17.150.013 High intensity environment.
(1) Purpose. The high intensity overlay is an area of high intensity land use including commercial and industrial development. The purpose of this environment is to ensure optimum utilization of shorelines which are either presently or are planned for high intensity commercial, transportation, and industrial uses. Development should be managed so that it enhances and maintains the shorelines for a variety of urban uses with priority given to water-dependent, water-related and water-enjoyment uses while protecting existing ecological functions and restoring ecological functions in areas that have been previously degraded.
(2) Designation Criteria. The primary determinant for designating an area in the high intensity environment is to ensure optimum utilization of shorelines within urbanized areas by providing for intensive public use and by managing development so that it enhances and maintains shorelines for a multiplicity of urban uses.
Criteria for designation are:
(a) Areas of high density commercial and industrial use.
(b) Incorporated areas having intensive shoreline waterfront development.
(c) Areas of low to medium density development contiguous in the urban growth area (UGA) designated for high density urban development and/or annexation.
The location of the high intensity overlay is Stillaguamish River Reaches A through D extending from the SR 532 bridge to the city limits east of Irvine Slough and encompassing lands zoned general commercial and general industrial. It also includes Church Creek Reaches B and C.
(3) Management Policies.
(a) First priority should be given to water-dependent uses. Second priority should be given to water-related and water-enjoyment uses. Non-water-oriented uses should not be allowed except as part of mixed use developments. Non-water-oriented uses may also be allowed in limited situations where they do not conflict with or limit opportunities for water-oriented uses or on sites where there is no direct access to the shoreline and/or where public benefit in the form of public access and/or ecological restoration is provided.
(b) Priority should be given to developing visual and pedestrian access to publicly owned shorelines and tidelands in the high intensity environment.
(c) Where practical, public access points should be linked with nonmotorized transportation routes.
(d) Encourage redevelopment and/or renewal of blighted areas or abandoned structures in order that complete utilization may be made of shoreline resources in the high intensity environment.
(e) Promote aesthetic considerations by means of sign control regulations and architectural standards.
(f) Development should be encouraged to provide management plans which protect the quality of the environment.
(g) Encourage maximum multiple use of high intensity shoreline areas.
(h) Shoreline-dependent commercial and industrial uses should be encouraged to fully utilize those existing high intensity shoreline areas before expansion is allowed into undeveloped areas. (Ord. 1373 § 46, 2014).