“Adjacent” means within 200 feet of an environmentally critical area, measured from the edge of the environmentally critical area.

“Adjacent wetland” means the entire area of the wetland under consideration and not just the portion within 200 feet of an environmentally critical area.

“Alteration” means any human-induced action which impacts the conditions of a critical area or buffer. Alterations include but are not limited to grading; filling; dredging; draining; channelizing; installing a culvert or other crossing structure; clearing; paving; construction; dumping; demolition, or any other activity that changes the character of the critical area.

“Areas of special flood hazard” means the land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

“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.

“Buffer” means a designated or regulated area contiguous with an area designated or regulated as a critical area that also maintains the functions and/or structural stability of the critical area. Buffers are typically well vegetated and do not include areas that are separated and functionally isolated from a critical area by a legally established structure or use (for example, areas are separated by a road).

“City” means the city of Lynnwood.

“Clearing” means the removal of vegetation or other organic plant materials by physical, mechanical, chemical or other means.

“Compensation” means the replacement, enhancement, or creation of an environmentally critical area or buffer equivalent in functions, values and area to those being altered or destroyed, and includes, but is not limited to the following:

“Creation” means bringing a critical area into existence at a site in which a critical area did not formerly exist.

“Critical areas” means the following areas:

“Department” means the Public Works Department.

“Development proposal site” means the legal boundaries of the parcel or parcels of land for which the applicant has applied to the city for development permits.

“Director” means the director of public works and/or the director’s designee.

“Drainage facility” means the system of collecting, conveying, treating, and storing surface and stormwater runoff. Drainage facilities shall include but not be limited to all surface and stormwater runoff conveyance and containment facilities including streams, pipelines, channels, ditches, infiltration facilities, filtration and treatment facilities, retention/detention facilities, and other drainage structures and appurtenances, both natural and manmade.

“Enhancement” means an action which increases the functions and values of a critical area or its buffer.

“Erosion hazard areas” means those areas containing soils which, according to the U.S. Soil Conservation Service Soil Survey, have severe to very severe erosion hazard potential.

“Essential habitat” means habitat necessary for the survival of species listed as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Federal Endangered Species Act, species listed as “threatened” or “endangered” by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, species listed as “candidate” or “species of concern” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or NOAA Fisheries, and species listed as “sensitive” or “state candidate” by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Functional values” and/or “functions” means the beneficial roles that critical areas and their buffers serve, 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, aesthetic values and recreation.

“Geologically hazardous areas” means those areas that are naturally susceptible to geologic events such as landslides, seismic activity and severe erosion. Areas shall be designated as geologically hazardous areas consistent with identification criteria in LMC 17.10.100.

“Hydrologically connected” means a critical area has a surface water connection to another critical area, is within 200 feet of another critical area, or lies within the floodplain of another critical area, and whose hydrology is directly affected by changes in the other critical area.

“In-lieu fee program” means a certified program which sells compensatory mitigation credits to permittees whose obligation to provide compensatory mitigation is then transferred to the in-lieu fee program sponsor, a governmental or nonprofit natural resource management entity.

“Legally documented” means any legally recorded document, on file with the county, which designates an area on the site as a critical area or buffer.

“Lot coverage” has the meaning as defined in Chapter 21.02 LMC.

“Mitigation” means a negotiated action involving the use of one or more of the following:

“Mitigation bank” means a property that has been protected in perpetuity, and approved by appropriate city, state, and federal agencies expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation in advance of authorized impacts through restoration, creation, and/or enhancement of wetlands and, in exceptional circumstances, preservation of adjacent wetlands, wetland buffers, and/or other aquatic resources.

“Monitoring” means evaluating the impacts of development on the biological, hydrologic and geologic elements of natural systems and assessing the performance of required mitigation through the collection and analysis of data by various methods for the purposes of understanding and documenting changes in natural ecosystems and features.

“Ordinary high water mark” means a mark that has been found where the presence and action of waters are common, usual and maintained in an ordinary year, long enough to create a distinction in character between a water body and the abutting upland.

“Person” means an individual, firm, partnership, association or corporation, governmental agency, or political subdivision.

“Priority species” means those species of concern due to their population status and their sensitivity to habitat manipulation. Priority species include those which are listed as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Federal Endangered Species Act, species listed as “threatened” or “endangered” by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, species listed as “candidate” or “species of concern” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or NOAA Fisheries, species listed as “sensitive” or “state candidate” by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, or are designated as such by the Priority Habitat and Species Program of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Qualified professional” means a qualified scientific expert with expertise appropriate to the relevant critical areas as determined by the person’s professional credentials and/or certifications, or as determined by the director.

“Reasonable use” means a mechanism by which a local jurisdiction may grant relief from code requirements where compliance leaves no reasonable use of the property.

“Restoration” means actions to return an environmentally critical area to a state in which its stability, functions and values approach its unaltered state as closely as possible.

“Riparian” means the lands adjacent to and functionally related to a river or stream.

“Stream” means an area where surface waters flow sufficiently to produce a defined channel or bed. A defined channel or bed is an area which demonstrates clear evidence of the passage of water and includes but is not limited to bedrock channels, gravel beds, sand and silt beds, and defined channel swales. The channel or bed need not contain water year-round. For the purposes of this chapter, streams shall include both natural channels and manmade channels that were constructed to replace a natural stream. This definition is not meant to include irrigation ditches, canals, storm or surface water runoff devices or other entirely artificial watercourses unless they are used by salmonids or used to convey streams naturally occurring prior to development in such watercourses.

“Wetlands” means areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency or duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soils conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of the construction of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands do include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas to mitigate conversion of wetlands.

“Wood treatment facility” means an industrial facility that treats lumber and other wood products for outdoor use. (Ord. 3193 § 2, 2016)