Bellevue Planning Commission recommends staff'draft of Critical Areas Ordinance to City Council after heated public hearing

The Bellevue Planning Commission voted Oct. 22 to recommend staff'proposed amendments to the city''Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) to City Council, following a public hearing that drew state wildlife officials, developers and neighborhood residents.

The commission's recommendation, based on the version in staff's packet ("Attachment A"), instructs staff to forward the draft to council for final consideration; commissioners also asked staff to flag questions about wetland-fill flexibility for future council consideration. The motion to recommend carried in a roll-call vote at the end of the hearing.

The draft CAO updates would revise how the city regulates streams, wetlands, critical-aquifer recharge areas and geologic hazards. Among the most consequential changes: the draft splits non-fish-bearing Type N streams into seasonal and perennial categories (proposed buffers: seasonal 50 feet, perennial 75 feet), retains a 150-foot buffer for fish-bearing streams, introduces vegetated-buffer criteria that allow a reduced standard buffer when a restoration planting plan is implemented, updates wetland habitat scoring to align with Department of Ecology guidance, and creates an "innovative mitigation" pathway to allow development flexibility on previously developed sites in exchange for demonstration of equal…