Chapter 22.24
SHORELINES OF STATEWIDE SIGNIFICANCE – MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES
Sections:
22.24.010 Principles and development guidelines.
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Hood Canal Shoreline of Statewide Significance Policies. |
22.24.010 Principles and development guidelines.
The Shoreline Management Act of 1971 designated certain shoreline areas as shorelines of statewide significance. Shorelines thus designated are important to the entire state. Because these shorelines are major resources from which all people in the state derive benefit, Kitsap County’s master program must give preference to uses which favor public and long-range goals.
Accordingly, Kitsap County’s master program shall give preference to uses which meet the principles outlined below in order of preference.
A. Recognize and Protect the Statewide Interest Over Local Interest.
1. Development Guidelines.
a. Solicit comments and opinions from groups and individuals representing statewide interests by circulating the master program, master program amendments and requests for substantial development permits on shorelines of statewide significance to state agencies, adjacent jurisdictions, citizen’s advisory committees and local officials, and statewide interest groups.
b. Recognize and take into account state agencies’ policies, programs and recommendations in developing and administering use regulations.
c. Solicit comments, opinions and advice from individuals with expertise in ecology, oceanography, geology, limnology, aquaculture, and other scientific fields pertinent to shoreline management.
B. Preserve the Natural Character of the Shoreline.
1. Development Guidelines.
a. Designate environments and use regulations to minimize man-made intrusions on shorelines.
b. Where intensive development already occurs, upgrade and redevelop those areas to reduce their adverse impact on the environment and to accommodate future growth rather than allowing high intensity uses to extend into low intensity use or underdeveloped areas.
c. Ensure that where commercial timber cutting is allowed, as provided in RCW 90.58.150, reforestation will be possible and accomplished as soon as practicable.
C. Result in Long-Term Over Short-Term Benefit.
1. Development Guidelines.
a. Emphasize the preservation of shorelines for future generations. For example, actions that would convert resources into irreversible uses or detrimentally alter natural conditions characteristic of shorelines of statewide significance, should be severely limited.
b. Evaluate the short-term economic gain or convenience of developments in relationship to long-term and potentially costly impairments to the natural environment.
c. Actively promote aesthetic considerations when contemplating new development, redevelopment of existing facilities, or for the general enhancement of shoreline areas.
D. Protect the Resources and Ecology of the Shorelines.
1. Development Guidelines.
a. Leave undeveloped those areas which contain a unique or fragile natural resource.
b. Prevent erosion and sedimentation that would alter the natural function of the water system. In areas where erosion and sediment control practices will not be effective, excavations or other activities which increase erosion are to be severely limited.
c. Restrict or prohibit public access onto areas which cannot be maintained in a natural condition under human uses.
E. Increase Public Access to Publicly Owned Areas of the Shorelines.
1. Development Guidelines.
a. Give priority to developing paths and trails to shoreline areas, linear access along the shorelines, and to developing upland parking.
b. Locate development inland from the ordinary high water mark so that access is enhanced.
F. Increase Recreational Opportunities For the Public On the Shorelines.
1. Development Guidelines.
a. Plan for and encourage development of facilities for recreational use of the shorelines.
b. Reserve areas for lodging and related facilities on uplands well away from the shorelines with provisions for nonmotorized access to the shorelines.
G. Shoreline Areas of Kitsap County Designated as Shorelines of Statewide Significance.
1. Marine Shorelines.
a. Hood Canal – from Foulweather Bluff to the southwestern corner of the boundary of Kitsap County, near Chinum Point (includes tidelands and associated wetlands).
b. Puget Sound – areas lying waterward of Extreme Low Tide (including Hood Canal).
HOOD CANAL SHORELINE OF STATEWIDE SIGNIFICANCE POLICIES
H. Regional Overview.
1. The Hood Canal is a unique resource with unusual marine, mountain, and forest scenic values, fragile water quality, and low flushing rates. Kitsap County recognizes the Canal as a significant marine resource. As such, Kitsap County should work to minimize use conflicts, exercise responsibility toward the Canal’s resources, and require commitment to water-quality preservation.
2. Hood Canal has been designated a Shoreline of Statewide Significance in WAC 173-16-030(13) and WAC 173-16-040(5). The Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) is a regional organization comprised of Jefferson, Kitsap, and Mason County governments, the Point No Point Treaty Council, and affected tribes. The HCCC has been recognized by the state and the counties as having an important role in protecting, enhancing, and restoring the resources of Hood Canal.
3. The public interest in Hood Canal concerns the natural character and the future development. The members of the HCCC should work together to interpret the meaning of the public interest in the Canal.
4. The scope of the public interest concerning the future development of the Canal includes all residents of the state, Indian tribes, the three county governments, and federal, and state-owned lands. In planning for the future development of Hood Canal, substantial weight should be given to public comments during decision-making processes.
I. Finding. The overriding concern is the enhancement and protection of water resources in the Hood Canal watershed. This includes all lands and activities that occur from the peak of the Olympics to the bottom of the Canal, as well as all other lands which drain into the Canal or its tributaries.
J. Resource Goal. In recognition of the resources of Hood Canal, development proposals should be reviewed with respect to preservation of natural resources of the Canal. In addition to development guidelines listed in the beginning of this section, the following policies should specifically apply to development in Hood Canal.
1. Resource Policy 1. Proposals for development within the shoreline jurisdiction of Hood Canal should be required to assess potential for adverse impacts to the following resources: water quality sediment quality, shellfish, fin fish, wildlife, boating, recreational and commercial fishing, public access, scenic vistas, and wetlands. Proposals that significantly interfere with recreational opportunities or significantly degrade the resources of Hood Canal should be prohibited.
2. Resource Policy 2. Developments within the shorelines of Hood Canal which would significantly degrade water or sediment quality, shellfish, fin fish or wildlife habitat, critical habitat, native vegetation, or natural features of the shoreline should be prohibited.
3. Resource Policy 3. Development within shorelines of the Hood Canal which improve water quality, should be encouraged.
K. Development Goal. Ownership of Canal waterfront comes with responsibility. Individuals should conduct development practices as well as maintenance of land with great care as they are an important component of a larger natural system. Development should be limited to those willing to meet or exceed the use policies and development standards of this chapter and the overall Kitsap County Shoreline Management Master Program.
1. Development Standard 1. Subdivisions of property which consist of more than four lots shall be limited to coordinated master plans which provide for significant preservation of shoreline areas. New development which create individual ownership of separate waterfront lots should be discouraged. The shoreline should be preserved as undivided common ownership.
2. Development Standard 2. Developments shall provide buffers of native vegetation, protect water quality, scenic resources, fish and wildlife habitat, and wetlands.
3. Development Standard 3. Developments along the shorelines of Hood Canal which would significantly degrade the scenic quality shall be prohibited unless the impacts can be mitigated by using concepts such as setbacks and buffers of native vegetation.
4. Development Standard 4. Marinas on the Hood Canal shall have facilities for marine sanitation pump-outs, and shall comply with any local or state regulations, whichever is more restrictive. Marinas shall post signs to inform the boaters of the pump-out facility, shall explicitly require the use of the pump-outs as a condition of moorage, and shall provide enforcement procedures.
5. Development Standard 5. Provisions for public access, both visual and pedestrian, shall be an integral part of all coordinated master plans for commercial and residential proposed in Hood Canal. Such access shall be designed to be aesthetically and functionally compatible with adjacent areas.
6. Development Standard 6. Residential development shall preserve shoreline vegetation to control erosion, provide slope stability and maintain water quality.
7. Development Standard 7. Adequate distance between the ordinary high water mark and shoreline development should be maintained to protect water quality, natural systems, and to protect the integrity of the shoreline of Hood Canal.
8. Development Standard 8. Alternative methods of shore protection such as beach enhancement, retention of native vegetation, and increased construction setbacks shall be encouraged.
9. Development Standard 9. Passive, nonstructural aquaculture activities such as traditional shellfish gathering shall be encouraged.
10. Development Standard 10. Habitat enhancement programs such as artificial clam beds and beach enhancement for smelt and herring habitat shall be encouraged.
11. Development Standard 11. Fishery enhancement programs which rely on delayed-release net pens shall be sited at existing marinas, waterward of existing commercial areas, waterward of state-owned upland properties or publicly owned upland facilities where view impact is not a predominant issue. Alternative locations for siting delayed-release net pens shall be considered subject to conditional use permit approval.
12. Development Standard 12. Commercial floating aquaculture shall be prohibited in Hood Canal, in all areas south of the Hood Canal Bridge.
(Res. 27-1999 Exh. A, Part VI, 1999)