17.10.100 Agency Compliance.
A. Purpose of this part and adoption by reference. This part contains rules for agency compliance with SEPA, including rules for charging fees under the SEPA process, designating environmentally sensitive areas, listing agencies with environmental expertise, selecting the lead agency, and applying these rules to current agency activities. The City adopts the following sections by reference as supplemented by WAC 173-806-045 through 17-806-043 and this part:
WAC
197-11-900 Purpose Of This Part
197-11-902 Agency SEPA Policies
197-11-916 Application To Ongoing Actions
197-11-920 Agencies With Environmental Expertise
197-11-922 Lead Agency Rules
197-11-924 Determining The Lead Agency
197-11-926 Lead Agency For Governmental Proposals
197-11-928 Lead Agency For Public And Private Proposals
197-11-930 Lead Agency For Private Projects With One Agency with jurisdiction
197-11-932 Lead Agency For Private Projects Requiring Licenses From More Than One Agency, When One Of The Agencies Is A County/City
197-11-934 Lead Agency For Private Projects Requiring Licenses From A Local Agency, Not A County/City, And One Or More State Agencies
197-11-936 Lead Agency For Private Projects Requiring Licenses From More Than One State Agency
197-11-938 Lead Agencies For Specific Proposals
197-11-940 Transfer Of Lead Agency Status To A State Agency
197-11-942 Agreements On Lead Agency Status
197-11-944 Agreements On Division Of Lead Agency Duties
197-11-946 DOE Resolution Of Lead Agency Disputes
197-11-948 Assumption Of Lead Agency Status
B. Environmentally sensitive areas.
1. The City of George shall designate environmentally sensitive areas under the standards of WAC 197-11-908 and shall file maps designating such areas, together with the exemptions from the list in WAC 197-11-908 that are inapplicable in such areas, with Clerk of the City and the Department of Ecology, Headquarters office, Olympia, Washington. The environmentally sensitive area designations shall have full force and effect of law as of the date of filing.
2. The City shall treat proposals located wholly or partially within an environmentally sensitive area no differently than other proposals under this ordinance, making a threshold determination for all such proposals. The City shall not automatically require an EIS for a proposal merely because it is proposed for location in an environmentally sensitive area.
3. Certain exemptions do not apply on lands covered by water, and this remains true regardless of whether or not lands covered by water are mapped.
C. Fees. The City of George shall require the following fees for its activities in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance.
1. Threshold Determination. For every environmental checklist the city will review when it is lead agency, the city shall collect a fee established by a resolution of the council together with all contracted staff review expenses, publication costs and any consultant fees incurred to be able to review the application from the proponent of the proposal prior to undertaking the threshold determination. The time periods provided by this chapter for making a threshold determination shall not begin to run until payment of the fee.
2. Environmental impact statement.
a. When the City is the lead agency for a proposal requiring an EIS and the responsible official determines that the EIS shall be prepared by employees of the City, the City may charge and collect a reasonable fee from any applicant to cover costs incurred by the City in preparing the EIS. The responsible official shall advise the applicant(s) of the projected costs for the EIS prior to actual preparation; ensure payment of such costs.
b. The responsible official may determine that the City will contract directly with a consultant for preparation of an EIS, or a portion of the EIS, for activities initiated by some persons or entity other than the City and may bill such costs and expenses directly to the applicant. The City may require the applicant to post bond or otherwise ensure payment of such costs. Such consultants shall be selected by mutual agreement of the City and applicant after a call for proposals.
c. If a proposal is modified so that an EIS is no longer required, the responsible official shall refund any fees collected under (a) or (b) of this subsection which remain after incurred costs are paid.
3. The City may collect a reasonable fee from an applicant to cover the cost of meeting the public notice requirements of this ordinance relating to the applicant's proposal.
4. The City shall not collect a fee for performing its duties as a consulted agency.
5. The City may charge any person for copies of any document prepared under this ordinance, and for mailing the document in a manner provided by chapter 42.17 RCW.
(Adopted as Ordinance 161, §X [part], October 1984)