2012/05/23 Council Agenda Packet

II ' Task 1 -Wetland Delineation and Wetland Critical Area Report ICF will perform a routine-level delineation of all Waters of the U.S. (wetlands, streams;and potentially regulated ditches)within the study area defined by EPWD per figures included in the 2011 Feasibility Study and as per direction received at the April 9, 2012 meeting with EPWD. This study area is proposed to encompass the entire area under consideration for WPCF expansion. The approximately 91.6-acre study area extends between the I-5 ROW and the oxidation pond and polishing pond, along 4th Street between the oxidation pond and the aeration cells,and south of 4th Street to the southern tip of Smith Island. Wetland Delineation ICF staff will review existing sources of information prior to conducting the wetland delineation. The focus of the review will be on identifying existing wetland information associated with the project study area,largely from the previous reconnaissance effort documented by ICF in the June 2011 Feasibility Study. Sources will also include Google Earth aerial photographs,NRCS soil surveys,topographic maps, and National Wetland Inventory maps, and other project related information EPWD may provide(i.e. site plans from original construction of the WPCF and aeration cells). The review will be used to inform the field delineation and as part of the documentation included in the Wetland Critical Area Report. ICF will complete a wetland delineation using the 1987 Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual (Environmental Laboratory 1987)as updated by the 2010.Mountains,Valleys,and Coast Regional Supplement,the Ecology Washington State Wetlands Identification and Delineation Manual(Ecology 1997), and the field procedures and standards required by the Everett Municipal Code (EMC)Chapter 37.090 and 37.100. The delineation will include a visual estimate of conditions within 300 feet of the study area boundaries to characterize adjacent areas for the potential presence of wetlands per EMC 37.100.C3. Sample plot data will be collected within and adjacent to every identified wetland, and the appropriate Corps field forms will be used to document the delineation results. ICF will stake or flag wetlands boundaries for subsequent survey by EPWD or their designated surveyor. ICF does not provide professional land survey services. ICF will make an assessment of vegetation, soil, and hydrologic conditions to verify the presence or absence of wetlands, and then characterize their conditions to determine regulatory wetland categories by using the 2006 updated to the Washington State Wetland Rating System for Western Washington (i.e. Ecology rating system),as is required by the EMC 37.090.C,the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers,and Washington State Department of Ecology. The wetland rating form will be used to provide a qualitative wetland functional assessment per the categories defined in EMC 37.090.0 and wetland buffers per EMC 37.110.A. Ditches will also be identified and their centerline flagged in the field for future review by the Corps according to the 2007 guidance from the Corps and EPA. No streams are present within the study area. Wetland Critical Area Report A wetland critical area report is required by EMC 37.100 for the purpose of necessary local peiuutting; state and federal permitting also require a wetland delineation report if unavoidable impacts to critical areas are proposed. ICF will prepare a report that will meet the report requirements of EMC 37.100, as well as that of the Corps and Ecology.The report will include the following elements: • Summary of site conditions • Summary of delineation methods used • Description of wetland vegetation, soils, and hydrology Everett Public Works Department,WPCF expansion 2 April 12,2012 • 74