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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2582 SEPA PoliciesOrdinance No. 2582 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND AMENDING SECTION 19.04.260, SUBSTANTIVE AUTHORITY, CHAPTER 19.04, STATE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF THE PORT TOWNSEND MUNICIPAL CODE, AND ADDING NEW ORDINANCES TO THE CITY ORDINANCES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE AND ADOPTED AS SEPA POLICIES 1. WI-W~REAS, the City has adopted by Ordinance numbers 2578 and 2579, revised and updated code provisions for Right-of-way and Transportation System Improvements (Title 12), and Water, Sewer and Storm Drainage Improvements (Title 13), 2. WHEREAS, Titles 12 and 13, PTMC adopt an Engineering Design Standards Manual, intended to set clear, predictable engineering design standards which balance the initial capital costs of improvements with long term operation and maintenance costs; and 3. WI-W~REAS, in implementing Titles 12 and 13 PTMC, and the Engineering Design Standards Manual it is recognized that while a project or action may not by itself create adverse impacts on the environment or public facilities and services, it may do so when combined with the cumulative effects of prior or simultaneous developments, and/or the probable development of subsequent projects with similar impacts; and 4. WHEREAS, the cumulative effects of a project should include a reasonable assessment of the present and planned capacity of such public facilities as water, sewer, storm drainage, streets, transportation system improvements including motorized and non-motorized travel (such as sidewalks, bikeways and pathways) and parking areas to serve the area affected by the proposal; and 5. WHEREAS, the analysis of cumulative effects should include a reasonable assessment of the demand upon such facilities and services of present, simultaneous and known future development in the area of the project or action; and 6. W~EREAS, it is the City's policy to minimize or prevent adverse parking impacts associated with development projects, so that parking impact mitigations may include mitigation such as incentives for use of alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles, (including the transportation demand management strategies identified in the Comprehensive Plan; and 7. WItEREAS, traffic impacts can adversely affect the stability, safety and character of a neighborhood or surrounding area and it is the City's policy to minimize or prevent such impacts; and 8. WItEREAS, the Port Townsend Comprehensive Plan as implemented by the City's engineering design standards call for decreasing reliance on the single occupant automobile and increased use of alternative transportation modes; and 9. WHEREAS, substantial traffic volumes associated with major projects may adversely impact surrounding areas; and 10. WHEREAS, individual projects may create adverse impacts on transportation facilities which service such projects, and such impacts may result in a need for pedestrian and vehicular improvements, such as changes in access, right-of-way dedication, street widening, turn channelization, provision for non-motorized travel or other improvements proportionate to the impacts of the project; and 11. WHEREAS, individual projects may create adverse impacts on water and sewer utilities which service such projects, and/or create public safety and environmental concerns related to stormwater control and potential flooding problems, and such impacts may result in a need for water and sewer main extension or replacements or other local and regional improvements proportionate to the impacts of the project; and 12. WIIEREAS, a single development, although otherwise consistent with zoning regulations, may create excessive demands upon existing public facilities; and 13. WHEREAS, it is the City's policy to minimize or prevent adverse impacts to existing public services and facilities, so that the decision maker may require, as part of an environmental review of a project, a reasonable assessment of the present and planned condition and capacity of public facilities to serve the area affected by the proposal and, based upon such analyses, a project which would result in adverse impacts on existing public facilities may be conditioned to lessen its demand, may be required to improve such facilities, or may be denied; and 14. WHEREAS, it is appropriate and necessary to adopt Titles 12 and 13 and the Engineering Design Standards Manual to serve as a basis for exercising substantive SEPA authority to the extent that (1) such regulations taken alone do not anticipate or effectively mitigate all adverse environmental impacts; (2) the project creates undue impacts based on cumulative effects as provided for in PTMC 19.04.270; and/or (3) it is necessary to condition a proposal under SEPA to reduce or eliminate its environmental impacts, or to deny a project if an environmental impact statement has been prepared and if reasonable mitigating measures are insufficient to mitigate probable significant, adverse impacts identified in the EIS, NOW, TI-IEREI~RE, the City Council of the City of Port Townsend ordains as follows: 2 Ord. 2582 SECTION 1. Section 19.04.260, Substantive authority, Chapter 19.04, State Environmental Policy Act, of the Port Townsend Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 19.04.260 Substantive authority. A. The policies and goals set forth in this chapter are supplementary to those in the existing authorization of the city. B. The city may attach conditions to a permit or approval for a proposal so long as: 1. Such conditions are necessary to mitigate specific probable adverse environmental impacts identified in environmental documents prepared pursuant to this chapter; and 2. Such conditions are in writing; and 3. The mitigation measures included in such conditions are reasonable and capable of being accomplished; and 4. The city has considered whether other local, state or federal mitigation measures applied to the proposal are sufficient to mitigate the identified impacts; and 5. Such conditions are based on one or more policies in subsection D of this section and identified in writing in the license, permit or other decision document; or 6. Conditions not based on one or more policies in subsection D of this section are voluntarily agreed upon by the proponent. C. The city may deny a permit or approval for a proposal on the basis of SEPA so long as: 1. A finding is made that approving the proposal would result in probable significant adverse environmental impacts that are identified in a FEIS or final SEIS prepared pursuant to this chapter; and 2. A finding is made that there are no reasonable mitigation measures capable of being accomplished that are sufficient to mitigate the identified impact; and 3. The denial is based on one or more policies identified in subsection D of this section and identified in writing in the decision document. D. The city designates and adopts by reference the following policies as the basis for the city's exercise of authority pursuant to this section: 3 Ord. 2582 1. The city shall use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of state policy, to improve and coordinate plans, functions, programs and resources to the end that the state and its citizens may: a. Fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations; b. Assure for all people of Washington safe, healthful, productive and aesthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings; c. Attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without degradation, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable and unintended consequences; d. Preserve important historic, cultural and natural aspects of our national heritage; e. Maintain, wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity and variety of individual choice; f. Achieve a balance between population and resource use which will permit high standards of living and a wide sharing of life's amenities; and g. Enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources. 2. The city recognizes that each person has a fundamental and inalienable right to a healthful environment and that each person has a responsibility to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the environment. 3. The city adopts by reference, and into .rporates herein in their entirety, the following city plans, resolutions, ordinances, standards and codes, as they now exist or may hereafter be amended, as SEPA policies: a. City comprehensive plan and any amendments adopted pursuant thereto; b. City ~ subdivision ordinance (Title 18); c. Port Townsend Shoreline Management Master Program; d. City floodplain management ordinance; e. City building code ordinance (Title 16); 4 Ord. 2582 f. City road, traffic and circulation standards; g. City zoning code ordinance (Title 17); h. Engineering design standards manual; i. Transportation and rights-of-way ordinance .(Title 12); j. Water, sewer and stormwater ordinance .critle 13); k h. Port Townsend Urban Waterfront Plan; 1 i. Field Report by the National Trust for Historic Preservation on the Water Street Historic District; m j. The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings; n k. Port Townsend Streetscape Design Workbook (1987, adopted by Ordinance 2143, 1989); 19.05 PTMC; o t. Port Townsend environmentally sensitive areas ordinance, adopted as Chapter gm. Port Townsend Gateway Development Plan and Concept Plan; q rt. All other city resolutions, ordinances, plans and guidelines effective now or after the date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. (Ord. 2582 § 1, 1997; Ord. 2534 § 1, 1996; Ord. 2367 § 7, 1993). SECTION 2. ft~f, llihil~. If any provision of this ordinance or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance, or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force five days after the date of its publication in the manner provided by law. 5 Ord. 2582 Read for the first, second, and third times and passed by the City Council of the City of Port Townsend, Washington, at a regular meeting thereof, held this 21st day of April, 1997. Julie ~ulloch, M~yor Attest: Approved as to Form: Pam Kolacy, City Clerk n, City Attorney ' 04/14/97 [T-19] Ord\{1904260.doe} 6 Ord.