Article III Categorical Exemptions and Threshold Determinations

The town of Concrete establishes the following exempt levels for minor new construction under WAC 197-11-800(1)(c) based on local conditions:

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

For agricultural structures in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(ii): up to 10,000 square feet.

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

(d)

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

(e)

For landfills and excavations in WAC 197-11-800(1)(b)(v): up to 100 cubic yards.

Whenever the town of Concrete 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. 436 § 9, 1999)

§ 16.04.100 Use of exemptions.

Each department within the town of Concrete 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 town of Concrete 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.

(3)

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

The town of Concrete 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 action(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. 436 § 10, 1999)

§ 16.04.110 Environmental checklist.

Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, 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 town of Concrete and applicant agree an EIS is required, SEPA compliance has been completed, or SEPA compliance has been initiated by another agency. The town of Concrete shall use the environmental checklist to determine the lead agency and, if the town of Concrete is the lead agency, for determining the responsible official and for making the threshold determination.

A completed environmental checklist shall be filed at the same time as an application for a permit, license, certificate, or other approval not exempted in this chapter; except, a checklist is not needed if the town of Concrete and applicant agree an EIS is required, SEPA compliance has been completed, or SEPA compliance has been initiated by another agency. Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, the checklist shall be in the form of WAC 197-11-960.

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

(3)

The town of Concrete 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 town of Concrete 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. 436 § 11, 1999)

§ 16.04.120 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 town’s/county’s actual threshold determination for the proposal.

(3)

The responsible official should respond to the request for early notice within 14 working days. The response shall:

Be written;

State whether the town of Concrete currently considers issuance of a DS likely and, if so, indicate the general or specific area(s) of concern that is/are leading the town of Concrete to consider a DS; 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 town of Concrete 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 town of Concrete 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 town of Concrete 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 town of Concrete shall issue and circulate a DNS under WAC 197-11-340(2).

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