Chapter 18.08
DEFINITIONS
Sections:
18.08.010 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
“Accessory” means a use, building, or structure, part of a building or other structure which is subordinate to and the use of which is incidental to that of the main building, structure or use on the same lot, including a private garage.
“Accessory living quarters” means living quarters within an accessory building for the sole use of the family or of persons employed on the premises, or for the temporary use of guests of the occupants of the premises. Such quarters have no kitchen facilities and are not rented or otherwise used as a separate dwelling unit. The term “accessory living quarters” includes “guest house.”
“Advance mitigation” means mitigation of an anticipated critical area impact or hazard completed according to an approved critical area report and prior to site development.
“Agricultural activities, existing and ongoing” means those activities conducted on lands defined in RCW 84.34.020(2), and those activities involved in the production of crops and livestock, including but not limited to operation, maintenance and conservation measures of farm and stock ponds or drainage ditches, irrigation systems, changes between agricultural activities, and normal operation, maintenance or repair of existing serviceable structures, facilities or improved areas. Activities which bring an area into agricultural use are not part of an ongoing activity. An operation ceases to be ongoing when the area in which it was conducted is proposed for conversion to a nonagricultural use or has lain idle for a period of longer than five years, unless the idle land is registered in a federal or state soils conversation program. Forest practices are not included in this definition.
“Agricultural lands” means those lands not already characterized by urban growth and are of long-term significance for the commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy, apiary, vegetable, and animal products, or the food and fiber for the consumption of livestock, or other products and processes normally associated with farming.
“Airport, heliport, or aircraft landing field” means any runway, landing area or other facility whether publicly or privately owned and operated, and which is designed, used or intended to be used either by public carriers or by private aircraft for landing and taking off of aircraft, including all necessary taxiways, aircraft storage and tie-down areas, hangars and other necessary buildings and open spaces, but not including manufacturing, servicing or testing facilities located in the vicinity of any landing area associated with the manufacturing or testing of commercial or military aircraft or activities associated therewith.
“Alley” means a public thoroughfare or way which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
“Alteration, critical area” means any human-induced change in an existing condition of a critical area or its buffer. Alterations include, but are not limited to, grading, filling, channelizing, dredging, clearing (vegetation), construction, compaction, excavation or any other activity that changes the character of the critical area.
“Alterations” means a change or rearrangement of the structural parts or exit facilities, or an enlargement by extending the sides or increasing the height or depth, or the moving from one location to another. In buildings for business, commercial or similar uses, the installation or rearrangement of partitions affecting more than one-third of a single floor area shall be considered an alteration.
“Amendment” means a change in the working, context or substance of this title; a change in the zone boundaries upon zoning maps adopted hereunder.
“Apartment” means a room or suite of two or more rooms in a multifamily dwelling or in any other building not a single-family dwelling or a two-family dwelling occupied or suitable for occupancy as a dwelling unit for one family.
“Apartment house” means a building or a portion of a building, designed for occupancy by three or more families living independently of each other in three or more dwelling units.
“Applicant” means a person who files an application for a permit under this title and who is either the owner of the land on which that proposed activity would be located, a lessee of the land, the person who would actually control and direct the proposed activity or the authorized agent of such person.
“Aquifer recharge areas” are areas having a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water where an aquifer that is a source of drinking water is vulnerable to contamination that would affect the certifiable potability of water, or is susceptible to reduced recharge. (WAC 365-190-030).
“Aquifer, sole source” means an area designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, Section 1424(e). The aquifer(s) must supply fifty percent or more of the drinking water for an area without a sufficient replacement available.
“Area of shallow flooding” means an area designated AO, or AH Zone on the flood insurance map(s). The base flood depths range from one to three feet; a clearly defined channel does not exist; the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate; and velocity flow may be evident. AO is characterized as sheet flow and AH indicates ponding.
“Area, site” means the total horizontal area with the property lines excluding external streets.
“Automobile, boat, trailer, and recreational vehicle sales area” means an open area, other than a street, used for the display, sale or rental of new or used automobiles, boats, trailers, or recreational vehicles, and where no repair work is done except minor incidental repair of automobiles, boats, trailers, or recreational vehicles to be sold, displayed, or rented on the premises.
“Base flood” means a flood event having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year, also referred to as the one-hundred-year flood. Designations of base flood areas on flood insurance map(s) always include the letters 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. Sources of best available science are published by the State Department of Commerce.
“Best management practices” means conservation practices or systems of practices and management measures that control soil loss and reduce water quality degradation caused by high concentrations of nutrients, animal waste, toxics, and sediment; minimize adverse impacts to surface water and ground water flow, circulation patterns, and to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of wetlands; protect trees and vegetation designated to be retained during and following site construction; and provide standards for proper use of chemical herbicides within critical areas.
“Building” means any structure having a roof, excluding all forms of vehicles. When a use is required to be within a building, then the term “building” means one so constructed that all exterior walls of the structure shall be solid from the ground to the roof line, and shall contain no openings except for windows and doors which are designed so that they may be closed.
“Building height” means vertical distance from the centerline of building line to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, or the deck line of a mansard roof, or the average height of the highest gable or a pitch or hip roof.
“Building line” means the line of face or corner of a part of a building nearest the property line, and parallel to the property line.
“Building, main” means the principal buildings or other structure on a lot or building site designed or used to accommodate the primary use to which the premises are devoted.
“Business or commerce” means the purchase, sale, offering for sale, or other transaction involving the handling, disposition of any article, service, substance or commodity for livelihood or profit.
“Cargo container” means any container which is of a type commonly manufactured and used for the purpose of containing and/or utilized in the commercial or industrial transport of cargo in conjunction with rail, ships or trucking, whereby the container is customarily transported for the movement of cargo on rail, ships or by trucks.
“Cemetery” means land used or intended to be used for the burial of the human dead and dedicated for cemetery purposes.
“Church” means an establishment, the principal purpose of which is religious worship and for which the principal building or other structure contains the sanctuary or principal place of worship, and including accessory uses in the main building or in separate buildings or structures, including Sunday school rooms and religious education classrooms, assembly rooms, kitchen, library room or reading room, recreational hall, a one-family dwelling unit and residences on the site for nuns and clergy, but excluding facilities for training of religious orders.
“Commission, planning commission” means the Wilbur planning commission.
“Conditional use” means a use permitted in one or more classifications as defined by this title but because of characteristics peculiar to it and the site, requires a special degree of control to make such uses consistent with and compatible to other existing or permissible uses.
“Conditional use permit” means the documented evidence of authority granted by the planning commission to locate a conditional use at a particular location.
“Conforming use” means an activity, the nature and type of which is permitted in the zone in which it is established.
“Conservation easement” means a legal agreement that the property owner enters into to restrict uses of the land. Such restrictions can include, but are not limited to, passive recreation uses such as trails or scientific uses and fences or other barriers to protect habitat. The easement is recorded on a property deed, runs with the land, and is legally binding on all present and future owners of the property, therefore providing permanent or long-term protection.
“Critical aquifer recharge area” means areas designated by WAC 365-190-080(2) that are determined to have a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water as defined by WAC 365-190-030(2).
“Critical areas” include the following:
1. Wetlands;
2. Areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water referred to in this chapter as critical aquifer recharge areas;
3. Fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas;
4. Frequently flooded areas; and
5. Geologically hazardous areas.
“Critical habitat” means habitat necessary for the survival of endangered, threatened, rare, sensitive or monitor species.
“Dangerous waste” means those solid wastes designated in WAC 173-303-070 through 173-303-103 as dangerous or extremely hazardous waste (WAC 173-303-040).
“Data maps” means that series of maps maintained by the town of Wilbur or its referenced repository for the purpose of graphically depicting the boundaries of resource lands and critical areas.
“Day nursery” means a group child day care facility, including nurseries, nursery schools, privately conducted kindergartens, and programs covering after-school care for children.
“Developable area” means a site or portion of a site that may be utilized as the location of development.
“Development” means any activity upon the land consisting of construction or alteration of structures, earth movement, dredging, dumping, grading, filling, mining, removal of any sand, gravel, or minerals, driving of piles, drilling operations, bulkheading, clearing of vegetation, or other land disturbance. Development includes the storage or use of equipment or materials inconsistent with the existing use. Development also includes approvals issued by the town that binds land to specific patterns of use, including, but not limited to, subdivisions, short subdivisions, zone changes, conditional use permits, and binding site plans. Development activity does not include the following activities:
1. Interior building improvements.
2. Exterior structure maintenance activities, including painting and roofing.
3. Routine landscape maintenance of established, ornamental landscaping, such as lawn mowing, pruning and weeding.
4. Maintenance of the following existing facilities that does not expand the affected area: septic tanks (routine cleaning); wells; individual utility service connections; and individual cemetery plots in established and approved cemeteries.
“Dwelling” means a building designed exclusively for residential purposes.
“Dwelling, multifamily” means a building designed exclusively for occupancy by three or more families living independently of each other, and containing two dwelling units.
“Dwelling, one-family” means a detached building designed exclusively for occupancy by one family and containing one dwelling unit.
“Dwelling, two-family (duplex)” means a building designed exclusively for occupancy by two families living independently of each other, and containing two dwelling units.
“Dwelling unit” means one or more rooms occupied by one family and containing kitchen facilities for use solely by one family. All rooms comprising a dwelling unit shall have access through an interior door to other parts of the dwelling unit.
“Erosion hazard areas” 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 coastal erosion-prone areas and channel migration zones.
“Extremely hazardous waste” means those dangerous wastes designated in WAC 173-303-070 through 173-303-103 as extremely hazardous.
“Family” means an individual, or two or more persons related by blood or marriage, or a group of not more than five persons who are not related by blood or marriage.
“Fence” means a wall or barrier for the purpose of enclosing space or separating parcels of land.
“First permitted” refers to the most restricted zone in which a particular use is indicated as a permissible use.
“Flood” or “flooding” means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry lands from the overflow of streams, rivers or other inland water.
“Flood damage” means harmful inundation, water erosion of soil, stream banks and beds, stream channel shifting and changes, harmful deposition by water of eroded and shifting soils and debris upon property or in the beds of streams or other bodies of water, damages by high water to public roads, streets, highways, bridges, utilities, and to works built for protection against floods or inundation, the interruption by floods of travel, communication and commerce, and all other high water influences and results which injuriously affect the public health, and the safety of property.
“Flood hazard district” encompasses the floodplain having special flood hazards, as identified and delineated by the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army or Department of Housing and Urban Development or Soil Conservation Service and the zone is divided into “floodway” and “floodway fringe.”
“Flood insurance map” means the official map on which the Federal Insurance Administration has delineated the areas of special flood hazards and included the risk premium zones applicable to the community. Also known as “flood insurance rate map” or “FIRM.”
“Flood, one-hundred-year” means the highest level of flooding that, on the average, is likely to occur once every one hundred years (i.e., that has a one percent chance of occurring in any one year).
“Floodplain” means the total land area adjoining a river, stream, watercourse or lake subject to inundation by the base flood.
“Floodplain area having special flood hazards” means that maximum area of the floodplain that, on the average, is likely to be flooded once every one hundred years (i.e., that has a one percent chance of being flooded each and any year), and is the area inundated by the intermediate regional flood.
“Floodproofing” means any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes, or adjustments to property and structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to lands, water and sanitary facilities, structures, and contents of buildings.
“Floodway” means the regular river channel which would contain deep or fast-moving water during a one-hundred-year flood. The limits of the floodway fringe of Goose Creek are shown on the supplemental zoning map.
“Floodway fringe” means that portion of the floodplain which would be inundated by a one-hundred-year flood. The limits of the floodway fringe of Goose Creek are shown on the supplemental zoning map.
“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 centerline of division walls. Floor area shall include: basement space, 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, enclosed porches. Accessory water tanks and cooling towers, mechanical equipment or attic spaces with headroom of less than seven feet, six inches, exterior steps or stairs, terraces, breezeways and open spaces shall not be counted.
“Forest lands” means land primarily devoted to growing trees for long-term commercial timber production on land that can be economically and practically managed for such production, including Christmas trees subject to the excise tax imposed under RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, and that has long-term commercial significance. These lands are referred to in this chapter as forest resource lands to distinguish between formally designated lands, and other lands used for forestry purposes.
“Frequently flooded areas” means lands in the floodplain subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year, or within areas subject to flooding due to high ground water. These areas include, but are not limited to, streams, rivers, lakes, coastal areas, wetlands, and areas where high ground water forms ponds on the ground surface.
“Functions and values” means the beneficial roles served by critical areas including, but not limited to, water quality protection and enhancement, fish and wildlife habitat, food chain support, flood storage, conveyance and attenuation, ground water recharge and discharge, erosion control, wave attenuation, protection from hazards, historical and archaeological and aesthetic value protection, and recreation. These beneficial roles are not listed in order of priority.
“Garage, private” means an accessory building or an accessory portion of the main building, designated or used primarily for the shelter or storage of vehicles and/or personal property utilized by the occupants of the main building or buildings located adjacent thereto.
“Garage, public” means a building used for the care, repair or storage of automobiles, or where such vehicles are kept for remuneration, hire, or sale.
“Geologically hazardous areas” are areas that because of their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events, are not suited to siting commercial, residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or safety concerns.
“Grade” means the average of the finished ground level at the center of all exterior walls of a building.
“Ground water” means water in a saturated zone or stratum beneath the surface of land or a surface water body.
“Habitats of local importance” designated as fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas include those areas found to be locally important by counties and cities.
“Hazardous waste” means and includes all dangerous and extremely hazardous waste (RCW 70.105.010).
Height. See “building height.”
“Hospital” means an institution specializing in giving clinical, temporary and emergency services of a medical or surgical nature to human patients and licensed by state law to provide facilities and services.
“Hospital or clinic, small animal” means an establishment in which veterinary medical services, clipping, bathing and similar services are rendered to dogs, cats and other small domestic animals and pets.
“Hotel” means a building in which there are five or more guest rooms where lodging with or without meals is provided for compensation, and where no provision is made for cooking in any individual room or suite, and in which building may be included one apartment for use of the resident manager, but shall not include buildings where human beings are housed or detained under legal restraint.
“Junkyard” means any premises devoted wholly or in part to the storage, buying or selling or otherwise handling or dealing in old rags, sacks, bottles, cans, papers, metal, rubber or other articles commonly known as junk.
“Kennel” means a place where four or more adult dogs or cats or any combination thereof are kept. An adult dog or cat is one of either sex, altered or unaltered, that has reached the age of four months.
“Kitchen” means any room or rooms, or portion of a room or rooms, used or intended to be designed to be used for cooking or the preparation of food.
“Landslide hazard areas” are areas at risk of mass movement due to a combination of geologic, topographic, and hydrologic factors.
“Livestock” means horses, bovine animals, sheep, goats, swine, donkeys and mules.
“Loading space” means a space on the same site with the use served which provides for the temporary parking of a vehicle while loading or unloading merchandise, materials or passengers.
“Long-term commercial significance” means the growing capacity, productivity, and soil composition of the land for long-term commercial production, in consideration with the land’s proximity to population areas, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land. “Long-term commercial significance” means the land is capable of producing the specified natural resources at commercially sustainable levels for at least the twenty-year planning period, if adequately conserved. Designated mineral resource lands of long-term commercial significance may have alternative post-mining land uses, as provided by the Surface Mining Reclamation Act, comprehensive plan and development regulations, or other laws.
“Lot” means a building site that is described by reference to a recorded plat, by metes and bounds, or by section, township and range.
“Lot area” means the total horizontal area within the boundary lines of the lot.
“Lot, corner” means a lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets, the street frontages of which form an angle not greater than one hundred twenty-eight degrees, and not less than forty-five degrees.
“Lot depth” means the mean horizontal dimension of the lot from the front street lot line to the rear lot line.
“Lot front line” means a line separating the lot from the street.
“Lot, interior” means a lot other than a corner lot.
“Lot, rear line” means a lot line(s) which is opposite and most distant from the lot front line and/or is parallel or within forty-five degrees of being parallel to and does not intersect any street line bounding such lot.
“Lot side line” means any lot boundary line not a front line or a rear lot line.
“Lot, through” means a lot having frontage on two streets, including a lot at the intersection of two streets when the side streets of such lot form an internal angle of less than forty-five degrees.
“Lot width” means the mean horizontal distance between the lot side lines.
“Manufactured home” means a structure designed, constructed and built to be transportable in one or more sections and is built on a permanent chassis, and is designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to those utilities required under RCW 46.04.032 and include plumbing, heating and electrical systems. The structure must comply with the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 as adopted under Chapter 43.22 RCW. A commercial coach, recreational vehicle, motor home or a modular home is not a manufactured home.
“Manufactured home (mobile home) park” means a tract of land under single ownership or control upon which manufactured homes occupied as dwellings may be located.
“Manufactured home (mobile home) site” means a plot of ground within a manufactured home park designed to accommodate one manufactured home.
“Mean depth” of a lot is measured on a line approximately perpendicular to the fronting street and midway between side lines.
“Mine hazard areas” are those areas directly underlain by, adjacent to, or affected by mine workings such as adits, tunnels, drifts, or air shafts.
“Mineral resource lands” means those lands not already characterized by urban growth and are of long-term significance for the production or extraction of aggregate and other mineral substances, including sand, gravel, and other valuable metals.
“Mitigation” means an action involving the avoidance, reduction or compensation for possible adverse impacts. In the following order of preference this includes:
1. Avoiding the impacts altogether by not taking action;
2. Reducing or eliminating impacts by preservation or maintenance;
3. Minimizing impacts by limiting degree or magnitude;
4. Rectifying impacts by repairing, rehabilitating or restoring;
5. Compensating for impacts by in-kind replacement; or
6. Monitoring impacts by a planned evaluation process.
“Mobile home” means a single-family residential unit not less than twelve feet wide by fifty feet in length, containing not less than six hundred square feet, designed to be transported after fabrication to a site, ready for occupancy, on a long-term basis and manufactured prior to 1976.
“Mobile home park” means an approved tract where individual lots are designed and intended for use as a mobile home site exclusively, on a long-term basis.
“Modular home (factory-built)” means a structure constructed in a factory of factory-assembled parts and transported to the building site, in whole or in units, which meets the requirements of the most recently adopted edition of the International Building Code. The completed structure is not a manufactured (mobile) home, but is considered a single-family dwelling.
“Monitoring” means evaluating the impacts of development proposals on the biological, hydrological, and geological elements of such systems and assessing the performance of required mitigation measures throughout the collection and analysis of data by various methods for the purpose of understanding and documenting changes in natural ecosystems and features, and includes gathering baseline data.
“Motel” means a group of attached or detached buildings containing individual sleeping units where a majority of such units open individually and directly to the outside.
“Native vegetation” means plant species that are indigenous to the area in question.
“Natural resource lands” means agricultural, forest and mineral resource lands which have long-term commercial significance.
“Nonconforming building” means a building, or portion thereof, which was lawfully erected or altered and maintained but which, because of application of this title, no longer conforms to the use regulations of the zone in which it is located as defined by this title.
“Nonconforming use” means a use which was lawfully established and maintained but which, because of application of this title, no longer conforms to the use regulations of the zone in which it is located as defined by this title.
“Off-site” means hazardous waste treatment and storage facilities that treat and store waste from generators on properties other than those on which the off-site facilities are located.
“Off-site compensation” means to replace critical areas away from the site on which a critical area has been impacted.
“On-site compensation” means to replace critical areas at or adjacent to the site on which a critical area has been impacted.
Outdoor Advertising Display. See “sign.”
“Outdoor advertising structure” means a structure of any kind or character erected or maintained for outdoor advertising purposes, upon which any outdoor advertising display is or can be placed.
“Parcel” means a tract or plat of land of any size which may or may not be subdivided or improved.
“Parking area, private” means an open area other than a street, alley or other public property, limited to the parking of more than four automobiles and is available to the public.
“Parking area, public” means an open area other than a street or alley, whether publicly or privately owned, which is used for the parking of more than four automobiles and is available to the public.
“Parking space” means an area which is improved, maintained and used for the sole purpose of accommodating a motor vehicle.
“Permeability” means the capacity of an aquifer or confining bed to transmit water. It is a property of the aquifer or confining bed and is independent of the force causing movement.
“Planned unit development” means the clustering or arranging of structures and uses on a site to take advantage of natural features or other amenities in a way not otherwise allowed by normal zoning and subdivision procedures, and subject to conditions imposed through detailed site plan review by the planning commission.
“Porous soil types” means soils, as identified by the National Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, which contain voids, pores, interstices or other openings which allow the passing of water.
“Portable structure” means a portable building to be used as a storage shed, garden shed, green house, vehicle/boat storage, etc., that is not set on a permanent foundation and shall remain portable at all times.
“Potable water” means water that is safe and palatable for human use.
“Principal use” means the primary or predominant use to which the property is or may be devoted, and to which all other uses on the premises are accessory.
“Priority habitat” means habitat type or elements with unique or significant value to one or more species as classified by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. A priority habitat may consist of a unique vegetation type or dominant plant species, a described successional stage, or a specific structural element (WAC 173-26-020(34)).
“Project area” means all areas within fifty feet of the area proposed to be disturbed, altered, or used by the proposed activity or the construction of any proposed structures.
“Public facilities” include streets, roads, highways, sidewalks, street and road lighting systems, traffic signals, domestic water systems, storm and sanitary sewer systems, parks and recreational facilities, and schools.
“Public services” include fire protection and suppression, law enforcement, public health, education, recreation, environmental protection, and other governmental services.
“Public utility” means a private business organization such as a public service corporation performing some public service and subject to special governmental regulations, or a governmental agency performing similar public services, the services by either of which are paid for directly by the recipients thereof. Such services shall include, but are not limited to, water supply, electric power, gas and transportation for persons and freight.
“Qualified professional” means a person with experience and training in the applicable critical area. A qualified professional must have obtained a B.S. or B.A. or equivalent degree in biology, engineering, environmental studies, fisheries, geomorphology or related field, and two years of related work experience.
1. A qualified professional for habitats or wetlands must have a degree in biology and professional experience related to the subject species.
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 means a hydrogeologist, geologist, engineer, or other scientist with experience in preparing hydrogeologic assessments.
“Reclassification of property” means a change in zone boundaries upon the zoning map, when adopted in the manner prescribed by law.
“Reclassification of use” means the assignment by amendment of this title, or a particular use to a different use classification than that in which the use was originally permitted.
“Recreational area, commercial” means an area operated for profit and devoted to facilities and equipment for recreational purposes.
“Residence” means a building or structure, or portion thereof, which is designed for and used to provide an abode for human beings.
“Rest home, convalescent home, guest home, home for the aged” means a home operated similarly to a boarding house but not restricted to any number of guests or guest rooms and the operator of which is licensed by the state or county to give nursing, dietary and other personal services as are furnished to convalescents, invalids, and aged persons, but in which homes are kept no persons suffering from a mental illness, mental disease, disorder or ailment, or from a contagious or communicable disease, and in which homes are performed no surgery, maternity or other primary treatments such as customarily performed in sanitariums or hospitals, and in which no persons are kept or served who normally would be admittable to a mental hospital.
“Restoration” means measures taken to restore an altered or damaged natural feature including:
1. Active steps taken to restore damaged wetlands, streams, protected habitat, or their buffers to the functioning condition that existed prior to an unauthorized alteration; and
2. Actions performed to reestablish structural and functional characteristics of the critical area that have been lost by alteration, past management activities, or catastrophic events.
“Roof” means a structural overcovering over any portion of a building or structure, including the projections beyond the walls or supports of the building or structure.
“Schools, elementary, junior high or high” means institutions of learning offering instruction in the several branches of learning and study required by the Educational Code of the State of Washington to be taught in the public and parochial schools.
“Seismic hazard areas” are areas subject to severe risk of damage as a result of earthquake induced ground shaking, slope failure, settlement, soil liquefaction, debris flows, lahars, or tsunamis.
“SEPA” means the Washington State Environmental Policy Act, Chapter 43.21C RCW.
“Special flood hazard areas” means the land in the floodplain within an area subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. Designations of special flood hazard areas on flood insurance map(s) always include the letters A or V.
“Special protection areas” means aquifer recharge areas defined by WAC 173-200-090 that require special consideration or increased protection because of unique characteristics, including, but not limited to:
1. Ground waters that support an ecological system requiring more stringent criteria than drinking water standards;
2. Ground water recharge areas and wellhead protection areas, that are vulnerable to pollution because of hydrogeologic characteristics; and
3. Sole source aquifer status.
“Species, endangered” means any fish or wildlife species that is threatened with extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range and is listed by the state or federal government as an endangered species.
“Species of local importance” means those species of local concern due to their population status or their sensitivity to habitat manipulation, or that are game species.
“Species, priority” means any fish or wildlife species requiring protective measures and/or management guidelines to ensure their persistence as genetically viable population levels as classified by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, including endangered, threatened, sensitive, candidate and monitor species, and those of recreational, commercial, or tribal importance.
“Species, threatened” means any fish or wildlife species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout a significant portion of its range without cooperative management or removal of threats, and is listed by the state or federal government as a threatened species.
“Storage” means the holding of dangerous waste for a temporary period. Accumulation of dangerous waste by the generator on the site of generation is not storage as long as the generator complies with the applicable requirements of WAC 173-303-200 and 173-303-201.
“Story” means that portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it. If there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it shall be considered a story. If the finished floor level directly above the basement or cellar is more than six feet above grade, such basement or cellar shall be considered a story.
“Street” means a public or recorded private thoroughfare which affords primary means of access to abutting property.
“Street line” means the boundary line between a street and the abutting property.
“Structural alterations” means any change in the supporting members of a building or structure.
“Structure” means anything constructed in the ground, or anything erected which requires location on the ground or water, or is attached to something having location on or in the ground, but not including fences less than six feet in height, or paved areas.
“Substantial damage” means damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before-damaged condition would equal or exceed fifty percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
“Substantial improvement” means any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent of the actual cash value of the structure (a) before the improvement is started or (b) if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. Substantial improvement is started when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences.
“Temporary structure” means a structure without foundation or footings and which is removed when the designated time period, activity, or use for which the structure was erected has ceased, which time shall not exceed one year in duration.
“Trailer park, trailer court, and public trailer camp” means a tract designed for the temporary use by recreational vehicles, including trailers, for short-term residential occupancy.
“Treatment” means the physical, chemical, or biological processing of dangerous waste to make such wastes nondangerous or less dangerous, safer for transport, amenable for energy or material resource recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume.
“Unclassified use” means a use possessing characteristics of such unique and special form as to make impractical its being automatically and consistently permissible in any defined classification or zone as set forth in this title.
“Unclassified use permit” means a limiting authority granted by the unclassified use at a particular location, and which limiting authority is required to apply or modify the controls stipulated in this title.
“Unlisted uses” means uses which are not specifically named as permitted in any use classification contained within this chapter.
“Urban growth” means growth that makes intensive use of land for the location of buildings, structures, and impermeable surfaces to such a degree as to be incompatible with the primary use of such land for the production of food, other agricultural products, or fiber, or the extraction of mineral resources. When allowed to spread over wide areas, urban growth typically requires urban governmental services. “Characterized by urban growth” refers to land having urban growth located on it, or to land located in relationship to an area with urban growth on it as to be appropriate for urban growth.
“Use” means the nature of the occupancy, the type of activity, or the character and form of improvements to which land is devoted or may be devoted.
“Variance” means an adjustment in the specific regulations of this title regarding a particular piece of property because it is deprived of the privileges commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same vicinity and zone. This adjustment remedies disparity in privileges.
“Volcanic hazard areas” shall include areas subject to pyroclastic flows, lava flows, and inundation by debris flows, lahars, mudflows, or related flooding resulting from volcanic activity.
“Water surface elevation” means the heights in relation to mean sea level expected to be reached by floods of various magnitudes and frequencies at pertinent points in the floodplains of riverine areas.
“Water table” means that surface in an unconfined aquifer at which the pressure is atmospheric. It is defined by the levels at which water stands in wells that penetrate the aquifer just far enough to hold standing water.
“Well” means a bored, drilled or driven shaft, or a dug hole whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension for the purpose of withdrawing or injecting water or other liquids.
“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 non-wetland sites, 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. However, wetlands may include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from non-wetland areas to mitigate conversion of wetlands.
“Wetland, emergent” means a regulated wetland with at least thirty percent of the surface area covered by erect, rooted, herbaceous vegetation extending above the water surface as the uppermost vegetative strata.
“Wetlands, high-quality” means those wetlands that meet the following criteria:
1. No, or isolated, human alteration of the wetland topography;
2. No human-caused alteration of the hydrology or the wetland appears to have recovered from the alteration;
3. Low cover and frequency of exotic plant species;
4. Relatively little human-related disturbance of the native vegetation, or recovery from past disturbance;
5. If the wetland system is degraded, it still contains a viable and high-quality example of a native wetland community; and
6. No known major water quality problems.
“Wetlands, isolated” means those wetlands that are outside of and not contiguous to any one-hundred-year floodplain of a lake, river, or stream, and have no contiguous hydric soil or hydrophytic vegetation between the wetland and any surface water.
“Works” means any dam, wall, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, revetment, pile, bridge, improved road, abutments, projection, excavation, channel rectification, conduit, culvert, wire, fence, rock, gravel, refuse, fill or other similar development attached to or affixed upon the realty.
“Yard” means an open space other than a court unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward unless specifically permitted in this title.
“Yard, front” means an area extending across the full width of the lot and lying between the front lot line and a line drawn parallel thereto, and at a distance therefrom equal to the required front yard depth.
“Yard, rear” means an unoccupied space extending from the rear lot line to the nearest point of the roofed main building on the lot and including the full width of the lot to its side line.
“Yard, side” means an open area measured from the lot side line toward the center of the lot and extending from the rear line to the front line of the required yard parallel to the lot side line at a distance therefrom equal to the required side yard depth.
“Zone” means area accurately defined as to boundaries and location on an official map and within which area only certain types of land uses are permitted, and within which other types of land uses are excluded. (Ord. 588 §1, 2021; Ord. 452 §22, 2006: Ord. 330 §2, 1998; Ord. 329 §§ 3, 4, 1998; Ord. 318 §§6, 8, 1997; Ord. 303 §2(A), 1996; Ord. 272 §2(part), 1993; Ord. 188-B(part), 1987; Ord. 138-B §1, 1983; Ord. 108-B §2, 1980)