“Abandonment” means to cease or discontinue a use or activity without intent to resume, but excluding temporary or short-term interruptions to a use or activity during periods of remodeling, maintaining, or otherwise improving or rearranging a facility, or during normal periods of vacation or seasonal closure.

“Abutting” means having a common border with, or being separated from, such common border by an alley or easement.

“Access” means a way of vehicular ingress and egress to a lot or parcel. For the purpose of this code, a lot shall abut by no less than 20 feet upon and have direct access to: (1) an opened, constructed and maintained public road; or (2) a private road in plat or short plat approved by the city of Stanwood; or (3) an exclusive, unshared, unobstructed permanent access easement at least 20 feet wide.

“Access panhandle” means a strip of land designed to provide access to the lot, tract or parcel being less in width than the minimum lot width allowed under the applicable zoning district.

“Access road” means a private or public road or street that provides direct access from abutting properties to a city collector road, as defined by the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

“Accessory building” means a subordinate building, or portion of the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building on the same lot.

“Accessory dwelling” means a fully independent secondary living unit that is located on the same property as the primary dwelling.

“Accessory structure” means a detached, subordinate structure located on the same lot, the use of which is clearly incidental to that of the main building or to the principal use of the land.

“Accessory use” means uses, facilities and activities normally associated with a use listed as a permitted use in a zone and are permitted as part of that permitted use on the same lot as the principal structure. The accessory use, facility or activity must be clearly secondary to the permitted use. The primary use or activity shall be established before or concurrent with the accessory use or activity.

“Accounting services” means the provision of services that involve the maintenance of accounting records or the preparation of financial statements.

Acre, Gross. See “Gross acre.”

Acre, Net. See “Net acre.”

“Action” means a vote by a quorum of the planning commission or city council upon a motion, proposal, resolution or order, and resulting in a collective decision by a majority of those voting members present. “Action” also means a decision by the planning director or hearing examiner when exercising his or her authority under this code.

“Addition (to an existing building)” means any walled and roofed expansion to the perimeter of a building in which the addition is connected by a common load-bearing wall other than a fire wall. Any walled and roofed addition that is connected by a fire wall or is separated by independent perimeter load-bearing walls is considered to be new construction.

“Adjacent” means that which lies near or close to, not widely separated nor necessarily touching.

“Adjacent property owner” means any property owner of record, according to the records of the county assessor, whose property adjoins or abuts property proposed for a land use action or any portion thereof, or whose property is within 300 feet of the property proposed for a land use action.

“Adjoining” means that which is joined or united, and actually touching.

“Adult bookstore” means an establishment having, as a substantial or significant portion of its stock-in-trade (at least 20 percent of its inventory), books, magazines, tapes, or films that are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to sexual activities or anatomical areas. An adult bookstore shall, for the purposes of this code, be deemed to be an adult entertainment facility.

“Adult entertainment facility” means any business which, as a substantial portion (at least 20 percent) of its operations, offers for sale or viewing for any consideration any photographic or film depictions or devices or paraphernalia that depict or are characterized by an emphasis on the depiction, description, or engagement in specified sexual activities or anatomical areas including male or female sexual organs, buttocks, or female’s breasts. (For the purposes of this definition, the term “paraphernalia” shall not be deemed to include condoms or other birth control measures.)

“Adult family home” means a residential home in which a person or persons provide personal care, special care, room, and board for more than one but not more than six adults who are not related by blood or marriage to the person or persons providing the services. An adult family home may provide services for up to eight adults upon approval from the Department of Social and Health Services under RCW 70.128.066.

“Advertising agency” means a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling promotion for its clients.

“Aesthetics” means a characteristic of development relating to its physical beauty.

“Affordable housing” means any rental or owned dwelling unit which has a monthly payment that is 30 percent or less of the monthly salary of a moderate, low, and/or very low income family. A moderate income family earns 125 percent or less of the area median income established for Stanwood; a low income family earns 80 percent or less; and a very low income family earns 50 percent or less.

“Aggrieved person” means any person, including the applicant, who, in connection with a decision or action of the planning director or the planning commission, hearing examiner, and/or city council on an application for a development permit, takes issue with the decision rendered.

“Agricultural or produce concession stand” means an open air structure, not to exceed 20 feet by 30 feet in its dimensions, and at which fresh eggs, fruits, vegetables, and/or other agricultural products may be sold from local farms to the public.

“Agricultural produce stand” means a farm stand that sells produce including fresh, dried or jarred vegetables and fruits and plants/flowers. See also “Farmer’s market” and “Agricultural or produce concession stand.”

“Agriculture” means the tilling of soil, the raising of crops (except marijuana), horticulture, viticulture, small livestock farming, pasturing, grazing, poultry, dairying and/or animal husbandry, including all uses customarily incidental thereto, except small animal husbandry.

“Agriculture” or “agricultural activities” (SMP) means agricultural uses and practices including, but not limited to: producing, breeding, or increasing agricultural products; rotating and changing agricultural crops; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie fallow (plowed and tilled, but left unseeded); allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant as a result of adverse agricultural market conditions; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant because the land is enrolled in a local, state, or federal conservation program, or the land is subject to a conservation easement; conducting agricultural operations; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural equipment; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural facilities; provided, that the replacement facility is no closer to the shoreline than the original facility; and maintaining agricultural lands under production or cultivation.

Agricultural equipment and agricultural facilities include, but are not limited to:

“Airport” means any area of land or water designed and set aside for the landing and take-off of aircraft, including all necessary facilities for the housing and maintenance of aircraft.

“Alley” means any public thoroughfare having a width of not less than 10 nor more than 20 feet for the use of pedestrians and/or vehicles which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

“Alteration of watercourse” means any action that will change the location of the channel occupied by water within the banks of any portion of a riverine water body.

“Alterations” means any change, addition, or modification of type of occupancy; any change in the structural members of a building such as walls, partitions, columns, beams, girders; or any change which may be referred to herein as “altered” or “reconstructed.”

“Ambient” refers to the surrounding environment, and is an adjective that is generally attached to the term “air quality.” Ambient air quality refers to the condition of the atmosphere within the environs of a particular use or geographic area.

“Amusement park or center” means a group of amusement devices for children and/or adults and their accessory uses. Such a park or center may include miniature golf areas, bumper cars, batting cages, arcades, bumper boats, go-karts, and such similar activities.

“Anadromous fish” means fish that spawn and rear in freshwater and mature in the marine environment. While Pacific salmon die after their first spawning, adult char (bull trout) can live for many years, moving in and out of saltwater and spawning each year. The life history of Pacific salmon and char contains critical periods of time when these fish are more susceptible to environmental and physical damage than at other times. The life history of salmon, for example, contains the following stages: upstream migration of adults, spawning, inter-gravel incubation, rearing, smoltification (the time period needed for juveniles to adjust their body functions to live in the marine environment), downstream migration, and ocean rearing to adults.

“Antique shop” means an establishment selling a relic, work of art, piece of furniture, or decorative object made at an earlier period, including vintage furniture, clothing and household items.

“Apartment” means a set of rooms used as a dwelling by one person or one family.

“Apartment hotel” means an apartment house that furnishes services for the use of its tenants which are ordinarily furnished by hotels, but the privileges of which are not primarily available to the general public.

“Apartment house” means a building or portion of a building arranged or designed to be occupied by three or more families living independently of each other.

“Apparel” means new or used garments and accessories.

“Appeal” means a request for a review of a decision or interpretation of any provision of this code made by an officer, board, or department of the city.

“Appeal” (for the purpose of Chapter 17.120 SMC, Critical Areas – Frequently Flooded Areas – Specific Standards) means a request for a review of the interpretation of any provision of Chapter 17.120 SMC, Critical Areas – Frequently Flooded Areas – Specific Standards, or a request for a variance.

“Applicant” means any person or his or her authorized agent or representative who has applied for a permit and who has a valid, existing legal interest in the property proposed to be developed.

“Appropriate” means anything that is compatible with a facility’s natural, cultural, or recreational resources, recognizing the purpose of the established area.

“Aquaculture” means the regulation and cultivation of water plants and animals for human use or consumption. Aquaculture may include hatcheries, marine crop production and other similar uses that occur in either fresh or salt water.

“Aquaculture” (SMP) means the culture or farming of food fish, shellfish, or other aquatic plants and animals.

“Aquifer” means a groundwater bearing geologic formation or formations that contain sufficient amounts of saturated material to yield water.

“Aquifer recharge area” means a body of permeable materials that collects precipitation or surface water and transmits it to the aquifer.

“Arcade” means:

“Area of shallow flooding” means a designated zone AO or AH, AR/AO or AR/AH (or VO) on a community’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) with base flood depth from a one percent or greater annual chance of flooding to an average depth of one to three feet where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable, and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow. Also referred to as the sheet flow area.

“Area of special flood hazard” means the land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. It is shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) as zone A, AO, AH, A1-30, AE, A99, or AR (V, VO, V1-30, VE). “Special flood hazard area” is synonymous in meaning with the phrase “area of special flood hazard.”

“Art gallery” means a room or building devoted to the exhibition of works of art or an institution or business exhibiting or dealing in works of art.

“Artisan/handicraft studio” means an artist’s or worker’s workroom or an artist and his or her employees or students who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, dance, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, cinematography, animation, radio or television broadcasting, or the making of music.

“Artist and drawing supplies” means materials including paint, paper, clay, wood, synthetics, drawing implements, and accessories used in crafts and scrapbooking and similar products.

“ASCE 24” means the most recently published version of ASCE 24, Flood Resistant Design and Construction, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

“As-graded” means the extent of surface conditions on completion of grading.

“Assessment” means an estimation or determination of the significance, importance, or value of land, buildings, or a proposed development activity.

“Assisted living facility” means any home or other institution, however named, which is advertised, announced or maintained for the express or implied purpose of providing housing, basic services, and assuming general responsibility for the safety and well-being of the residents, and may also provide domiciliary care consistent with Chapter 142, Laws of 2004, to seven or more residents after July 1, 2000. However, an assisted living facility that is licensed for three to six residents prior to or on July 1, 2000, may maintain its assisted living facility license as long as it is continually licensed as an assisted living facility. “Assisted living facility” shall not include facilities certified as group training homes pursuant to RCW 71A.22.040, nor any home, institution or section thereof which is otherwise licensed and regulated under the provisions of state law providing specifically for the licensing and regulation of such home, institution or section thereof. Nor shall it include any independent senior housing, independent living units in continuing care retirement communities, or other similar living situations including those subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Associated Wetland. See “Wetland, associated jurisdictional.”

“Athletic field” means grounds used for playing sports or games generally but not exclusively outdoors. Generally, playing fields are wide expanses of grass, dirt or sand without many obstructions. See also “ball park.”

“Attached dwelling” means a townhouse-style dwelling that occupies space from the ground to the roof and has at least one wall in common with adjoining dwellings.

“Auditor” means the Snohomish County auditor.

“Auto parts” means parts and products for the repair and maintenance of motorized vehicles.

Automobile Parking Area, Private. See “Private automobile parking area.”

Automobile Parking Area, Public. See “Public automobile parking area.”

“Automobile rental agency” means a rental and incidental storage agency which provides motor vehicles including but not limited to motorcycles, passenger cars, watercraft, light trucks, vans, and similar size vehicles which have gross vehicle weights less than 10,000 pounds. This use excludes large vehicle rentals, and large and small vehicle sales.

Automobile Sales and Service Establishments, New or Used. See “New or used automobile sales and service establishments.”

“Automobile service station” means a building or structure designed or used for the retail sale or supply of fuels (stored only as prescribed by existing legal regulations), lubricants, air, water, and other operating commodities for motor vehicles or boats. Automobile service stations may include the following: customary space and facilities for the installation of such commodities on or in such vehicles; space for facilities for the storage, minor repair, or servicing of such vehicles, and space for car washing. It may include limited retail sales of food, groceries, and auto accessories, and eating and drinking establishments. This definition includes automotive fuel dispensing facilities as defined in the IFC.

“Automobile wrecking yard” means any premises devoted to dismantling or wrecking of motor vehicles or trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled or wrecked vehicles or their parts. No body-damaged vehicle or vehicle components exposed to view from a public roadway shall be permitted.

“Automotive repair establishment” means:

“Automotive service” means a category of businesses providing sales, handling, maintaining, repairing and disposing of motorized vehicles.

“Average grade level” (SMP) means the average of the natural or existing topography of the portion of the lot, parcel, or tract of real property which will be directly under the proposed building or structure. In the case of structures to be built over water, average grade level shall be the elevation of the ordinary high water mark. Calculation of the average grade level shall be made by averaging the ground elevations at the midpoint of all exterior walls of the proposed building or structure.

“Awning” means any movable roof-like structure cantilevered, or otherwise entirely supported from a building, so constructed and erected as to permit its being readily and easily moved within a few minutes time to close an opening, or rolled or folded back to a position flat against the building or a cantilevered projection thereof, or which is detachable. (Ord. 1499 § 1 (Exh. A), 2021; Ord. 1486 § 1 (Exh. A), 2020; Ord. 1444 § 1, 2017; Ord. 1376 § 1, 2014; Ord. 1373 § 3, 2014; Ord. 1332 § 3, 2012; Ord. 1294 §§ 5, 6, 2011; Ord. 1264 § 6, 2010; Ord. 1251 § 1, 2009; Ord. 1164 § 4, 2004; Ord. 1110 § 3, 2002; Ord. 1084 § 3, 2000; Ord. 929 Ch. 5, 1995).