Article IV Categorical Exemptions And Threshold Determinations

Lewis County establishes the following exempt levels for minor new construction under WAC 197-11-800(1)(b) based on local conditions:

For single-family residential dwelling units in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(i): up to four dwelling units;

For multifamily residential units in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(ii): up to 16 units;

For agricultural structures in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(iii): up to 30,000 square feet;

(d)

For office, school, commercial, recreational, service, or commercial storage buildings in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(iv): up to 4,000 square feet and up to 20 parking spaces;

(e)

For personal storage buildings in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(iv): up to 12,000 square feet;

(f)

For parking lots in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(iv): up to 20 parking spaces;

(g)

For fill and excavation in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(v): up to 500 cubic yards.

Whenever the county establishes new exempt levels under this section, it shall send them to the:

Department of Ecology

Headquarters Office

Olympia, Washington 98504

under WAC 197-11-800(1)(c).

(Ord. 1080 § 4(A), 1984; Ord. 1157, 1998; Ord. 1170B, 2000; Ord. 1367 (Exh. C), 2025)

§ 17.110.100 Use of exemptions.

Each department within the county that receives an application for a license or, in the case of governmental proposals, the department initiating the proposal shall determine whether the license and/or the proposal is exempt. The department's determination that a proposal is exempt shall be final and not subject to administrative review. If a proposal is exempt, none of the procedural requirements of this chapter apply to the proposal. The county shall not require completion of an environmental checklist for an exempt proposal.

In determining whether or not a proposal is exempt, the department shall make certain the proposal is properly defined and shall identify the governmental licenses required (WAC 197-11-060). If a proposal includes exempt and nonexempt actions, the department shall determine the lead agency, even if the license application that triggers the department's consideration is exempt.

If a proposal includes both exempt and nonexempt actions, the county may authorize exempt actions prior to compliance with the procedural requirements of this chapter except that:

The county shall not give authorization for:

(i)

Any nonexempt action,

(ii)

Any action that would have an adverse environmental impact, or

(iii)

Any action that would limit the choice of alternatives;

A department may withhold approval of an exempt action that would lead to modification of the physical environment, when such modification would serve no purpose if nonexempt actions(s) were not approved; and

A department may withhold approval of exempt actions that would lead to substantial financial expenditures by a private applicant when the expenditures would serve no purpose if nonexempt action(s) were not approved.

(Ord. 1080 § 4(B), 1984; Ord. 1157, 1998; Ord. 1170B, 2000)

§ 17.110.110 Environmental checklist.

A completed environmental checklist (or a copy) in the form provided in WAC 197-11-960 shall be filed at the same time as an application for a permit, license, certificate, or other approval not specifically exempted in this chapter; except, a checklist is not needed if the county and applicant agree an EIS is required, SEPA compliance has been completed, or SEPA compliance has been initiated by another agency. The county shall use the environmental checklist to determine the lead agency and, if the county is the lead agency, for determining the responsible official and for making the threshold determination.

For private proposals, the county will require the applicant to complete the environmental checklist, providing assistance as necessary. For county proposals, the department initiating the proposal shall complete the environmental checklist for that proposal.

The county may require that it and not the private applicant will complete all or part of the environmental checklist for a private proposal, if either of the following occurs:

The county has technical information on a question or questions that is unavailable to the private applicant; or

The applicant has provided inaccurate information on previous proposals or on proposals currently under consideration.

(Ord. 1080 § 4(C), 1984; Ord. 1157, 1998; Ord. 1170B, 2000)

§ 17.110.120 Mitigated DNS.

As provided in this section and in WAC 197-11-350, the responsible official may issue a DNS based on conditions attached to the proposal by the responsible official or on changes to, or clarifications of, the proposal made by the applicant.

An applicant may request in writing early notice of whether a DS is likely under WAC 197-11-350. The request must:

Follow submission of a permit application and environmental checklist for a nonexempt proposal for which the department is lead agency; and

Precede the county's actual threshold determination of the proposal.

The responsible official should respond to the request for early notice within 10 working days. The response shall:

Be written;

State whether the county currently considers issuance of a DS likely and, if so, indicate the general or specific area(s) of concern that is/are leading the county to consider a DNS; and

State that the applicant may change or clarify the proposal to mitigate the indicated impacts, revising the environmental checklist and/or permit application as necessary to reflect the changes or clarifications.

(4)

As much as possible, the county should assist the applicant with identification of impacts to the extent necessary to formulate mitigation measures.

(5)

When an applicant submits a changed or clarified proposal along with a revised or amended environmental checklist, the county shall base its threshold determination on the changed or clarified proposal and should make the determination within 15 days of receiving the changed or clarified proposal:

If the county indicated specific mitigation measures in its response to the request for early notice, and the applicant changed or clarified the proposal to include those specific mitigation measures, the county shall issue and circulate a DNS under WAC 197-11-340(2);

If the county indicated areas of concern, but did not indicate specific mitigation measures that would allow it to issue a DNS, the county shall make the threshold determination, issuing a DNS or DS as appropriate;

§ 17.110.130 Appeals of threshold determinations.

The applicant's proposed mitigation measures (clarifications, changes or conditions) must be in writing and must be specific. For example, proposals to "control noise" or "prevent stormwater runoff" are inadequate, whereas proposals to "muffle machinery to X decibel" or "construct 200-foot stormwater retention pond at Y location" are adequate;

(d)

Mitigation measures which justify issuance of a mitigated DNS may be incorporated in the DNS by reference to agency staff reports, studies or other documents.

(6)

A mitigated DNS is issued under either WAC 197-11-340(2), requiring a 14-day comment period and public notice, or WAC 197-11-355(5), which may require no additional comment period beyond the comment period on the notice of application.

(7)

Mitigation measures incorporated in the mitigated DNS shall be deemed conditions of approval of the permit decision and may be enforced in the same manner as any term or condition of the permit, or enforced in any manner specifically prescribed by the county.

(8)

If the county's tentative decision on a permit or approval does not include mitigation measures that were incorporated in a mitigated DNS for the proposal, the county should evaluate the threshold determination to assure consistency with WAC 197-11-340 (3)(a) (withdrawal of DNS).

(9)

The county's written response under subsection (2) of this section shall not be construed as a determination of significance. In addition, preliminary discussion of clarifications or changes to a proposal, as opposed to a written request for early notice, shall not bind the county to consider the clarifications or changes in its threshold determination.

(Ord. 1080 § 4(D), 1984; Ord. 1157, 1998; Ord.1170B, 2000; Ord. 1170C § 4, 2001)

Those aggrieved by the requirements, decisions, or determinations made by the responsible official in the completion of the threshold determination process may appeal such decisions to the hearing examiner pursuant to Chapter 2.25 LCC; except, there is no administrative appeal for procedural issues or for substantive issues of a SEPA threshold determination on Type V nonproject actions or Type V site-specific rezone applications.

For proposals which do not involve another agency with jurisdiction, an appeal of a threshold determination must be received by the hearing examiner within 14 calendar days (and not later than 4:00 p.m. on the last day for such filing) of the date of issuance of the threshold determination or, if there is a comment period under WAC 197-11-340, within seven calendar days of the last day of the comment period. If the last day of the appeal period is a holiday or a weekend, the appeal must be filed by 4:00 p.m. on the first weekday following such holiday or weekend.