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A. Exemption Request and Review Process. The proponent of the activity may submit a written request for exemption to the director that describes the activity and states the exemption listed in this section that applies.

The director shall review the exemption request to verify that it complies with this chapter and approve, approve with conditions, or deny the exemption. If the exemption is approved, it shall be placed on file with the department. If the exemption is denied, the proponent may continue in the review process and shall be subject to the requirements of this chapter.

Exemptions within this section do not exempt any development, activity, or use in a special flood hazard area from complying with all applicable requirements of Article XIII of this chapter.

B. Exempt Activities and Impacts to Critical Areas. All exempted activities shall use reasonable methods to avoid potential adverse impacts to critical areas. Exemption from this chapter does not give permission to degrade a critical area or ignore risk from natural hazards. Any incidental damage to, or alteration of, a critical area that is not a necessary outcome of the exempted activity shall be restored, rehabilitated, or replaced at the responsible party’s expense.

C. Exempt Activities. The following developments, activities, and associated uses shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter; provided, that they are otherwise consistent with the provisions of other local, state, and federal laws and requirements:

1. Emergencies. Those activities necessary to prevent an immediate threat to public health, safety, or welfare, or that pose an immediate risk of damage to private property and that require remedial or preventative action in a timeframe too short to allow for compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

Emergency actions that create an adverse impact to a critical area or its buffer shall use reasonable methods to address the emergency; in addition, they must have the least possible impact to the critical area or its buffer. The person or agency undertaking such action shall notify the city within one working day following commencement of the emergency activity. Within 30 days, the director shall determine if the action taken was within the scope of the emergency actions allowed in this subsection. If the director determines that the action taken, or any part of the action taken, was beyond the scope of an allowed emergency action, then enforcement provisions of BMC 14.04.260, Unauthorized critical area alterations and enforcement, shall apply.

After the emergency, the person or agency undertaking the action shall fully fund and conduct necessary restoration and/or mitigation for any adverse impacts to the critical area and buffers resulting from the emergency action in accordance with an approved critical areas report and mitigation plan. The person or agency undertaking the action shall apply for review, and the alteration, critical areas report, and mitigation plan shall be reviewed by the city in accordance with the review procedures contained herein. Restoration and/or mitigation activities must be initiated within one year of the date of the emergency, and completed in a timely manner;

2. Operation, Maintenance, or Repair. Operation, maintenance, or repair of existing structures, infrastructure improvements, utilities, public or private roads, dikes, levees, or drainage systems, that do not require construction permits, if the activity does not further alter or increase the impact to, or encroach further within, the critical area or buffer and there is no increased risk to life or property as a result of the proposed operation, maintenance, or repair. Operation and maintenance includes vegetation management performed in accordance with best management practices that is part of ongoing maintenance of structures, infrastructure, or utilities; provided, that such management actions are part of regular and ongoing maintenance, do not expand further into the critical area, are not the result of an expansion of the structure or utility, and do not directly impact an endangered or threatened species;

3. Passive Outdoor Activities. Recreation, education, and scientific research activities that do not degrade the critical area, including fishing, hiking, and bird watching. Public and private pedestrian trails are not exempt activities and are regulated according to BMC 14.04.150(C)(5);

4. Forest Practices. Forest practices regulated and conducted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 76.09 RCW and forest practices regulations, WAC Title 222, and those that are exempt from city jurisdiction; provided, that forest practice conversions are not exempt;

5. Agricultural Activities. The following agricultural activities in existence and ongoing on the date this chapter becomes effective:

a. Livestock grazing; provided, that water quality associated with any critical area is not degraded beyond its existing status on the date the ordinance codified in this chapter becomes effective. Administrative rules shall address access to streams for watering purposes, stream crossing requirements and use of natural barriers and vegetative buffering in lieu of fencing. In no case, however, shall any kind of fencing or natural materials be located closer to a critical area than its buffer edge;

b. Mowing of hay, grass or grain crops;

c. Tilling, discing, planting, seeding, harvesting and related activities for pasture, food crops, grass seed or sod; provided, that such activities shall not involve the conversion of any critical area not currently under agricultural use;

d. Normal and routine maintenance of existing agricultural irrigation and drainage ditches; provided, however, that this exception shall not apply to any ditches used by salmonids. The expansion of an existing drainage or irrigation system or the installation of a new drainage or irrigation system shall not be deemed “normal and routine maintenance” as referred to in this section;

e. Normal and routine maintenance of farm ponds and fish ponds; provided, that such activities shall not involve conversion of any critical area not currently being used for such activity.

Activities on areas lying fallow as part of a conventional rotational cycle are part of an ongoing operation. Activities which bring an area into new agricultural use are not part of an ongoing operation. An operation ceases to be ongoing when the area on which it was conducted has been converted to another use or has lain idle so long that modifications to the hydrological regime are necessary to resume operations. (Ord. 2315 § 5, 2020; Ord. 2010 § 1 (Exh. B), 2009; Ord. 1946 § 3, 2005).