Laserfiche WebLink
Exhibit B <br />ORDINANCE Exhibit A - Page 43 of 55 <br />1. The planning director shall only allow a buffer width reduction when the proposal includes a <br />critical area and buffer enhancement plan that improves the functions of the buffer and the <br />critical area. <br />2. A mitigation/enhancement plan shall be prepared in accordance with this chapter. <br />3. If a limited portion of the buffer has been previously legally altered and meets the criteria in <br />this section, a buffer width reduction may be approved for that portion of the required buffer <br />only. <br />4. The following criteria shall be used to determine when a required buffer is degraded and <br />substantial legal alterations are present: <br />a. The required buffer area has been graded or substantially altered and has not been <br />substantially revegetated (i.e., the buffer is covered with gravel, impervious surface, <br />mowed lawn, or is vegetated with primarily invasive species such as reed canary grass, <br />Himalayan blackberry, purple loosestrife, or other nonnative invasive species covering <br />more than seventy-five percent of the buffer area). <br />b. Substantial clearing of the buffer was authorized and substantial revegetation with <br />native species has not occurred. <br />c. A buffer that has been logged in the past but that has been revegetated with an <br />overstory of willow, cottonwood, alder, evergreen, or mixed evergreen/deciduous <br />overstory, and an understory shrub layer of noninvasive species does not constitute <br />substantial alteration. <br />D. Riparian Wetland. Any stream adjoined by a riparian wetland shall have the buffer which applies to <br />the wetland, unless the stream buffer requirement is more protective, in which case the stream buffer <br />requirement shall apply. <br />E. Lake Buffers. Lakes have the following buffers of native vegetation: <br />a. Lakes used by salmonids: one hundred feet; <br />b. Lakes with no salmonid use: fifty feet. <br />If a wetland or stream occurs along the fringe of a lake, the buffer shall be the greater of that required <br />for the lake or for the wetland or stream. <br />F. Buffers for Restored Stream Channels. When a culverted portion of a stream is proposed to be <br />restored to an open channel, the buffer width shall be determined by the director following review of a <br />critical area study. The study must include an analysis of the buffer width necessary to protect water <br />quality and habitat functions of the stream. <br />G. Riparian Corridors. When a development is proposed on a lot with a disturbed riparian corridor, the <br />city shall require that the habitat be enhanced by creating more diversity and eliminating any source of <br />degradation, including, but not limited to: