BILL REQ. #:  S-5020.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/03/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to critical areas safe harbor agreements; and creating new sections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The department of community, trade, and economic development, in conjunction with the department of ecology and the department of fish and wildlife, shall, by means of a pilot project, study and develop implementation recommendations for an alternative means that can be adopted in statute for cities and counties to use in order to fulfill growth management act goals for protection of critical areas. This alternative means shall be known as a "safe harbor agreement." The pilot project shall identify scientific and landscape planning methods for protecting critical areas, nonregulatory mechanisms for achieving the protection to the maximum extent those mechanisms may be used, additional regulatory mechanisms that are needed, and the way that all of these methods and mechanisms may be used for purposes of a safe harbor agreement, as provided in subsection (2) of this section. The pilot project must be conducted on a basin scale at one location in Kittitas county and one location selected by the department of community, trade, and economic development in either Thurston or Lewis county. The pilot project must be completed and the results reported to the governor and the legislature by December 1, 2008.
     (2) The elements of a safe harbor agreement under this act include the following:
     (a) The safe harbor agreement must be developed collaboratively and seek creative and locally appropriate solutions based on voluntary participation in government programs that offer financial incentives or other assistance and encourage voluntary legal commitments that protect or enhance critical areas;
     (b) Local stakeholders and property owners, including the department of community, trade, and economic development, the department of ecology, the department of fish and wildlife, and any other federal, state, or tribal authorities with jurisdiction over critical areas, must be invited to participate;
     (c) Detailed components to be incorporated in a safe harbor agreement include, at a minimum: (i) The goals it establishes, such as the amount of miles or acres to be protected; (ii) information to balance with growth management act goals and requirements in order to achieve locally appropriate implementation; (iii) binding legal commitments for voluntary projects or actions, such as buffers, dedications, conservation easements, transfer of development rights, management plans, best management practices, and adaptive management strategies; (iv) state and local programs, such as clustering, mitigation banking, monitoring, and public investments; (v) regulatory requirements and permits; and (vi) state and federal agencies and processes that are consulted; and
     (d) Appropriate administrative procedures for implementation and enforcement.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2006, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.