Protecting Washington state’s natural resources has been a political issue as much as an environmental one.
But not anymore.
State lawmakers want cities to pay more attention to science when protecting critical areas such as wetlands.
That’s why the state is requiring cities to update their critical areas codes to include “best available science” in determining buffers for streams, wetlands and steep slopes. It must be done by the end of the year for cities in the Puget Sound area.
Cities in south Snohomish County have set buffers for wetlands, for example, that range from 25 to 100 feet. But the state is recommending 100- to 300-foot buffers, based on scientific studies.
Mill Creek planning manager Tom Rogers said politics has played a major role in the past.
“Generally, it’s been the other way around, and development has had a bigger role, and it’s been more of a horse trade back and forth,” he said. “It costs a lot to have big buffers, and in the past (setting buffers) has been more of a political compromise.”
Now jurisdictions are struggling with what “best available science” means.
In urban south Snohomish County where cities are more than 95 percent built out, most waterways are in culverts and many wetlands are so degraded that restoring them would be practically impossible.
Lynnwood is pulling together a task force of residents, developers and environmentalists to evaluate the issue.
Currently, Mountlake Terrace requires 25-foot buffers for streams and 50-foot buffers for wetlands.
“It’s one thing to say in a rural county area where you’ve got many acres of untouched land, you need 300-foot buffers there. It’s another thing entirely when you’re already 95 percent built out, with much lower buffers to begin with, and there’s the issue of fairness to think about and property rights,” said Shane Hope of the Mountlake Terrace Planning Department.
Mill Creek has budgeted $70,000 for updating its critical areas ordinance, and has received $25,500 in state grants. It anticipates releasing a draft of the rewritten ordinance for public comment sometime this summer and holding a public hearing before the city’s planning commission this fall.
Doug Peters, senior planner with the state’s growth management services division, said the Growth Management Act does not require cities to completely restore built-out areas.
“They aren’t being required to restore things to the way they were,” he said.
Pam Brice is a reporter with The Herald in Everett.
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