BILL REQ. #: H-0803.2
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/20/11. Referred to Committee on Local Government.
AN ACT Relating to exempting irrigation and drainage ditches from the definition of critical areas; and reenacting and amending RCW 36.70A.030.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 36.70A.030 and 2009 c 565 s 22 are each reenacted and
amended to read as follows:
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in
this section apply throughout this chapter.
(1) "Adopt a comprehensive land use plan" means to enact a new
comprehensive land use plan or to update an existing comprehensive land
use plan.
(2) "Agricultural land" means land primarily devoted to the
commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural,
dairy, apiary, vegetable, or animal products or of berries, grain, hay,
straw, turf, seed, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax
imposed by RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, finfish in upland
hatcheries, or livestock, and that has long-term commercial
significance for agricultural production.
(3) "City" means any city or town, including a code city.
(4) "Comprehensive land use plan," "comprehensive plan," or "plan"
means a generalized coordinated land use policy statement of the
governing body of a county or city that is adopted pursuant to this
chapter.
(5) "Critical areas" include the following areas and ecosystems:
(a) Wetlands; (b) areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers
used for potable water; (c) fish and wildlife habitat conservation
areas; (d) frequently flooded areas; and (e) geologically hazardous
areas. Critical areas do not include irrigation and drainage ditches,
grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment
facilities, or farm ponds.
(6) "Department" means the department of commerce.
(7) "Development regulations" or "regulation" means the controls
placed on development or land use activities by a county or city,
including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, critical areas
ordinances, shoreline master programs, official controls, planned unit
development ordinances, subdivision ordinances, and binding site plan
ordinances together with any amendments thereto. A development
regulation does not include a decision to approve a project permit
application, as defined in RCW 36.70B.020, even though the decision may
be expressed in a resolution or ordinance of the legislative body of
the county or city.
(8) "Forest land" means land primarily devoted to growing trees for
long-term commercial timber production on land that can be economically
and practically managed for such production, including Christmas trees
subject to the excise tax imposed under RCW 84.33.100 through
84.33.140, and that has long-term commercial significance. In
determining whether forest land is primarily devoted to growing trees
for long-term commercial timber production on land that can be
economically and practically managed for such production, the following
factors shall be considered: (a) The proximity of the land to urban,
suburban, and rural settlements; (b) surrounding parcel size and the
compatibility and intensity of adjacent and nearby land uses; (c) long-term local economic conditions that affect the ability to manage for
timber production; and (d) the availability of public facilities and
services conducive to conversion of forest land to other uses.
(9) "Geologically hazardous areas" means areas that because of
their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other
geological events, are not suited to the siting of commercial,
residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or
safety concerns.
(10) "Long-term commercial significance" includes the growing
capacity, productivity, and soil composition of the land for long-term
commercial production, in consideration with the land's proximity to
population areas, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land.
(11) "Minerals" include gravel, sand, and valuable metallic
substances.
(12) "Public facilities" include streets, roads, highways,
sidewalks, street and road lighting systems, traffic signals, domestic
water systems, storm and sanitary sewer systems, parks and recreational
facilities, and schools.
(13) "Public services" include fire protection and suppression, law
enforcement, public health, education, recreation, environmental
protection, and other governmental services.
(14) "Recreational land" means land so designated under RCW
36.70A.1701 and that, immediately prior to this designation, was
designated as agricultural land of long-term commercial significance
under RCW 36.70A.170. Recreational land must have playing fields and
supporting facilities existing before July 1, 2004, for sports played
on grass playing fields.
(15) "Rural character" refers to the patterns of land use and
development established by a county in the rural element of its
comprehensive plan:
(a) In which open space, the natural landscape, and vegetation
predominate over the built environment;
(b) That foster traditional rural lifestyles, rural-based
economies, and opportunities to both live and work in rural areas;
(c) That provide visual landscapes that are traditionally found in
rural areas and communities;
(d) That are compatible with the use of the land by wildlife and
for fish and wildlife habitat;
(e) That reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land
into sprawling, low-density development;
(f) That generally do not require the extension of urban
governmental services; and
(g) That are consistent with the protection of natural surface
water flows and groundwater and surface water recharge and discharge
areas.
(16) "Rural development" refers to development outside the urban
growth area and outside agricultural, forest, and mineral resource
lands designated pursuant to RCW 36.70A.170. Rural development can
consist of a variety of uses and residential densities, including
clustered residential development, at levels that are consistent with
the preservation of rural character and the requirements of the rural
element. Rural development does not refer to agriculture or forestry
activities that may be conducted in rural areas.
(17) "Rural governmental services" or "rural services" include
those public services and public facilities historically and typically
delivered at an intensity usually found in rural areas, and may include
domestic water systems, fire and police protection services,
transportation and public transit services, and other public utilities
associated with rural development and normally not associated with
urban areas. Rural services do not include storm or sanitary sewers,
except as otherwise authorized by RCW 36.70A.110(4).
(18) "Urban governmental services" or "urban services" include
those public services and public facilities at an intensity
historically and typically provided in cities, specifically including
storm and sanitary sewer systems, domestic water systems, street
cleaning services, fire and police protection services, public transit
services, and other public utilities associated with urban areas and
normally not associated with rural areas.
(19) "Urban growth" refers to growth that makes intensive use of
land for the location of buildings, structures, and impermeable
surfaces to such a degree as to be incompatible with the primary use of
land for the production of food, other agricultural products, or fiber,
or the extraction of mineral resources, rural uses, rural development,
and natural resource lands designated pursuant to RCW 36.70A.170. A
pattern of more intensive rural development, as provided in RCW
36.70A.070(5)(d), is not urban growth. When allowed to spread over
wide areas, urban growth typically requires urban governmental
services. "Characterized by urban growth" refers to land having urban
growth located on it, or to land located in relationship to an area
with urban growth on it as to be appropriate for urban growth.
(20) "Urban growth areas" means those areas designated by a county
pursuant to RCW 36.70A.110.
(21) "Wetland" or "wetlands" means areas that are inundated or
saturated by surface water or groundwater 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 created to mitigate
conversion of wetlands.