“Easement” means a right granted by a property owner to specifically named parties or to the public for the use of certain land for specified purposes. Where appropriate to the context, “easement” may also refer to the land covered by the grant. This may include access, pedestrian paths, bicycle paths, utility easements, drainage, open space, etc.

“Ecological function” (SMP) means the work performed or role played by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the maintenance of the aquatic and terrestrial environments that constitute an element of a natural ecosystem.

“Ecosystem” means a characteristic assemblage of plant and animal life within a specific physical environment, and all interactions among species, and between them and their environment.

“Efficiency dwelling unit” means a dwelling unit consisting of one room exclusive of bathroom, kitchen, hallway, closets, or dining alcove, whether or not directly off the principal room.

“Effluent” means wastewater discharged by a collection network, various wastewater treatment units, or a wastewater treatment plant; also, the product discharged or emerging from a wastewater treatment process.

“Electrical and electronic goods” means consumer electronics intended for everyday use and most often used in entertainment, communications, and office productivity.

“Electrical and plumbing supplies” means fixtures and accessories used as part of lighting, mechanical, drainage, or sewage systems necessary for building or operating those systems and manufactured and sold as parts.

“Electrical generating plant” means an establishment or utility that provides electricity.

“Electrical substation” means a facility that provides transmission and distribution of electric power. The facility may also include areas to support the substation operations and may include storage laydown yards, storage buildings, maintenance buildings, or vehicle parking areas.

“Electrical transmission lines” means lines which connect the power produced at generating facilities to substations.

“Elementary school” means any school, public or private, intended for the education of children from kindergarten through the fifth grade.

“Elevated building” means, for insurance purposes, a nonbasement building that has its lowest elevated floor raised above ground level by fill, solid foundation perimeter wall, shear walls, posts, piers, pilings, or columns.

“Elevation” means:

“Elevation certificate” means an administrative tool of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that can be used to provide elevation information, to determine the proper insurance premium rate, and to support a request for a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Revision based on fill (LOMR-F).

“Emergency” means an unexpected situation that poses an immediate danger to life, health, or property and demands immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss or damage to life, health, property, or essential public services.

“Emergency hazardous situation” means a condition that is an immediate and substantial danger to human health, safety, or welfare, or to the environment.

“Emergency shelter” means a facility whose primary purpose is to provide housing for individuals and families in the event of an emergency or an emergency hazardous situation.

“Emergent wetland” means a regulated wetland with at least 30 percent of the surface area covered by erect, rooted, herbaceous vegetation extending above the water surface as the uppermost vegetative strata.

“Eminent domain” means the authority of the city of Stanwood or other government agency to take, or to authorize the taking of, private property for public use with just compensation to the owner.

“Employment services” means a business that provides beneficial services and activities to assist individuals in securing employment or acquiring learning skills that promote opportunities for employment.

“Enhanced service facility” means a residential facility licensed by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services and as defined by RCW 70.97.010(11) or as amended by the State Legislature. “Enhanced service facility” (ESF) means a residential facility that provides services to persons for whom acute inpatient treatment is not medically necessary and who have been determined by the Department of Social and Health Services to be inappropriate for placement in other licensed facilities due to complex needs. In accordance with WAC 388-107-0700, three types of enhanced service facilities are based off of building occupancy requirements:

“Enlargement” means an addition to the floor area of an existing building, an increase in the size of any other structure, or an increase in that portion of a tract of land occupied by an existing use.

“Environment” means the physical, social and economic conditions that exist within the area which will be affected by a proposed project.

“Environmental impact assessment or statement” means an informational report prepared by an applicant for a proposed development and made available to public agencies and the general public that, when required by this code, shall be considered by the planning director prior to approval or disapproval of an application for a development permit. Such report shall include detailed information about the existing environment in the area of a proposed development; the effects that a proposed development is likely to have on the natural and human environment; an analysis and description of ways in which the significant adverse impacts of such development are proposed to be mitigated and minimized; and an identification and analysis of reasonable alternatives to such development.

“Equipment and machinery storage” means an establishment handling heavy machinery used in agriculture, trucking, industry and manufacturing, and providing short-term storage in addition to sales. The use occurs both indoors and outdoors, and may include storage yards.

“Erected” includes built, constructed, reconstructed, moved upon, or any physical operations on the premises required for the building. Excavations, fill, drainage, paving, and the like shall be considered within the definition of “erected.”

“Erosion” means the detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, and/or gravity.

“Espresso stand” means restaurants specializing in coffee brewed by forcing steam or hot water through finely ground darkly roasted coffee beans, tea products and accessory baked goods.

Essential Facility. This term has the same meaning as “essential facility” defined in ASCE 24. Table 1-1 in ASCE 24-14 further identifies building occupancies that are essential facilities.

“Establishment” means an economic unit, generally at a single physical location, where business is conducted or services are offered.

“Event concession stand” means an open air structure, not to exceed 20 feet by 30 feet in its dimensions, at which food and other concessions are sold at sporting, school or community events.

“Existing manufactured home park or subdivision” means a manufactured home park or subdivision for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including, at a minimum, the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads) is completed before the effective date of the floodplain management regulations adopted by the community.

“Expansion to an existing manufactured home park or subdivision” means the preparation of additional sites by the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads). (Ord. 1499 § 1 (Exh. A), 2021; Ord. 1486 § 1 (Exh. A), 2020; Ord. 1373 § 7, 2014; Ord. 1294 § 5, 2011; Ord. 1164 § 4, 2004; Ord. 1110 § 3, 2002; Ord. 929 Ch. 5, 1995).