17.150.015 Urban conservancy.
(1) Purpose. The purpose of the urban conservancy designation is to protect and restore ecological functions of open space, floodplain and other sensitive lands where they exist in urban and developed settings, while allowing a variety of compatible uses consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. These include areas that are currently or intended for recreational use and for areas identified as having biological or physical limitations or other unique or hazardous characteristics that are incompatible with intense development. Activities permitted in these areas are intended to have minimal adverse impacts upon the shoreline.
(2) Designation Criteria. The urban conservancy environment designation is appropriate for those areas planned for development that are compatible with maintaining or restoring of the ecological functions of the area, and that are not generally suitable for intensive water-dependent uses.
The location of the urban conservancy overlay is as a parallel designation on Church Creek extending landward from the ordinary high water mark to the maximum extent of critical area buffers including fish and wildlife conservation area buffers in Chapter 17.130 SMC, wetland buffers in Chapter 17.125 SMC and geologically hazardous area buffers in Chapter 17.115 SMC.
(3) Management Policies. The following management policies apply to all shorelines in the urban conservancy environment:
(a) Primary allowed uses and their associated development standards should preserve the natural character of the area or promote preservation of open space, floodplain or sensitive lands where they exist in urban and developed settings, either directly or over the long term. Uses that result in restoration of ecological functions should be allowed if the use is otherwise compatible with the purpose of the environment and the setting.
(b) Standards should be established for shoreline stabilization measures, vegetation conservation, water quality, and shoreline modifications within the “urban conservancy” designation. These standards should ensure that new development does not result in a net loss of shoreline ecological functions or further degrade other shoreline values.
(c) Public access and public recreation objectives should be implemented whenever feasible and significant ecological impacts can be mitigated. (Ord. 1373 § 46, 2014).