Commissioners OK use of new state rating system to classify city's wetlands
By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
During their regular meeting on May 28, the Medical Lake Planning Commission revamped more guidelines to the resource lands and critical areas section included in the city's comprehensive plan chapter on zoning. This move came at the recommendation of the state Department of Ecology.
The state's guidelines for the protection and preservation of ecologically sensitive lands, city planning consultant Glenn Scholten said, have changed a lot over the last 20 years. City officials recently learned their ordinance for protection of these lands needed updating to reflect new DOE preservation requirements.
This happened after DOE rejected a plat application for a new housing development on acreage that contained registered wetlands.
In April, commissioners began reviewing a rewritten draft of the chapter with new recommended guidelines, researched by Scholten and based on plans recently adopted by the cities of Winthrop, Wash., Richland, and Spokane.
So far, commissioners have approved new terminologies to be included in the chapter, a formalized process for preparing critical area reports, and stricter development regulations to protect natural wildlife and habitats. Just approved last week were sections for a new rating system used by the state for classifying wetlands.
The rating system, Scholten said, comes after 20 years of the state working and studying wetlands. A wetland's function and value—not just its size—helps determine the classification.
The old standard system of classifying wetlands was based on less research. Not much research was available on wetland characteristics, Scholten said.
“We no longer look at wetlands by just size. We care about what its function is, and the value it has to the overall landscape,” he said.
Characteristically, there are some big differences between Eastern Washington and Western Washington wetlands, Scholten said.
Once thought to consist mostly of bogs and or flooded bogs, new research has found eastern region wetland characteristics serve an important purpose in migratory waterfowl, in that they create habitats, provide food and a place for the animals to spawn.
The new rating system indicates about six types of wetlands exist in Eastern Washington. Based on the old system of classification, most of Medical Lake's wetlands are classified as category 3 types, used mostly by developers to set buffer zones. Based on new research, Scholten said the city could have some category 1- or category 2-type wetlands as well.
“I don't think we really know exactly what we have out here, and we won't know until we get an application from a developer, who'll have to hire a certified biologist to determine that,” Scholten added.
The new rating system, however, he added, should bring the city's outdated ordinance better in line with state law, which is now structured in a way that allows cities to handle development applications on a case-by-case basis.
In other updates, commissioners are waiting on adding a clause dealing with the wetland mitigation process that some felt was difficult to understand. The clause dealt with the issue of proving whether developments would cause “extraordinary hardship” to a property through mitigation.
Scholten said he plans to get the city attorney's opinion about what type of special circumstances would warrant a case of “extraordinary hardship.”
Other than the clause question, Scholten said he'd sent a copy of the rewritten chapter to both DOE's eastern region office, and to its Olympia headquarters. Initial feedback on the noted changes got a passing grade, he said.
Commissioners in attendance also agreed the new draft was well researched
“We're going to follow you're lead,” commissioner Bob Albright said to Scholten.
Once commissioners have finished updating the comp plan's zoning chapter, sections in chapters for subdivision, planning, and manufactured home communities are also slated for updates.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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