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(1) “Adequate public facilities” means facilities which have the capacity to serve development without decreasing levels of service below minimums established in the Capital Facilities Plan.

(2) “Affordable housing” refers to housing which costs no more than 33 percent of the income of very low, low, and moderate income families, defined as:

(a) “Very low income” shall mean those households that have incomes that are below 50 percent of the County-wide median.

(b) “Low income” shall mean those households that have incomes that are between 50 and 80 percent of the County-wide median.

(c) “Moderate income” shall mean those households that have incomes within the range of 80 to 95 percent of the County-wide median.

(3) “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.

(4) “Archaeological resources” or “archaeological significance” means real property, including, but not limited to, submerged and submersible lands and the bed of the sea within the State’s jurisdiction, that contains archaeological objects. “Archaeological object” means an object that comprises the physical evidence of an indigenous and subsequent culture including material remains of past human life including monuments, symbols, tools, facilities, and technological by-products. (Source: RCW 27.53.030)

(5) “Available for occupancy” refers to when public facilities and services necessary to support development must be adequate. For the purposes of this Comprehensive Plan, available for occupancy shall mean when a building permit required for new construction is required pursuant to the International Building Code, as now or hereafter amended. The term “building permit,” as used herein, shall not be deemed to include permits required for remodeling, rehabilitation, or other improvements to an existing structure or rebuilding a damaged or destroyed structure, provided there is no increase in gross floor area or number of dwelling units resulting therefrom. In those instances where a change in land use does not require a building permit, “available for occupancy” shall refer to final development permits, such as land divisions or binding site plans, that require public facilities and services to support the development.

(6) “Available public facilities” means that facilities or services are in place or that a financial commitment is in place to provide the facilities or services within a specific time.

(7) “Best conventional technology” is defined as the application of control technology on conventional pollutants that is reasonably available considering technological and economic feasibility. It is determined on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the impact, the availability of additional controls, the reduction to be achieved, the capital and operating costs, and the impact of additional controls on environmental quality (i.e., does it make an appreciable difference). Best conventional technology can include procedures (such as stormwater plans, maintenance schedules, and best management practices; as well as infrastructure) like constructed wetlands, alternative sewage disposal systems, and treatment plants.

(8) “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.

(9) “Comprehensive Plan” means a generalized coordinated land use policy statement of the County adopted pursuant to the Clallam County Charter, Growth Management Act of 1990 (Chapter 36.70A RCW) and the Planning Enabling Act (Chapter 36.70 RCW).

(10) “Concurrency” means that capital facilities necessary to serve development, as identified in the capital facilities element of the Comprehensive Plan, are available to serve new development no later than the impacts of the new development, except that adequate roads and other County capital facilities identified in the capital facilities element shall be available no later than six years after the impacts of development.

(11) “County-wide Planning Policy” is a written policy statement or statements used solely for establishing a County-wide framework from which County and city comprehensive plans are adopted pursuant to the Growth Management Act. This framework shall ensure that city and County comprehensive plans are consistent as required in RCW 36.70A.100. The legislative authority of the County shall adopt this policy in cooperation with the cities within the County. Nothing in this policy shall be construed to alter the land use powers of cities.

(12) “Critical aquifer recharge areas” includes those land areas which contain hydrogeologic conditions which facilitate aquifer recharge and/or transmitting contaminants to an underlying aquifer.

(13) “Critical areas” includes 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.

(14) “Cultural resources” are those tangible and intangible aspects of cultural systems, both past and present, that are valued by or representative of a given culture, or that contain information about a culture. Tangible cultural resources include, but are not limited to, sites, structures, districts, landscapes, objects, historic documents, natural resources, physical features regarded as sacred and/or places of worship and ceremony.

(15) “Development regulations” means any controls placed on development or land use activities by the County, including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, land division ordinances, critical or sensitive area ordinances, and binding site plan ordinances.

(16) “Development rights” refers to an interest held by a property owner and called the “fee simple” interest. This interest is like a bundle of sticks, each of which represents a right associated with the property. Such rights might include the right to farm, to extract minerals, to cut timber, to build residential structures, to build commercial developments, and to do anything else with the property unless prohibited by law. These rights can be separated from the “dominant estate” and transferred to other parties as “less-than-fee interests.” An easement is one such less-than-fee interest; conveying development rights to another parcel is another way; and purchasing the development rights at appraised value may be another way. Development rights can be diminished or taken away by regulation, within constitutional limits, or can be condemned when purchased at appraised value.

(17) “Essential public facilities” means facilities that are typically difficult to site, such as airports, State education facilities, and State or regional transportation facilities as defined in RCW 47.06.140, State and local correctional facilities, solid waste handling facilities, and in-patient facilities including substance abuse facilities, mental health facilities, group homes, and secure community transition facilities as defined in RCW 71.09.020.

(18) “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.

(19) “Geologic hazardous areas” means those areas susceptible to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events.

(20) “Historical resources” or “historical significance” means real property together with improvements thereon, except property listed in a register primarily for objects buried below ground, which has historic significance and which is listed in a local register, State or National Register of Historic Places. “Historical significance,” used in this context, means a property which helps in the understanding of the history of the local area, state, or nation (whichever is appropriate) by illuminating the local, State-wide, or nation-wide impact of the events or persons associated with the property, or its architectural type or style in information potential.

(21) “Home enterprise” is a revenue generating enterprise which is located in a dwelling and is subordinate to and incidental to the residential use of the dwelling.

(22) “Home-based industry” is a commercial, manufacturing or processing business located on a parcel together with an existing dwelling. The industry is located in a fully enclosed building separate from the dwelling and no larger than 2,000 square feet, limited to no more than two part-time or full-time employees other than the owner.

(23) “Level of service” means an established minimum capacity of public facilities or services that must be provided per unit of demand or other appropriate measure of need. Typically, measures of levels of service are expressed as ratios of facility capacity to demand (i.e., actual or potential users).

(24) “Long-term commercial significance” includes (or signals) the growing capacity, productivity, and soil composition of the land for sustained commercial production, in consideration of the land’s proximity to population areas, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land. Long-term commercial significance means the land is capable of producing the specified natural resources at commercially sustainable levels for at least the 20-year planning period if adequately conserved. Designated mineral resource lands of long-term commercial significance may have alternative post-mining land uses, as provided by the Surface Mining Reclamation Act, Comprehensive Plan and development regulations, or other laws.

(25) “Master planned resort” refers to a development which may be permitted and which constitutes urban growth outside of urban growth areas. A master planned resort means a self-contained and fully integrated planned unit development, in a setting of significant natural amenities, with primary focus on destination resort facilities consisting of short-term visitor accommodations associated with a range of developed on-site indoor or outdoor recreational facilities.

(26) “Mineral resource lands” means lands primarily devoted to the extraction of minerals or that have known or potential long-term commercial significance for the extraction of minerals.

(27) “Mitigation” means:

(a) Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action;

(b) Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation;

(c) Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment;

(d) Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action;

(e) Compensating for the impact by replacing, enhancing, or providing substitute resources or environments; and/or

(f) Monitoring the impact and taking appropriate corrective measures.

(28) “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.

(29) “Public services” include fire protection and suppression, law enforcement, public health, education, recreation, environmental protection, and other governmental services.

(30) “Regional comprehensive plans” or “subarea plans” refers to one of four geographic areas addressed in a comprehensive plan which provides specific guidelines for land uses, public facilities and services, transportation, environmental protection, and other elements of the comprehensive plan, not addressed in the County-wide Comprehensive Plan. Regional comprehensive plans provide opportunities for making local decisions consistent with County-wide Plan objectives.

(31) “Rural areas” or “rural land” means land located outside of designated urban growth areas and outside of designated agricultural, forest, and mineral resource lands of long-term significance under this Comprehensive Plan.

(32) “Rural character” means the existing and preferred patterns of land use and development established for lands designated as rural areas or lands under this Comprehensive Plan. Rural characteristics include, but are not limited to:

(a) Open fields and woodlots interspersed with homesteads and serviced by small rural commercial clusters; and

(b) Low residential densities, small-scale agriculture, woodlot forestry, wildlife habitat, clean water, clean air, outdoor recreation, and low traffic volumes; and

(c) Areas in which open space, the natural landscape, and vegetation predominate over the built environment; and

(d) Lifestyles and economies common to areas designated as rural areas and lands under this Plan; and

(e) Visual landscapes that are traditionally found in areas designated rural areas and lands under this Plan; and

(f) Areas that are compatible with the use of the land by wildlife and for fish and wildlife habitat; and

(g) Areas that reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land into sprawling, low-density development; and

(h) Areas that generally do not require the extension of urban governmental services; and

(i) Areas that are consistent with the protection of natural surface water flows and ground water and surface water recharge and discharge areas.

(33) “Rural development” means 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.

(34) “Rural governmental services” or “rural services” means 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).

(35) “Shall” means the statement is mandatory, and the action so stated is required to be done without discretion by decision-makers. The use of “shall” in a statement indicates that the action is imperative and ministerial.

(36) “Should,” when used in a statement, indicates a preference, recommendation or exhortation rather than a mandate or requirement and is a synonym for “may.”

(37) “Thirty-year supply of construction aggregates” means the quantity (as estimated by County personnel) of construction aggregates estimated to be needed by governmental and private consumers of that product during a particular 30-year planning period. Such an estimate of supply and demand for construction aggregate shall be prepared periodically, but not more frequently than once every seven years, and will be based, in part, on existing surface mine operations possessing a valid DNR reclamation permit.

(38) “Transportation facilities” includes capital facilities related to air, water or land transportation.

(39) “Urban growth areas” means those areas designated by Clallam County pursuant to the policies in the County-wide Planning Policy and the Comprehensive Plan.

(40) “Urban growth” means 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, 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.

(41) “Urban services” include those services historically and typically delivered by cities or other identified service provider, such as a utility district, and which at a minimum include the provisions for sanitary waste, solid waste disposal systems, water systems, urban roads and pedestrian facilities, public transportation systems, stormwater systems, police and fire and emergency service systems, electrical and communication systems, school and health care facilities, and neighborhood and/or community parks.

(42) “Wetlands” includes those 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. Regulated wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands 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. Wetlands created as mitigation and wetlands modified for approved land use activities shall be considered as regulated wetlands.