Ordinance 4175-26 - Laserfiche WebLink

Exhibit B ORDINANCE Exhibit A - Page 38 of 55 buffer credits. Properties adjacent to or abutting wetland creation projects shall not be responsible for providing any additional buffer requirements. 12. In-Lieu Fee Mitigation. In-lieu fee (ILF) mitigation is a program involving the restoration, establishment, enhancement, and/or preservation of aquatic resources through funds paid to a program sponsor to satisfy compensatory mitigation requirements for unavoidable impacts to wetlands and other aquatic resources. Per federal rule, sponsorship of ILF programs is limited to governmental, tribal, or nonprofit natural resource management entities. Similar to a wetland mitigation bank, an ILF program sells credits to permittees whose unavoidable impacts occur within a specified geographic area (service area). When credits are purchased from the ILF program, the permittee’s obligation to provide compensatory mitigation is then transferred to the ILF program sponsor. The sponsor is then required to implement mitigation within a specified time frame, working with regulatory agencies to make sure impacts are fully mitigated. ILF programs are approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington State Department of Ecology. The city may allow compensation for unavoidable impacts to wetlands through contribution to an approved ILF program. C. Wetland and Buffer Mitigation Plans. When wetland or buffer alteration or buffer reduction is permitted by this chapter, a mitigation plan shall be required to describe the methods the applicant will use to minimize impacts to wetland functions. A detailed mitigation plan shall be approved by the city prior to any development activity occurring on a lot upon which wetland or wetland buffer alteration, restoration, creation or enhancement is proposed. See EMC 19.37.075 for required wetland mitigation plan content. 19.37.125 WETLAND MITIGATION BANKS. A. Wetland mitigation banks are sites where wetlands are restored, created, enhanced, or, in exceptional circumstances, preserved, expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation in advance of authorized impacts to similar resources. Banks typically involve the consolidation of many small wetland mitigation projects into a larger, potentially more ecologically valuable site. Such consolidation encourages greater diversity of habitat and wetland functions. It also helps create more sustainable systems. Banks provide a greater likelihood of success over permittee-responsible mitigation projects, since the banks are up and running before unavoidable damage occurs to a wetland(s) at another site. 1. The city may allow wetland mitigation banking in lieu of other forms of wetland impact mitigation when the mitigation site being used for the credit allowed pursuant to this section is either a wetland created from a site which was previously nonwetland, a wetland of lesser size or functional value than the wetland being altered, or where the mitigation bank site substantially increases wetland functions in the watershed within which it is located. Under the wetland mitigation banking process, alteration of a wetland on the development site shall occur only when the created or enhanced wetland is successfully functioning in accordance with an approved wetland mitigation plan. The created or enhanced wetland shall have a higher wetland function rating than that being altered. In evaluating a wetland mitigation banking proposal, the planning director shall determine the amount of credit given for mitigation banking using the ratios described in EMC 19.37.120.B.5 as a guide. The amount of credit will be dependent upon the functions of the wetland being altered and the wetland being used for mitigation banking. The city, using the review process described in EMC Title 15, Local Project