Ordinance 1838-91 - Laserfiche WebLink

2 . The City may require the applicant to provide informational signs in conspicuous locations on the fence or near the wetland to identify the wetland as an environmentally sensitive area and the importance of maintaining it in a clean and undisturbed condition. Such signs shall meet the requirements for incidental signs as specified in Section 19. 36 of the Everett Municipal Code. C. Increased Standard Wetland Buffer Width. The minimum buffer width stated in Paragraph A of Section 10 of this Ordinance shall be increased 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. The standard wetland buffer width shall be increased: 1 . 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; or 2. when the adjacent land is susceptible to severe erosion and erosion control measures will not effectively prevent adverse wetland impacts; or 3 . when the standard buffer has minimal or degraded vegetative cover that cannot be improved through enhancement; or 4. when the minimum buffer for a wetland extends into an area with a slope of greater than 25 percent, the buffer shall be the greater of: a. The minimum buffer for that particular wetland; or b. 25 feet beyond the point where the slope becomes 25 percent or less. C. Standard Wetland Buffer Width Reduction. The Planning Director may, using Review Process II .C, reduce the standard wetland buffer width only when there has previously been substantial legal alteration of the wetland and/or buffer on the subject lot or adjoining lots. The Planning Director shall require buffer width averaging rather than allowing a buffer width reduction except when the proposal includes a wetland and buffer enhancement plan that improves the functional values of the buffer and the wetland. An enhanced buffer shall not result in more than a 50 percent reduction in the standard buffer width, and the reduced buffer shall not be less than the minimum dimension allowed by buffer width averaging. D. Buffer Width Averaging. The City may allow buffer width averaging, provided that the total area on the lot contained within the buffer is not less than that required within the standard buffer, and that averaging will not reduce the wetland functional values. The City may require buffer width averaging 14