6228-S

AN ACT Relating to definitions of agricultural and forest land of long-term commercial significance; amending RCW 36.70A.030; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that it is in the public interest to identify and provide long-term protection to those natural resource lands that are critical to and can be managed profitably for commercial production of food, fiber, and minerals. The 1994 amendments to RCW 36.70A.030 (8) and (10) (section 2 of this act) are intended to clarify legislative intent regarding the designation of natural resource lands and are not intended to require every county that has already complied with the interim designation requirements of chapter 36.70A RCW to reconsider its actions. Among other things, it is the intent of the legislature to distinguish between natural resource lands that can be managed for the long-term and be designated as such, and lands that can be managed only for the short-term.

Sec. 2. RCW 36.70A.030 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 17 s 3 are each 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, 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.

(6) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and economic development.

(7) "Development regulations" means any controls placed on development or land use activities by a county or city, including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, official controls, planned unit development ordinances, subdivision ordinances, and binding site plan ordinances.

(8) "Forest land" means land primarily ((~~useful for growing trees~~)) devoted to commercial timber production, including Christmas trees subject to the excise tax imposed under RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, ((~~for commercial purposes,~~)) and that has long-term commercial significance ((~~for growing trees commercially~~)).

(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~~)) means land that has the growing capacity, productivity, ((~~and~~)) soil composition ((~~of the land~~)), and economic viability for long-term commercial production, ((~~in consideration with~~)) based on the land's proximity to population areas, surrounding uses and parcel sizes, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land and means land that can be managed, economically and practically, for long-term commercial production.

(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) "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 such land for the production of food, other agricultural products, or fiber, or the extraction of mineral resources. 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.

(15) "Urban growth areas" means those areas designated by a county pursuant to RCW 36.70A.110.

(16) "Urban governmental services" include those governmental services historically and typically delivered by cities, and include 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 nonurban areas.

(17) "Wetland" or "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. However, wetlands may include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas created to mitigate conversion of wetlands, if permitted by the county or city.