A. “Alteration” means any human-induced change in an existing condition of a critical area or its buffer. Alterations include, but are not limited to, grading, filling, channelizing, dredging, clearing of vegetation, construction, compaction, excavation, or any other activity that changes the character of the critical area.

B. “Applicant” means a person who files an application for permit under this chapter and who is either the owner of the land on which that proposed activity would be located, a contract vendee, a lessee of the land, the person who would actually control and direct the proposed activity, or the authorized agent of such a person.

C. “Best management practices” means conservation practices or systems of practices and management measures that:

D. “Best available science” means current scientific information used in the process to designate, protect, or restore critical areas, that is derived from a valid scientific process as defined in WAC 365-195-900 through 365-195-925.

E. “Compensation project” means actions necessary to replace project-induced wetland and wetland buffer losses, including land acquisition, planning, construction plans, monitoring and contingency actions.

F. “Compensatory mitigation” means replacing project-induced wetland losses or impacts, and includes, but is not limited to, the following:

G. “Creation” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics to develop a wetland on an upland or deepwater site where a wetland did not previously exist. Creation results in a gain in wetland acreage and function. A typical action is the excavation of upland soils to elevations that will produce a wetland hydroperiod and hydric soils, and support the growth of hydrophytic plant species.

H. “Department” means the Washington State Department of Ecology.

I. “Developable area” means an area of land outside of wetlands and wetland buffers.

J. “Emergent wetland” means a regulated wetland with at least thirty percent of the surface area covered by erect, rooted, herbaceous vegetation as the uppermost vegetative strata.

K. “Enhancement” means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a wetland to heighten, intensify, or improve specific function(s) or to change the growth stage or composition of the vegetation present. Enhancement is undertaken for specified purposes such as water quality improvement, flood water retention, or wildlife habitat. Enhancement results in a change in wetland function(s) and can lead to a decline in other wetland functions, but does not result in a gain in wetland acres. Examples are planting vegetation, controlling non-native or invasive species, and modifying site elevations to alter hydroperiods.

L. “Essential habitat” means habitat necessary for the survival of federally listed threatened, endangered, and sensitive species and state listed priority species.

M. “Existing and ongoing agriculture” includes those activities conducted on lands defined in RCW 84.34.020(2), and those activities involved in the production of crops or livestock, for example, the operation and maintenance of farm and stock ponds or drainage ditches, operation and maintenance of ditches, irrigation systems including irrigation laterals, canals, or irrigation drainage ditches, changes between agricultural activities, and normal maintenance, repair, or operation of existing serviceable structures, facilities, or improved areas. Activities which bring an area into agricultural use are not part of an ongoing operation. An operation ceases to be ongoing when the area on which it is conducted is converted to a nonagricultural use or has lain idle for more than five years, unless the idle land is registered in a federal or state soils conservation program, or unless the activity is maintenance of irrigation ditches, laterals, canals, or drainage ditches related to an existing and ongoing agricultural activity. Forest practices are not included in this definition.

N. “Exotic” means any species of plants or animals that are foreign to the planning area.

O. “Extraordinary hardship” means strict application of this chapter and/or programs adopted to implement this chapter by the city of Lacey would prevent all reasonable economic use of the parcel.

P. “Financial security” means a method of providing surety of financial performance and may include provision of a bond, assignment of savings, letter of credit or other financial guarantee approved by the city attorney.

Q. “Forested wetland” means a regulated wetland with at least twenty percent of the surface area covered by woody vegetation greater than twenty feet in height.

R. “Functions,” “beneficial functions,” or “functions and values” means the beneficial roles served by wetlands including, but not limited to, water quality protection and enhancement, fish and wildlife habitat, food chain support, flood storage, conveyance and attenuation, ground water recharge and discharge, erosion control, wave attenuation, historical and archaeological and aesthetic value protection, and recreation. These beneficial roles are not listed in order of priority.

S. “High intensity land use” includes land uses which are associated with moderate or high levels of human disturbance or substantial wetland habitat impacts including, but not limited to, urban residential densities, active recreation uses, and commercial and industrial land uses.

T. “High quality wetlands” are those regulated wetlands which meet the following criteria:

U. “Hydric soil” means a soil that is saturated, flooded or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part. The presence of hydric soil shall be determined following the methods described in the “Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands.”

V. “Hydrophytic vegetation” means macrophytic plant life growing in water or on a substrate that is at least periodically deficient in oxygen as a result of excessive water content. The presence of hydrophytic vegetation shall be determined following the methods described in the “Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands.”

W. “In-kind compensation” means to replace wetlands with substitute wetlands whose characteristics closely approximate those destroyed or degraded by a regulated activity. It does not necessarily mean replacement “in-category.”

X. “In-lieu-fee program” means an agreement between a regulatory agency (state, federal, or local) and a single sponsor, generally a public natural resource agency or non-profit organization. Under an in-lieu-fee agreement, the mitigation sponsor collects funds from an individual or a number of individuals who are required to conduct compensatory mitigation required under a wetland regulatory program. The sponsor may use the funds pooled from multiple permittees to create one or a number of sites under the authority of the agreement to satisfy the permittees’ required mitigation.

Y. “Isolated wetlands” means a wetland that is hydrologically isolated from other aquatic resources as determined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Isolated wetlands may perform important functions and are protected by state law (Chapter 90.48 RCW) whether or not they are protected by federal law.

Z. “Lot of record” means a lot legally established by survey or legal description and recorded at the county auditor’s office prior to adoption of the city of Lacey subdivision ordinance or a lot legally established after adoption of the city of Lacey subdivision regulations by recording of a building site plan, subdivision or short subdivision at the county auditor’s office. The definition of lot shall be that definition used in the Lacey subdivision ordinance (LMC 15.02.020(Y)).

AA. “Low intensity land use” includes land uses which are associated with low levels of human disturbance or low wetland habitat impacts, including, but not limited to, passive recreation, open space, agricultural, or forest management land uses.

BB. “Mitigation” includes avoiding, minimizing or compensating for adverse wetland impacts. Mitigation in the following order of preference is:

CC. “Monitoring” means evaluating the impacts of development proposals on the biological, hydrological, and geological elements of such systems, and assessing the performance of required mitigation measures through the collection and analysis of data by various methods for the purpose of understanding and documenting changes in natural ecosystems and features. Monitoring includes gathering baseline data.

DD. “Native vegetation” means plant species which are indigenous to the area in question.

EE. “Off-site compensation” means to replace wetlands away from the site on which a wetland has been impacted by a regulated activity.

FF. “On-site compensation” means to replace wetlands at or adjacent to the site on which a wetland has been impacted by a regulated activity.

GG. “Out-of-kind compensation” means to replace wetlands with substitute wetlands whose characteristics do not closely approximate those destroyed or degraded by a regulated activity. It does not refer to replacement “out-of-category.”

HH. “Practicable alternative” means an alternative that is available and capable of being carried out after taking into consideration cost, existing technology, and logistics in light of overall project purposes, and having less impacts to regulated wetlands. It may include an area not owned by the applicant which could reasonably have been or be obtained, utilized, expanded, or managed in order to fulfill the basic purpose of the proposed activity.

II. “Preservation” means the removal of a threat to, or preventing the decline of, wetland conditions by an action in or near a wetland. This term includes the purchase of land or conservation easements, repairing water control structures or fences, or structural protection. Preservation does not result in a gain of wetland acres but may result in a gain in functions over the long term.

JJ. “Priority habitats” are a seasonal range or habitat element with which a given species has a primary association, and which, if altered, may reduce the likelihood that the species will maintain and reproduce over the long term. These might include areas of high relative density or species richness, breeding habitat, winter range and movement corridors. These might also include habitats that are of limited availability or high vulnerability to alteration.

KK. “Priority species” are those species that are of concern due to their population status and their sensitivity to habitat manipulation. Priority species include those which are state-listed endangered, threatened, and sensitive species as well as other species of concern and game species.

LL. “Puget Sound” means all salt waters of the state of Washington inside the international boundary line between the state of Washington and the province of British Columbia, lying east of one hundred twenty-three degrees, twenty-four minutes west longitude.

MM. “Qualified professional or technical wetlands consultant or scientist” means an individual or team that has both the academic qualifications and field experience to provide the technical expertise for making competent wetland delineations and recommendations necessary to implement the goals and requirements of this chapter. Said persons must have previous demonstrated competence in wetland work by having successfully prepared complex wetland studies that have been approved and accepted by the State Department of Ecology, and must be accepted by the city of Lacey pursuant to the requirements of LMC 14.28.065 and 14.28.067.

NN. “Regulated activities” means any of the following activities which are directly undertaken or originate in a regulated wetland or its buffer:

OO. “Regulated wetlands” means all wetlands as defined herein and wetlands which fall waterward of the ordinary high water mark of lakes; except that the following wetlands may be filled if the impacts are fully mitigated based on the requirements of LMC 14.28.445. In order to verify the following conditions, a wetland report shall be submitted:

PP. “Repair or maintenance” means an activity that restores the character, scope, size, and design of a serviceable area, structure, or land use to its previously authorized and undamaged condition. Activities that change the character, size, or scope of a project beyond the original design and drain, dredge, fill, flood, or otherwise alter additional regulated wetlands are not included in this definition.

QQ. “Restoration” means measures taken to restore an altered or damaged natural feature, including:

RR. “Scrub-shrub wetland” means a regulated wetland with at least thirty percent of its surface area covered by woody vegetation less than twenty feet in height as the uppermost strata.

SS. “Serviceable” means presently usable.

TT. “Unavoidable and necessary impacts” are impacts to regulated wetlands that remain after a person proposing to alter regulated wetlands has demonstrated that no practicable alternative exists for the proposed project.

UU. “Water-dependent” means requiring the use of surface water that would be essential to fulfill the purpose of the proposed project.

VV. “Wetlands” are those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from non-wetland sites, including, but not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of construction of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands may include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from non-wetland areas to mitigate the conversion of wetlands. For identifying and delineating a regulated wetland, local government shall use the approved federal wetland delineation manual and applicable regional supplements.

WW. “Wetlands site plan review approval” means any approval issued, conditioned or denied to implement the standards of this chapter.

XX. “Wetland buffers” or “wetland buffer zones” is an area that surrounds and protects a wetland from adverse impacts to the functions and values of a regulated wetland.

YY. “Wetland classes,” “classes of wetlands” or “wetland types” means descriptive classes of the wetlands taxonomic classification system of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Cowardin, et al., 1978).

ZZ. “Wetland edge” means the boundary of a wetland as delineated based on the definitions contained in this chapter.

AAA. “Wetland mitigation bank” means a site where wetlands are restored, created, enhanced, or in exceptional circumstances, preserved, expressly for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation in advance of unavoidable impacts to wetlands or other aquatic resources that typically are unknown at the time of certification to compensate for future, permitted impacts to similar resources.

BBB. “Wetland mosaic” means an area with a concentration of multiple small wetlands, in which each patch of wetland is less than one acre; on average, patches are less than one hundred feet from each other; and areas delineated as vegetated wetland are more than fifty percent of the total area of the entire mosaic, including uplands and open water. (Ord. 1505 §2, 2017; Ord. 1449 §1, 2014; Ord. 1215 §2, 2003; Ord. 935 §4, 1992; Ord. 912 §1 Sec. 2, 1991).