Summary

Story

This Condition has been repealed by Ord # 13278 as of October 5, 1998

Description

Clearing and Grading

Development Condition Text

This Condition has been repealed by Ord # 13278 as of October 5, 1998

Clearing and Grading

As a general rule, the vegetation on a development site should be retained as long as possible to reduce impacts. Even after construction has begun, permanent retention of as much of the native vegetation as possible is important and contributes to mitigating the adverse impacts. Native vegetation is adapted to the conditions of the Northwest including summer drought, winter temperatures, insect pests, and diseases. Native vegetation provides food, shelter, and breeding sites to which local wildlife has adapted.

Temporary erosion control and drainage facilities are required to be in place prior to any clearing on a plat. Once the roads and utilities have been constructed and the plat has received final approval, the construction of individual homesites begins. The cumulative sedimentation from the construction of a number of single family homes without erosion control can be significant. Generally, individual single family residential homes fall below the threshold for drainage and erosion control plans pursuant to the Surface Water Design Manual. As a result, erosion and sedimentation control are needed for individual development.

In addition, tighter controls should be placed on the clearing that occurs during the platting process. Under present conditions, sites are often completely cleared very early in the development process, sometimes long before there are any building permits issued for a site. During the time between clearing and site development, substantial erosion and sedimentation can occur. Until there is a need to remove the existing vegetation for construction, the forest should remain in order to protect surface and ground water quality, and to provide wildlife habitat. When construction does occur, the surface water management facilities should be installed first, in order to control the increased surface water flows that will occur when the site is cleared.

Commercial property should not be cleared until after approval of an individual site plan. This delay will allow for integrating the existing vegetation and trees on site into the overall landscape design.

Policy NR-7 states:

NR-7_Clearing and grading should be limited to all short plats, plats, and commercial projects to protect water quality, limit surface water runoff and erosion and maintain wildlife habitat and visual buffers.

The following areawide P-suffix conditions implement policy NR-7. These conditions shall apply throughout the Soos Creek planning area. The conditions shall expire automatically upon the effective date of an adopted Countywide clearing ordinance.

_1._Subdivisions, Short Subdivisions and PUDs. The following conditions apply only to applications for subdivisions, short subdivisions and PUDs. Deviations from these standards may be allowed based on a special study prepared by a qualified forester with expertise in windthrow or tree disease.

_a._Lot clearing during road and utility construction. The building envelope on each buildable lot shall be identified on the engineering plans. The following table specifies the maximum size of the building envelope based on actual average lot size:

___Lot Size (in sq. ft.)_Building Envelope

___Greater than 15,000_5,000 sq. ft.

___9,001-15,000_35% of lot size

___5,000-9,000_45% of lot size

___Less than 5,000_55% of lot size

_Except as provided in subsection 1.b., the clearing of building envelopes shall occur at the same time as the clearing for roads and utilities. The clearing limits for each building envelope shall be clearly marked or flagged on each lot and inspected prior to any clearing. Erosion and sedimentation controls shall be instituted on the building envelopes as required by the Surface Water Design Manual. The vegetation remaining after initial clearing of the building envelope may be preserved or cleared as deemed appropriate by the permittee of the residential building permit for that lot after its approval and issuance.

b._Lot-by-lot clearing. In subdivisions, short subdivisions and PUDs served by on-site septic systems, clearing on individual lots shall be postponed until the approval and issuance of the individual residential building permit for each lot. No clearing on the individual building lots shall occur during the construction of roads and utilities except that necessary to accommodate cuts and fills due to topography and road design. Erosion and sedimentation control plans shall be designed through buildout including sediment pond sizing. All building permits shall have erosion control measures consistent with the Surface Water Design Manual standards.

_In subdivisions, short subdivisions and PUDs served by sewers, the applicant may opt to postpone clearing on individual building lots until the approval and issuance of the individual residential building permits for each lot. Under this option, no clearing on individual building lots shall occur during the construction of roads and utilities except that necessary to accommodate cuts and fills due to topography and road design. Erosion and sedimentation control plans shall be designed through buildout including sediment pond sizing. All building permits shall have erosion control measures consistent with the Surface Water Design Manual standards.

Ordinance

12824

Effective Date

August 18, 1997

Changes

This Condition has been repealed by Ord # 13278 as of October 5, 1998

View Map(s) for SC-P3. (Click on a map name in the list)

Note: If there are more than one map listed below, there may be a map file ending with a "_x" which provides an index for the remainder of the maps.

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