14.50.060.01 Extent of shoreline jurisdiction.
The SMA defines the extent of the geographic area in the city subject to the SMP, referred to in the SMP as the city’s shoreline jurisdiction. According to RCW 90.58.030, the SMP applies to the following shorelines of the state within the city:
A. The area between the ordinary high water mark (OHWM) and the western boundary of the state from Cape Disappointment on the south to Cape Flattery on the north, including harbors, bays, estuaries and inlets.
B. Segments of streams or rivers where the mean annual flow is more than twenty (20) cubic feet per second.
C. Lakes and reservoirs twenty (20) acres and greater in area.
D. Shorelands adjacent to these water bodies. These include:
1. Lands extending landward for two hundred (200) feet in all directions as measured on a horizontal plane from the OHWM;
2. Adopted Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) floodways and contiguous floodplain areas landward two hundred (200) feet from such adopted FEMA floodways; and
3. All wetlands and river deltas associated with the streams, lakes and tidal waters subject to the SMA.
The following water bodies are subject to the city’s SMP: Grays Harbor, the Chehalis River, Lake Aberdeen, the Wishkah River, Wedekind Creek, the Wynoochee River, Charley Creek, tidal portions of Fry Creek and Newskah Creek.
The city, as recommended by the CAC and approved by the city council, did not choose to include additional areas in shoreline jurisdiction during the SMP planning process. These additional areas included the following:
•The area beyond the minimum shorelands along stream corridors as defined in the SMA.
•The “…land necessary for buffers for critical areas as defined in Chapter 36.70A RCW that occur within shorelines of the state.”
The extent of shoreline jurisdiction in the city is depicted on the official shoreline maps included in SMP Appendix 1: Shoreline Environment Designation Maps (Section 14.50.900). The maps only approximately represent the lateral extent of shoreline jurisdiction. The actual lateral extent of shoreline jurisdiction shall be determined on a case-by-case basis established by the location of the OHWM, the floodway, which is defined as the adopted FEMA floodways, adopted floodplains and the presence of associated wetlands. In circumstances where shoreline jurisdiction does not include an entire parcel, only that portion of the parcel and any use, activity or development on that portion of the parcel within shoreline jurisdiction is subject to the SMP.
The actual location of the OHWM, floodway, floodplain and wetland boundaries shall be determined at the time a development is proposed.