35.40.020 Policies.
(1) This Program should be implemented in a manner that achieves no net loss of shoreline ecological functions. In assessing the potential for new uses and developments to contribute to net loss of ecological functions, all of the following factors shall be taken into account:
(a) The functions and processes at risk at each proposed development site; and
(b) The effects that development could likely have on downstream, down-gradient, or down-drift resources; and
(c) The cumulative effects that development would have when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future development; and
(d) The likely effectiveness of proposed compensatory mitigation measures designed to offset adverse impacts of a given development action and/or use; and
(e) The ability of any unmitigated development impacts to be offset through voluntary restoration actions.
(2) Development proponents should seek the least environmentally damaging, practicable alternatives for site design, construction, and maintenance.
(3) The County should work cooperatively with shoreline property owners and with other local, State, federal, and Tribal resource management agencies to track new development and redevelopment subject to this Program, violations and remediation of violations of SMP permits issued under this Program, and collect information pertaining to environmental indicators. The following specific environmental indicators should be tracked at least once every five years and compared to previous baseline levels when data is reasonably obtainable and publicly available from either governmental sources, the scientific community or aerial imagery:
(a) Percent of mapped feeder bluffs with armoring (percent classified as modified);
(b) Status of salmon stocks;
(c) Status of shellfish beds (frequency of closures);
(d) Length of stream bordered by/confined by levees, excluding setback levees;
(e) Number of over-water structures per mile of shore and number of over-water structures per mile of sediment transport zone;
(f) Length of shoreline tidal barriers;
(g) Percent of aquatic area supporting submerged aquatic vegetation (e.g., kelp, eelgrass);
(h) Percent closed canopy forest within 200 feet of the ordinary high water mark;
(i) Percent impervious surface within 200 feet of the ordinary high water mark; and
(j) Area of developed floodplains/channel migration zone.
(4) The County should use a checklist application form to track new development proposals against the list of indicators in subsection (3) of this section. Changes in indicators should be tracked and monitored at the shoreline reach and watershed scales.
(5) The County should work with other local, State, and federal regulatory agencies and resource management agencies to ensure that efforts to mitigate adverse impacts and restore degraded areas are successful and achieve beneficial ecological outcomes. This includes assisting applicants/proponents in planning, designing, and implementing projects to be consistent with the Program and working cooperatively with stakeholders to implement restoration projects that improve conditions overall.