Ordinance 2909-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

to the width required by this section. The vegetation shall include native plant communities that are appropriate for the Puget Lowland ecoregion or with a plant community that provides similar functions. 7. To maintain the integrity of the buffer buildings and other structures shall be set back a minimum of ten (10) feet from the edges of all wetland buffer boundaries. 8. Hazard trees in buffer. The city may require that a hazard tree assessment be completed, and that hazard trees be removed from buffers, and trees replanted in accordance with the requirements of Subsection 6(B)(3) [37.060(B)(3)] prior to final approvals for a development proposal. B. Increased Standard Wetland Buffer Width. The minimum buffer width stated in subsection A of this section shall be increased 1. When the minimum buffer for a wetland extends into an area with a slope of greater than twenty-five percent, the buffer shall be the greater of. a. The minimum buffer for that particular wetland; or b. Twenty-five feet beyond the point where the slope becomes twenty-five percent or less for at least a horizontal distance of 10 feet; 2. When the wetland is used by salmonids, plant and/or animal species proposed or listed by the federal government or state as an endangered, threatened, rare, candidate, sensitive or monitored; or has critical or outstanding potential habitat for those species or has unusual nesting or resting sites such as heron rookeries or raptor nesting trees, and the increased buffer is necessary to protect such habitat; When a habitat assessment or habitat management plan is required by Section 19 (37.190) of this chapter and an increased buffer is necessary to protect critical habitat or effected species, the buffer shall be the buffer in the approved habitat assessment or habitat management plan; 3. When the adjacent land is classified as a geologically hazardous area, the buffer shall be the greater of the standard wetland buffer or the setback buffer required by Section 8 (37.080) of this chapter; 4. When the standard buffer has minimal or degraded vegetative cover that cannot be improved through enhancement; or 5. When the city finds, based upon a site-specific wetland analysis, that impacts on the wetland from a proposed development can only be mitigated by a greater buffer width. C. Standard Buffer Width Reduction for Category IV Wetlands. Buffer reductions are allowed provided that the applicant demonstrates the proposal meets criteria 1 through 3 and either 4 or 5. If the criteria are met, buffers may be reduced by up to 25 percent or no less than 26 feet. 25