AN ACT Relating to
raising the amount that must be exceeded by the cost of construction of a dock,
including a community dock, designed for pleasure craft only, for the private
noncommercial use of the owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of single and
multiple family residences for the construction to be considered substantial
development under the Shoreline Management Act of 1971; and reenacting and
amending RCW 90.58.030.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 90.58.030 and 1995 c
382 s 10, 1995 c 255 s 5, and 1995 c 237 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to
read as follows:
As used in this
chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions and
concepts apply:
(1) Administration:
(a)
"Department" means the department of ecology;
(b)
"Director" means the director of the department of ecology;
(c) "Local
government" means any county, incorporated city, or town which contains
within its boundaries any lands or waters subject to this chapter;
(d) "Person"
means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, organization,
cooperative, public or municipal corporation, or agency of the state or local
governmental unit however designated;
(e) "Hearing
board" means the shoreline hearings board established by this chapter.
(2) Geographical:
(a) "Extreme low
tide" means the lowest line on the land reached by a receding tide;
(b) "Ordinary high
water mark" on all lakes, streams, and tidal water is that mark that will
be found by examining the bed and banks and ascertaining where the presence and
action of waters are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary
years, as to mark upon the soil a character distinct from that of the abutting
upland, in respect to vegetation as that condition exists on June 1, 1971, as
it may naturally change thereafter, or as it may change thereafter in accordance
with permits issued by a local government or the department: PROVIDED, That in
any area where the ordinary high water mark cannot be found, the ordinary high
water mark adjoining salt water shall be the line of mean higher high tide and
the ordinary high water mark adjoining fresh water shall be the line of mean
high water;
(c) "Shorelines of
the state" are the total of all "shorelines" and
"shorelines of state-wide significance" within the state;
(d)
"Shorelines" means all of the water areas of the state, including
reservoirs, and their associated shorelands, together with the lands underlying
them; except (i) shorelines of state-wide significance; (ii) shorelines on
segments of streams upstream of a point where the mean annual flow is twenty
cubic feet per second or less and the wetlands associated with such upstream
segments; and (iii) shorelines on lakes less than twenty acres in size and
wetlands associated with such small lakes;
(e) "Shorelines of
state-wide significance" means the following shorelines of the state:
(i) The area between
the ordinary high water mark and the western boundary of the state from Cape
Disappointment on the south to Cape Flattery on the north, including harbors,
bays, estuaries, and inlets;
(ii) Those areas of
Puget Sound and adjacent salt waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the
ordinary high water mark and the line of extreme low tide as follows:
(A) Nisqually DeltaCfrom DeWolf Bight to
Tatsolo Point,
(B) Birch BayCfrom Point Whitehorn to
Birch Point,
(C) Hood CanalCfrom Tala Point to
Foulweather Bluff,
(D) Skagit Bay and
adjacent areaCfrom Brown
Point to Yokeko Point, and
(E) Padilla BayCfrom March Point to William
Point;
(iii) Those areas of
Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and adjacent salt waters north to
the Canadian line and lying seaward from the line of extreme low tide;
(iv) Those lakes,
whether natural, artificial, or a combination thereof, with a surface acreage
of one thousand acres or more measured at the ordinary high water mark;
(v) Those natural
rivers or segments thereof as follows:
(A) Any west of the
crest of the Cascade range downstream of a point where the mean annual flow is
measured at one thousand cubic feet per second or more,
(B) Any east of the
crest of the Cascade range downstream of a point where the annual flow is
measured at two hundred cubic feet per second or more, or those portions of
rivers east of the crest of the Cascade range downstream from the first three
hundred square miles of drainage area, whichever is longer;
(vi) Those shorelands
associated with (i), (ii), (iv), and (v) of this subsection (2)(e);
(f)
"Shorelands" or "shoreland areas" means those lands
extending landward for two hundred feet in all directions as measured on a
horizontal plane from the ordinary high water mark; floodways and contiguous
floodplain areas landward two hundred feet from such floodways; and all
wetlands and river deltas associated with the streams, lakes, and tidal waters
which are subject to the provisions of this chapter; the same to be designated
as to location by the department of ecology. Any county or city may determine
that portion of a one-hundred-year-flood plain to be included in its master
program as long as such portion includes, as a minimum, the floodway and the
adjacent land extending landward two hundred feet therefrom;
(g)
"Floodway" means those portions of the area of a river valley lying
streamward from the outer limits of a watercourse upon which flood waters are
carried during periods of flooding that occur with reasonable regularity,
although not necessarily annually, said floodway being identified, under normal
condition, by changes in surface soil conditions or changes in types or quality
of vegetative ground cover condition. The floodway shall not include those
lands that can reasonably be expected to be protected from flood waters by
flood control devices maintained by or maintained under license from the
federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state;
(h)
"Wetlands" means areas that are inundated or saturated by surface
water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and
that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically 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 nonwetland 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 the construction of a road,
street, or highway. Wetlands may include those artificial wetlands
intentionally created from nonwetland areas to mitigate the conversion of
wetlands.
(3) Procedural terms:
(a)
"Guidelines" means those standards adopted to implement the policy of
this chapter for regulation of use of the shorelines of the state prior to
adoption of master programs. Such standards shall also provide criteria to
local governments and the department in developing master programs;
(b) "Master
program" shall mean the comprehensive use plan for a described area, and
the use regulations together with maps, diagrams, charts, or other descriptive
material and text, a statement of desired goals, and standards developed in
accordance with the policies enunciated in RCW 90.58.020;
(c) "State master
program" is the cumulative total of all master programs approved or
adopted by the department of ecology;
(d)
"Development" means a use consisting of the construction or exterior
alteration of structures; dredging; drilling; dumping; filling; removal of any
sand, gravel, or minerals; bulkheading; driving of piling; placing of
obstructions; or any project of a permanent or temporary nature which
interferes with the normal public use of the surface of the waters overlying
lands subject to this chapter at any state of water level;
(e) "Substantial
development" shall mean any development of which the total cost or fair
market value exceeds two thousand five hundred dollars, or any development
which materially interferes with the normal public use of the water or
shorelines of the state; except that the following shall not be considered
substantial developments for the purpose of this chapter:
(i) Normal maintenance
or repair of existing structures or developments, including damage by accident,
fire, or elements;
(ii) Construction of
the normal protective bulkhead common to single family residences;
(iii) Emergency
construction necessary to protect property from damage by the elements;
(iv) Construction and
practices normal or necessary for farming, irrigation, and ranching activities,
including agricultural service roads and utilities on shorelands, and the
construction and maintenance of irrigation structures including but not limited
to head gates, pumping facilities, and irrigation channels. A feedlot of any
size, all processing plants, other activities of a commercial nature,
alteration of the contour of the shorelands by leveling or filling other than
that which results from normal cultivation, shall not be considered normal or
necessary farming or ranching activities. A feedlot shall be an enclosure or
facility used or capable of being used for feeding livestock hay, grain,
silage, or other livestock feed, but shall not include land for growing crops
or vegetation for livestock feeding and/or grazing, nor shall it include normal
livestock wintering operations;
(v) Construction or
modification of navigational aids such as channel markers and anchor buoys;
(vi) Construction on
shorelands by an owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of a single family
residence for his own use or for the use of his family, which residence does
not exceed a height of thirty-five feet above average grade level and which
meets all requirements of the state agency or local government having
jurisdiction thereof, other than requirements imposed pursuant to this chapter;
(vii) Construction of a
dock, including a community dock, designed for pleasure craft only, for the
private noncommercial use of the owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of single
and multiple family residences. This exception applies if either: (A) In
salt waters, the ((cost)) fair market value of ((which))
the dock does not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars; or (B) in
fresh waters, the fair market value of the dock does not exceed ten thousand
dollars, but if subsequent construction having a fair market value exceeding
two thousand five hundred dollars occurs within five years of completion of the
prior construction, the subsequent construction shall be considered a
substantial development for the purpose of this chapter;
(viii) Operation,
maintenance, or construction of canals, waterways, drains, reservoirs, or other
facilities that now exist or are hereafter created or developed as a part of an
irrigation system for the primary purpose of making use of system waters,
including return flow and artificially stored ground water for the irrigation
of lands;
(ix) The marking of
property lines or corners on state owned lands, when such marking does not
significantly interfere with normal public use of the surface of the water;
(x) Operation and
maintenance of any system of dikes, ditches, drains, or other facilities
existing on September 8, 1975, which were created, developed, or utilized
primarily as a part of an agricultural drainage or diking system;
(xi) Site exploration
and investigation activities that are prerequisite to preparation of an
application for development authorization under this chapter, if:
(A) The activity does
not interfere with the normal public use of the surface waters;
(B) The activity will
have no significant adverse impact on the environment including, but not
limited to, fish, wildlife, fish or wildlife habitat, water quality, and
aesthetic values;
(C) The activity does
not involve the installation of a structure, and upon completion of the
activity the vegetation and land configuration of the site are restored to
conditions existing before the activity;
(D) A private entity
seeking development authorization under this section first posts a performance
bond or provides other evidence of financial responsibility to the local
jurisdiction to ensure that the site is restored to preexisting conditions; and
(E) The activity is not
subject to the permit requirements of RCW 90.58.550;
(xii) The process of
removing or controlling an aquatic noxious weed, as defined in RCW 17.26.020,
through the use of an herbicide or other treatment methods applicable to weed
control that are recommended by a final environmental impact statement
published by the department of agriculture or the department jointly with other
state agencies under chapter 43.21C RCW.
