Title
Critical Areas Ordinance - Habitat and Species Protections for Great Blue Heron
Recommended Action
Recommend to the City Council the additional protections for great blue heron rookeries in Attachment 1 be adopted as a new section of the Olympia critical areas ordinance (OMC 18.32) and shoreline master program
Report
Issue:
Whether to adopt the proposed amendments to the Critical Areas Ordinance, and to the Shoreline Master Program, which include additional protections for locally important species including the Great Blue Heron rookeries.
Staff Contact:
Leonard Bauer, Deputy Director, Community Planning and Development, 360.753.8206
Presenter(s):
Leonard Bauer, Deputy Director, Community Planning and Development
Background and Analysis:
The Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) required the City to update its Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) in 2016 to ensure it was consistent with the Best Available Science (BAS) and to protect anadromous fish. In 2015, the Land Use and Environment Committee (LUEC) directed staff to conduct an update of the City's CAO in two phases:
* Phase 1 - the state-mandated update to include BAS and protect anadromous fish. Phase 1 was completed by City Council adoption of Ordinance 7030 on August 16, 2016 (see Attachment 2).
* Phase 2 - review potential additional protections for locally important habitat and species, including Great Blue Heron.
State law requires that protection measures for critical areas that occur along shorelines must be included in the City's Shoreline Master Program (RCW 36.70A.480). So, to ensure the City's CAO provisions also apply in shoreline areas, the City's Shoreline Master Program (SMP) adopts the CAO by reference. Amendments to the CAO are then also required to be amended into the SMP and approved by the WA Department of Ecology. Therefore, Ordinance 7030 specified that the Phase 1 CAO amendments will be effective upon approval by Ecology.
At its July 11, 2017, meeting, t...
Click here for full text