 or Chapter 80.36 RCW, including, Cellular, PCS, Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio (ESMR), Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR), and Paging.
9. "Personal wireless services facilities" means any unstaffed facility for the transmission and/or reception of personal wireless services.
10. "Places of religious worship" means institutions that people regularly attend to participate in or hold religious services, meetings and other activities.
11. "Planning commission" means the body as defined in Chapter 35A.63 RCW as designated by the Elma City Council to perform a planning function or that body assigned such duties and responsibilities.
12. "Plat" means a map or representation of a subdivision, showing thereon the division of a tract or parcel of land into lots, blocks, streets and alleys, or other divisions and dedications.
13. "Preliminary plat" means a neat and approximate drawing of a proposed subdivision showing the general layout of streets and alleys, lots, blocks and other elements of a subdivision consistent with the requirements of this chapter. The preliminary plat shall be the basis for the approval or disapproval of the general layout of a subdivision.
14. "Principal building" means a building that serves the principal use of the lot on which it is located.
15. "Principal use" means the primary or predominant use of any lot.
16. "Private clubs and fraternal organizations" means buildings or facilities owned or operated by a corporation, association, or persons for a social, educational, or recreational purpose; but not primarily for profit or to render a service that is customarily carried on as a business.
17. "Private garage" means a detached structure used for the storage of private vehicles, which is not used for commercial purposes, and which shares no common wall with another structure, except an accessory structure.
18. "Professional offices" means establishments engaged in providing services in accounting, advertising, architecture, art, banking, dentistry, engineering, finance and securities investments, interior design, insurance, landscape architecture, law, medicine, music, planning, real estate and any similar type of business.
19. "Project permit or project permit application" means any land use or environmental permit or license required from the city of Elma for a project action, including but not limited to land divisions, conditional use permits, variances, shoreline substantial development permits (including shoreline conditional uses and variances), permits for uses subject to performance standards (provisional uses), site-specific redesignations, temporary use permits, and permits or approvals required by critical area ordinances. Determinations of completeness and other such administrative approvals are reviewed as part of the underlying project permit. Building and other construction-type development permits and approvals are not "project permits" for the UDC.
20. "Public and private schools" means facilities that provide a curriculum of elementary and secondary academic instruction, including kindergarten, elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools.
21. "Public meeting" means an informal meeting, hearing, workshop or other public gathering of people to obtain comments from the public or other agencies on a proposed project permit before the city of Elma’s decision on the permit. A public meeting does not include an open record hearing. The proceedings at a public meeting may be recorded and a report or recommendation may be included in the project permit application file.
22. "Public utilities" means facilities that serve the general public including streets, roads, sidewalks, street lighting systems, traffic signals, water systems, stormwater systems, sewer systems, natural gas delivery systems, and electrical systems.
"Q" Definitions.
1. "Qualified expert" means a person preparing a technical assessment who has expertise appropriate to the relevant critical area. Expertise shall consist of professional credentials and/or certification, any advanced degrees earned in the pertinent scientific discipline from a recognized university, the number of years of experience in the pertinent scientific discipline, recognized leadership in the discipline of interest, formal training in the specific area of expertise, and field and/or laboratory experience with evidence of the ability to produce peer-reviewed publications or other professional literature. Geologists preparing technical assessments shall meet the requirements of a licensed geologist under Chapter 18.220 RCW.
"R" Definitions.
1. "Recreational vehicle" means a vehicle fitting within the definition provided by Washington Administrative Code Section 296-150R-0020, which shall be deemed to be adopted by this reference, as now existing or hereafter amended or succeeded.
2. "Recreational vehicle park" means land under unified control and single ownership designed and improved to accommodate the temporary parking of two or more recreation vehicles. For the purpose of this definition, recreational vehicle park will include the term "campgrounds" and "temporary parking" shall mean placement of a recreational vehicle on a single site for one hundred eighty days or less in any twelve-month period.
3. "Restaurants" means an establishment that serves food and beverages primarily to people seated within a building.
4. "Retail sales" means establishments primarily engaged in selling finished products to individual consumers, such as apparel, book, grocery, gift and video rental stores.
5. "Right-of-way" means an area or strip of land, either public or private, on which an irrevocable right-of-passage has been recorded for the use of vehicles, pedestrians, railroad or utilities.
"S" Definitions.
1. "Self-service storage facilities" means a building or group of buildings that have small, self-contained units that lease or rent storage spaces for business and household goods.
2. "Shorelands" or "shoreland areas" means those lands extending landward for two hundred feet in all directions as measured on a horizontal plane from the ordinary high water mark; floodways and contiguous floodplain areas landward two hundred feet from such floodways; and all wetlands and river deltas associated with the streams, lakes, and tidal waters which are subject to the provisions of this chapter; the same to be designated as to location by the Department of Ecology. Any county or city may determine that portion of a one-hundred-year floodplain to be included in its master program as long as such portion includes, as a minimum, the floodway and the adjacent land extending landward two hundred feet therefrom.
3. "Shoreline development" means any activity consisting of the construction or exterior alteration of structures; dredging; drilling; dumping; filling; removal of any sand, gravel, or minerals; bulkheading; driving of piling; placing of obstructions; or any project of a permanent or temporary nature which interferes with the normal public use of the surface of the waters overlying lands at any state of water level.
4. "Shoreline master program" means the city of Elma shoreline master program.
5. "Shorelines" means all of the water areas of the state, including reservoirs, and their associated shorelands, together with the lands underlying them; except (a) shorelines of statewide significance; (b) shorelines on segments of streams upstream of a point where the mean annual flow is twenty cubic feet per second or less and the wetlands associated with such upstream segments; and (c) shorelines on lakes less than twenty acres in size and wetlands associated with such small lakes.
6. "Shoreline substantial development" means any development, of which the total cost or fair market value exceeds five thousand dollars, or any development that materially interferes with the normal public use of the water or shorelines of the state. The following shall not be considered substantial developments for the purpose of the UDC:
a. Normal maintenance or repair of existing structures or developments, including damage by accident, fire, or the elements;
b. Construction of the normal protective bulkhead common to single-family residences;
c. Emergency construction necessary to protect property from damage by the elements;
d. Construction and practices normal or necessary for farming, irrigation, and ranching activities, including agricultural service roads and utilities on shorelands, and the construction and maintenance of irrigation structures including but not limited to head gates, pumping facilities, and irrigation channels. A feedlot of any size, all processing plants, other activities of a commercial nature, alteration of the contour of the shorelands by leveling or filling other than that which results from normal cultivation, shall not be considered normal or necessary farming or ranching activities. A feedlot shall be an enclosure or facility used or capable of being used for feeding livestock hay, grain, silage, or other livestock feed, but shall not include land for growing crops or vegetation for livestock feeding and/or grazing, nor shall it include normal livestock wintering operations;
e. Construction or modification of navigational aids such as channel markers and anchor buoys;
f. Construction on shorelands by an owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of a single-family residence for his own use or for the use of his or her family, which residence does not exceed a height of thirty-five feet above average grade level and which meets all requirements of the state agency or local government having jurisdiction thereof, other than requirements imposed pursuant to this chapter;
g. Construction of a dock, including a community dock, designed for pleasure craft only, for the private noncommercial use of the owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of single- and multiple-family residences. This exception applies if either: (i) in salt waters, the fair market value of the dock does not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars; or (ii) in fresh waters, the fair market value of the dock does not exceed ten thousand dollars, but if subsequent construction having a fair market value exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars occurs within five years of completion of the prior construction, the subsequent construction shall be considered a substantial development for the purpose of this chapter;
h. Operation, maintenance, or construction of canals, waterways, drains, reservoirs, or other facilities that now exist or are hereafter created or developed as a part of an irrigation system for the primary purpose of making use of system waters, including return flow and artificially stored ground water for the irrigation of lands;
i. The marking of property lines or corners on state-owned lands, when such marking does not significantly interfere with normal public use of the surface of the water;
j. Operation and maintenance of any system of dikes, ditches, drains, or other facilities existing on September 8, 1975, which were created, developed, or utilized primarily as a part of an agricultural drainage or diking system;
k. Site exploration and investigation activities that are prerequisite to preparation of an application for development authorization under the UDC, if:
i. The activity does not interfere with the normal public use of the surface waters;
ii. The activity will have no significant adverse impact on the environment including, but not limited to, fish, wildlife, fish or wildlife habitat, water quality, and aesthetic values;
iii. The activity does not involve the installation of a structure, and upon completion of the activity the vegetation and land configuration of the site are restored to conditions existing before the activity;
iv. A private entity seeking development authorization under this section first posts a performance bond or provides other evidence of financial responsibility to the local jurisdiction to ensure that the site is restored to preexisting conditions; and
v. The activity is not subject to the permit requirements of RCW 90.58.550;
l. The process of removing or controlling an aquatic noxious weed, as defined in RCW 17.26.020, through the use of an herbicide or other treatment methods applicable to weed control that are recommended by a final environmental impact statement published by the Department of Agriculture or the Department of Ecology jointly with other state agencies under Chapter 43.21C RCW.
7. "Short plat" means a map or representation of a short subdivision.
8. "Short subdivision" means the division or redivision of land into nine or fewer lots, tracts, parcels, sites, or divisions for the purpose of sale, lease, or transfer of ownership.
9. "Sign" means any structure or device designed or intended to convey information to the public in written or pictorial form.
10. "Sign area" means the entire area within a continuous perimeter, enclosing the extreme limits of sign display, including any frame or border. Curved, spherical, or any other shaped sign face shall be computed on the basis of actual surface area. The copy of signs composed of individual letters, numerals, or other devices shall be the sum of the area of the smallest rectangle or other geometric figure encompassing each of said letters or devices. The calculation for a double-faced sign shall be the area of one face only. A double-faced sign is a sign that has the perimeter of both faces coincide and are parallel and not more than twenty-four inches apart.
11. "Sign, commercial" means a sign that directs attention to a business or profession, to a commodity or service sold, offered, or manufactured, or to an entertainment offered on the premises where the sign is located.
12. "Sign, freestanding" means a sign supported by one or more upright poles, columns, or braces placed in or on the ground and not attached to any building or structure.
13. "Sign, off-premises" means a sign that identifies or communicates a commercial or noncommercial message related to an activity conducted, a service rendered, or a commodity sold at a location other than where the sign is located.
14. "Sign, portable" means a sign, commonly known as a "sandwich sign," that is not permanently affixed to a building, other unmovable structure, or the ground.
15. "Sign, projecting" means any sign other than a wall sign that is attached to and projects from the wall or face of a building or structure.
16. "Sign, roof" means any sign erected upon, against, or directly above a roof eave, or on top of or above the parapet, or on a functional architectural feature above the roof or roof eave.
17. "Sign, temporary" means a display, informational sign, banner, or other advertising device intended for a limited period of display.
18. "Sign, wall" means any sign painted on the outside of or attached to a building.
19. "Sign, window" means a sign painted, stenciled, or affixed to a window that is visible from the right-of-way.
20. "Single-family dwelling, attached" means a building containing dwelling units, each of which has primary ground floor access to the outside and which is a minimum of eight hundred square feet, and are attached to each other by party walls without openings. Examples of attached single-family dwelling units include townhouses, condominiums, and duplexes.
21. "Single-family dwelling, detached" means a residential building which is a minimum of eight hundred square feet, and containing not more than one dwelling unit entirely surrounded by open space on the same lot. Only one detached single-family residence may locate on a lot.
22. "Slope" means the horizontal distance divided into the average vertical rise over that distance.
23. "State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA)" means the environmental review process as provided by Chapter 43.21C RCW and Chapter 197-11 WAC.
24. "Street" means a public or private thoroughfare used, or intended to be used, for passage or travel by vehicles.
25. "Street, private" means a privately owned thoroughfare open to vehicular ingress and egress established as a separate tract for the benefit of certain adjacent properties. This definition shall not apply to driveways.
26. "Structure" means anything constructed or erected that requires permanent location on or in the ground or attachment to something having location on or in the ground. A building is always a structure; a structure may or may not be a building. For the purposes of the UDC, the term "structure" shall not be construed to include any roadway, driveway, at-grade paved parking lot, parking garage, patio, or courtyard, or any other paved surface, or swimming pool.
27. "Subdivision" means the division or redivision of land into ten or more lots, tracts, parcels, sites, or divisions for the purpose of sale, lease, or transfer of ownership.
"T" Definitions.
1. "Tavern" means any establishment serving alcoholic beverages in which the principal business is the sale of such beverages at retail for consumption on the premises and where sandwiches and snacks are available for consumption on the premises.
2. "Theater" means a building or part of a building, devoted to showing motion pictures, or for dramatic, musical, or live performances.
3. "Truck and heavy equipment repair" means any premise for conducting truck and heavy equipment maintenance and repair activities.
"U" Definitions.
1. "Use" means the purpose that land or structures now serve or for which they are occupied, maintained, arranged, designed or intended.
"V" Definitions.
"W" Definitions.
1. "Warehousing and distribution" means a use engaged in storage, wholesaling, and distribution of manufactured products, supplies and equipment, but excluding bulk storage of materials that are inflammable or explosive.
2. "Wetland or 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, grasslined 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.
3. "Wholesale sales" means the sale of goods or commodities usually in bulk or large quantities and usually at a lower cost to a retailer for resale. Such sales activity takes place in establishments or places of business primarily engaged in selling merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional, or professional business users; or to other wholesalers, or acting as agents or brokers and buying merchandise for, or selling merchandise to, such individuals or companies.
4. "Wrecking or junk yards" means any premises devoted to the dismantling or wrecking of motor vehicles or trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled or wrecked vehicles or their parts.
"X" Definitions.
"Y" Definitions.
1. "Yard" means any open space located on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground up, except for accessory structures, or such projections as are expressly permitted under the UDC. The minimum depth or width of a yard shall consist of the horizontal distance between the lot line and the nearest point of the foundation wall of the main building.
2. "Yard, front" means a yard extending the full length of a front lot line and to the minimum depth required by the applicable land use district. Front-yard depth shall be measured at right angles to the front lot line.
3. "Yard, rear" means a yard extending across the full length of a rear lot line and to the minimum depth required by the applicable land use district. Rear-yard depth shall be measured at right angles to the rear lot line.
4. "Yard, side" means a yard extending from a side lot line between the front and rear yards and to a minimum depth required by the applicable land use district. Side-yard depth shall be measured at right angles to a side lot line.
"Z" Definitions. (Ord. 1195 §2 (Att. A), 2021; Ord. 1168 §2, 2018; Ord. 1061 §4, 2005; Ord. 1055 §§2, 3, 2004; Ord. 1047 §§2(part), 3(part), 2004).