(1) “Administrator” means the Director of the Clallam County Department of Community Development or his/her designee.

(2) “Agriculture” or “agricultural activities” means the use of land for commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy, apiary, vegetable or animal products or of berries, grain, hay, straw, turf, seed, cottonwood trees, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax imposed by RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, or livestock, including those activities directly pertaining to the production of crops or livestock including, but not limited to, cultivation, harvest, grazing, on-site animal waste storage and disposal, fertilization, the operation and maintenance of farm and stock ponds, drainage ditches, irrigation systems, and canals, and normal maintenance, operation and repair of existing serviceable structures, facilities, or improved areas. Activities (like installing drainage tiles) that allow an area to be utilized for agricultural use, or the processing or packing of primarily (i.e., over 50 percent) off-site agricultural materials are not considered agricultural activities.

(3) “Alteration” means a human action that may change the existing condition of a critical area. Alterations include but are not limited to: grading; dredging; channelizing; cutting, clearing, relocating or removing vegetation (except noxious weeds identified by the Washington Department of Agriculture or Clallam County Cooperative Extension); applying herbicides or pesticides or any hazardous or toxic substance; discharging storm water runoff or pollutants; grazing domestic animals; modifying for surface water management purposes; or any other human activity that changes existing vegetation, hydrology, wildlife or wildlife habitat.

(4) “Applicant” means any person, public agency or business entity such as a corporation or a partnership which applies for a development proposal, permit or approval subject to review under this chapter. Applicant shall also mean any predecessor or any successor in interest involving the proposal.

(5) “Aquaculture” means the farming or culturing of game or food fish, shellfish, and/or other aquatic animals or plants in fresh or salt water areas, and may include such developments as fish hatcheries, rearing pens, shore-based structures and shellfish rafts. Aquaculture practices pertain to any activity related to growing, handling, or harvesting of aquaculture produce, including, but not limited to, propagation, enhancement and rehabilitation of said fisheries resources. Excluded from this definition is the private husbanding or harvesting of anadromous fish, as prohibited by Washington State Law, and related commercial uses such as wholesale and retail sales, processing, packaging or freezing facilities.

(6) “Aquifer” means a saturated body of rock, sand, gravel or other geologic material that is capable of storing, transmitting, and yielding water to a well in sufficient quantities to be economically useful.

(7) “Aquifer recharge” means the process by which water is added to an aquifer. It may occur naturally by the percolation (infiltration) of surface water, precipitation, or snowmelt from the ground surface to a depth where the earth materials are saturated with water. Aquifer recharge can be augmented by “artificial” means through the addition of surface water (e.g., land application of reuse water, wastewater or storm water) or by the injection of water into the underground environment (e.g., drainfields and drywells).

(8) “Base flood” means the flood level having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. Also referred to as the “100-year flood.”

(9) “Best management practices” means conservation practices or systems of practices and management measures that:

(10) “Buffer” means an area of protection contiguous with a critical area where use is limited to protect the integrity, maintenance, function and structural stability of the critical area.

(11) “Clearing” means the destruction, disturbance or removal of vegetation by physical, mechanical, chemical or any other means.

(12) “Conservation easement” means a limited protective easement granted to Clallam County or other organizations devoted to protection and management of lands or portions thereof.

(13) “Critical facilities” means a facility for which even a slight chance of flooding or destruction caused by a geologic hazard would be too great. They include, but are not limited to: schools, hospitals, police, fire, emergency response installation, nursing homes, installations which produce, use or store hazardous materials or hazardous waste, pipelines which transmit oil and gas, municipal water and sewer facilities, and regional transportation facilities, such as airports, ports, railroads and major highways.

(14) “Development” or “development proposal” means any of the activities relating to the use and/or development of land, including but not limited to: any land use permit or approval issued by Clallam County pursuant to the Clallam County Code (e.g., building permit, industrial, commercial or residential; binding site plan; franchise right-of-way construction permit; master plan development; planned unit development; right-of-way access permit; shoreline permits including exemptions; conditional use permit; subdivision; short subdivision; utility or on-site sewage permit; the removal, excavation, grading, clearing, or dredging of soil, sand, gravel, minerals, organic matter, or material of any kind; the dumping, discharging, or filling with any material; the draining, flooding, or disturbing of the water table; the driving of pilings or the placing of obstructions; planting of vegetation (e.g., introduction of non-native species) that would alter the character of the critical area; activities that result in adverse changes in water temperature or physical or chemical characteristics of critical area water sources; or any subsequently adopted permit or required approval not expressly exempted by this chapter.

(15) “Development proposal site” means, for purposes of this chapter, the legal boundaries of the parcel or parcels of land on which an applicant has applied for authority from Clallam County to carry out a development proposal.

(16) “Enhancement” means actions performed to improve the condition of existing degraded critical areas (e.g., wetlands or streams) so that the functions they provide are of a higher quality (provided that this activity does not significantly degrade another existing function or value), and are designed to improve or restore native fish and wildlife habitat, or watershed functions.

(17) “Erosion” means the process whereby the land surface is worn away by the action of water, wind, ice or other geologic agents and by processes such as gravitational creep or events such as landslides. Geologic erosion occurs as an ongoing process that acts on all land surfaces to some degree. Human activities such as removing vegetation, increasing storm water runoff or decreasing slope stability often accelerate or aggravate natural erosion processes.

(18) “Existing, ongoing agriculture” means agriculture that is both: (a) on land located within the agricultural retention zoning district and/or on land that meets the criteria and are enrolled in the Washington State open space and agricultural current use program per RCW 84.34.020(2)(b) and (c); and (b) is on land that has been used for agriculture since June 16, 1992, and not ceased use for agriculture for more than five consecutive years at any one time. Changing the type of agricultural activities being conducted is not considered new or expansion of existing agricultural activity. Agriculture that meets the definition of existing, ongoing agriculture on farmed wetlands, farmed wetland pastures, and prior converted wetlands is allowed to continue subject to the provisions of CCC 27.12.037.

(19) “Flood Insurance Study” means the official report provided by the Federal Insurance Administration that includes flood profiles, the Flood Boundary-Floodway Map, and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

(20) “Flood” or “flooding” means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland or tidal waters and/or the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source.

(21) “Floodplain” means an area of land that would be covered with water during a flood. Also known as the “frequently flooded area.”

(22) “Floodway” means the channel of a stream or other watercourse and any adjacent land areas, that must be kept free of encroachment in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot, which is the federal standard.

(23) “Footprint” means all area covered up to the exterior dimensions of structural improvements, including: buildings, outbuildings, decks, patios, overhangs, driveways, and other manmade structures that preclude or have the effect of precluding establishment and/or continued growth of natural vegetation.

(24) “Forest practices” means as defined in WAC 222-16-010(21), as amended, any activity conducted on or directly pertaining to forest land and relating to growing, harvesting, or processing timber, including but not limited to: road and trail construction, harvesting, final and intermediate, pre-commercial thinning, reforestation, fertilization, prevention and suppression of diseases and insects, salvage of trees, and brush control. Forest practices shall not include preparatory work such as tree marking, surveying and road flagging; or removal or harvest of incidental vegetation from forest lands such as berries, ferns, greenery, mistletoe, herbs, mushrooms, and other products which cannot normally be expected to result in damage to forest soils, timber or public resources.

(25) “Frequently flooded areas” means the floodway and special flood hazard area, combined. Also known as “floodplain.”

(26) “Functions, beneficial functions, or functions and values” means the beneficial roles served by critical areas including, but not limited to: water quality/quantity protection and enhancement, fish and wildlife habitat, food chain support, flood storage, conveyance and attenuation, ground water recharge and discharge, erosion control, wave attenuation, historical and archaeological value protection, aesthetic value, and recreation. These beneficial functions are not listed in order of priority.

(27) “Grading” means any excavating, filling or removing of the surface layer or any combination thereof.

(28) “Grazed wet meadows” are wetlands whose vegetative cover has been greatly modified as a result of grazing, seeding or cutting for hay. They are typically dominated by pasture species (such as blue grass, orchard grass, fescue, clovers, reed canary grass, etc.) as well as non-native wetland species such as soft rush and buttercup. They are saturated or have standing water during the wet season and part of the growing season but are dry during the summer months. Grazed wet meadows have been used (within the last five years) or are being used for livestock grazing, seeding, or cutting for hay.

(29) “Hazardous substances” means those substances defined as hazardous or dangerous wastes in Chapter 173-303 WAC and/or the Model Toxic Control Act (Chapter 173-40 WAC).

(30) “Hydrogeology” means the science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation of ground water and related aspects of water.

(31) “Impervious surface” means a hard surface area which either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development; and/or a hard surface area that causes water to run off the surface in greater quantities or at an increased rate of flow from the flow present under natural conditions prior to development. Common impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to: roof tops, walkways, patios, driveways, parking lots or storage areas, concrete or asphalt paving, gravel roads, packed earthen materials, and oiled, macadam or other surfaces which similarly impede the natural infiltration of storm water. Open, uncovered retention/detention facilities are not considered impervious surfaces.

(32) “Lake” means a naturally existing or artificially created body of standing water greater than or equal to 20 acres in size. Lakes include reservoirs which exist on a year-round basis and occur in a depression of land or expanded part of a stream. A lake is bounded by the ordinary high water mark or the extension of the elevation of the lake’s ordinary high water mark within the stream, where the stream enters the lake. All lakes meet the criteria of Chapter 90.58 RCW (Shoreline Management Act) and have been inventoried as “shorelines of the State” under the Shoreline Master Program for Clallam County.

(33) “Land disturbing activity” means any activity that results in a change in the existing soil cover (both vegetative and nonvegetative) and/or the existing soil topography. Land disturbing activities include, but are not limited to: demolition, construction, paving, clearing, grading, grubbing, surface mining or mineral extraction and other site development activities. This definition does not include those normal activities associated with construction and/or occupancy of a single-family dwelling and appurtenances.

(34) “Land divisions” means any division of land regulated under the Clallam County Land Division Ordinance, CCC Title 29, as now or hereafter amended.

(35) “Landslide” means the general term used to describe the downslope movement of a mass of slope materials including rock, soils, artificial fills, and vegetation. The speed and distance of movement, as well as the amount and type of slope material, vary greatly.

(36) “Major new development” means any new development that is not considered minor new development, including but not limited to:

(37) “Marine bluff” means the cliff-like landform which has been created by wave and tidal erosion along marine shorelines. For the purposes of this chapter, marine bluffs include those areas along marine shorelines where:

(38) “Mineral extraction” includes activities involved in the extraction of minerals (excluding water) from the earth for industrial, commercial or construction uses.

(39) “Minor improvement” means any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which is less than 50 percent of the market value of the structure either before the improvement or repair is started, or if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. For the purposes of this definition, “minor improvement” is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. However, this term does not include: any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing State or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions, or any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a State Inventory of Historic Places.

(40) “Minor new development” means the following activities are considered minor new development:

(41) “Monitoring” means the collection and analysis of data for the purposes of documenting changes in natural ecosystems and features. This includes gathering baseline data and follow-up data for evaluating the impacts of development on biological, hydrologic and geologic elements of such systems and assessing the performance of required mitigation measures.

(42) “Native vegetation” means vegetation indigenous to the North Olympic Peninsula as found in Flora of the Pacific Northwest by Hitchcock and Cronquist, Univ. of Washington Press, 1972, as amended, or Flora of the Olympic Peninsula by N. Buckingham and E. Shreiner, 1995.

(43) “Normal maintenance” means those acts that are usually necessary in order to prevent a decline, lapse or cessation of a lawfully established condition. It does not include additional placement of fill on, or excavation of, previously undisturbed soils or slopes; clearing, removal, or cutting of trees greater than 12 inches in diameter at 4.5 feet, or total replacement of a structure.

(44) “Normal repair” means to restore a development to a state comparable to its original condition within a reasonable period after decay or partial destruction except where repair involves total replacement which is not common practice or causes substantial adverse effects to the regulated critical area. “Normal repair” does not include placement of fill; further excavation of native soils; or clearing and grading of previously undisturbed soils or slopes.

(45) “Open space” means lands which are in a natural or undeveloped character because they have not been developed with structures, paving or other appurtenances. Open space lands can include: parks, recreation areas, conservation easements, critical area buffers, or tracts or commons designated as open space through a land division.

(46) “Ordinary high water mark” means the mark on all lakes, streams and tidal waters which will be found by examining the beds 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 conditions existed on the effective date of this chapter, as it may naturally change thereafter, or as it may have changed 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.

(47) “Performance standard” or “protection standard” means a measure, control, procedure, or process to ensure that critical areas are protected. For the purposes of this chapter, these terms have the same meaning as regulation.

(48) “Person” means any individual or public or private entity (i.e., corporations).

(49) “Pond” means a naturally existing or artificially created body of standing water less than 20 acres in size and not defined as “shorelines of the State” by Chapter 90.58 RCW (Shoreline Management Act). Ponds can include reservoirs which exist on a year-round basis and occur in a depression of land or expanded part of a stream. A pond is bounded by the ordinary high water mark or the extension of the elevation of the pond’s ordinary high water mark within the stream, where the stream enters the pond.

(50) “Practicable alternative” means an alternative that is available and capable of being carried out after taking into consideration cost, existing technology, and logistics in light of overall project purposes, and having less impact to critical areas. It may include an area not owned by the applicant which could reasonably have been or be obtained, utilized, expanded, or managed in order to fulfill the basic purpose of the proposed activity.

(51) “Priority habitat” means a seasonal range or habitat element with which a given species has a primary association, and if altered, may reduce the likelihood that the species will maintain and reproduce over the long term. These might include areas of high relative density or species richness, breeding, nesting, feeding, foraging, and migratory habitat, winter range, movement corridors, and/or habitats that are of limited availability or high vulnerability to alteration. Priority habitats are established by the Washington Department of Wildlife within their Priority Habitats and Species Data Base.

(52) “Priority species” include those which are State-listed endangered, threatened, sensitive, candidate and monitor species as well as priority game and nongame species under Chapter 232-12 WAC.

(53) “Public facilities” means buildings or uses of land whether owned or leased, operated by a public agency for such purposes as providing places for public assembly and recreation, operating services of benefit to the public, or for the administration of public affairs.

(54) “Public utility” means a business or service, either governmental or having appropriate approval from the State, which is engaged in regularly supplying the public with some commodity or service which is of public consequence and need such as electricity, gas, sewer and/or wastewater, water, transportation or communications.

(55) “Ravine” means a landform usually having little or no floodplain that develops adjacent to a stream, and has relatively steep side walls composed of unconsolidated materials or surficial deposits.

(56) “Reasonable alternative” means an activity that could feasibly attain or approximate a proposal’s objectives, but at a lower environmental cost or decreased level of environmental degradation. Reasonable alternatives may be those over which the regulatory authority has authority to control impacts.

(57) “Recreational vehicle” means a vehicle which is: built on a single chassis; 400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection; designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use; provided, that the RV is not attached to any structure, including but not limited to decks, structures, additions, and storage buildings, regardless of size.

(58) “Regional trail” means a public trail system that crosses between regional planning areas or jurisdictions, such as other counties, cities, or tribal reservations.

(59) “Regulated use or activity” means any development proposal located within the jurisdiction of a regulated critical area which includes or directly affects a critical area or its buffer or is adjacent to a critical area. (See definition of adjacent and development.)

(60) “Restoration” means the return of a critical area (e.g., stream or wetland) to a state in which its functions and values approach its unaltered state as closely as possible.

(61) Review Authority. The “review authority” for this chapter is the applicable decision-maker for the specific task or permit decision, which may be the Board of Commissioners, the Clallam County Hearing Examiner, or the Administrator of the Department of Community Development, as prescribed by this chapter and/or Chapter 26.10 CCC, Consolidated Development Permit Process Code.

(62) “Road” or “street” means any vehicular right-of-way which: (a) is an existing State, County or municipal roadway, (b) is a publicly owned easement, (c) is shown upon a land division pursuant to Clallam County Land Division Code (CCC Title 29), or (d) is a private access greater than 50 feet in length serving more than one property through right of use or easement. The road or street shall include all land within the boundaries of the road right-of-way.

(63) “Salmonid” means a member of the fish family salmonidae. In Clallam County these include chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink salmon; rainbow, steelhead, cutthroat trout; brown trout; Brook and Dolly Varden char, kokanee, and whitefish.

(64) “Site investigation” means work necessary for land use application submittals such as surveys, soil logs, percolation tests or other related activities.

(65) “Special flood hazard areas” means the floodway and adjoining land area. In a riverine system, this area is subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any year, as determined by engineering studies acceptable to Clallam County. The coastal high hazard areas are included within special flood hazard areas. Special flood hazard areas are designated on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps as A and V zones.

(66) “Species of concern” means species classified as endangered, threatened, sensitive, candidate, or monitored by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife under Chapter 232-12 WAC. Monitored species shall include those species that are of special interest because they were at one time classified as endangered, threatened, or sensitive species that require habitat of limited availability during some portion of their life cycle.

(67) “Substantial improvements” means any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure either before the improvement or repair is started, or if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, or before the damage occurred. For the purposes of this definition, “substantial improvement” is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. However, this term does not include: any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions, or any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a State Inventory of Historic Places.

(68) Stream Types. For the purposes of this chapter, artificially created water conveyances, such as irrigation ditches, constructed in areas not already containing naturally flowing waters, are not classified as streams.

(69) “Structure” means a permanent or temporary edifice or building, or any piece of work artificially built or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner, whether installed, on, above, or below the surface of the ground or water.

(70) “Toe of slope” means the lowermost topographic break in slope. Where no distinct break exists, this point shall be the lowermost limit of the landslide hazard area as defined and classified by this chapter.

(71) “Top of slope” means the highest topographic break in slope. Where no distinct break in slope exists this point shall be the uppermost limit of the landslide hazard area as defined and classified by this chapter.

(72) “Unavoidable and necessary impacts” means those impacts to critical areas that remain after a person proposing to alter such an area has demonstrated that no practicable alternative exists for the proposed project.

(73) “Utility” means a fixed improvement which contains or conveys power, gas, oil, water, sewage, surface drainage, or communication signals.

(74) “Water-dependent uses” means a use or portion of a use that cannot logically exist in any other location and is dependent on the water by reason of the intrinsic nature of its operation. Water-dependent uses include, but are not limited to: aquaculture, boat launch facilities, ferry terminals, hydroelectric power plants, marinas, marine construction, dismantling and repair, marine and limnological research and education, private and public docks, terminal and transfer facilities for marine commerce and industry, water intakes and outfalls, log booming, tug and barge facilities, residential appurtenances such as beach access ramps and walkways, observation decks and platforms, picnic sites, and gazebos/shelters less than 250 square feet in size.

(75) “Water-related uses” means a use or portion of a use that is not intrinsically dependent on a waterfront location, but which includes operations that cannot occur economically without a shoreline location or without close proximity to water-dependent uses. Water-related uses include, but are not limited to: warehousing or storage facilities; support services for fish hatcheries; seafood processing plants; wood products manufacturing; log storage; watercraft sales; boating supplies.

(76) “Watershed” means the interconnected system of surface and near-surface water bodies that drain to a common outlet.