State wildlife agency urges Renton to adopt 100‑foot stream buffers during critical areas update

Gloria Grover of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife told the Renton City Council that DFW was unable to comment at the planning commission hearing and urged the city to incorporate stronger buffers into its Critical Areas Ordinance update. Grover said some of Renton’s small streams flow directly into fish‑bearing waters such as Lake Washington and that impaired waterways in the city increase the risk to salmon and water quality.

“DFW's best available science demonstrates that a 100‑foot buffer is the minimum necessary to effectively filter most pollutants before they reach streams,” Grover said during public comment, urging the council to adopt that standard at a minimum for certain stream types and scenarios. She said current proposed buffer widths for some non‑fish‑bearing (Type N) streams are insufficient even if fully vegetated.

Grover cited the Federal Clean Water Act and noted the city contains waterways listed as impaired under that law. She asked the council to “incorporate DFW's best science” and stressed the downstream habitat and water‑quality implications of under‑protective widths.

In response during committee reports later in the meeting, a councilmember asked staff about the 100‑foot buffer recommendation and staff said the ordinance has not yet been drafted and the Planning & Development Committee will consider comments as it prepares ordinance language that complies with the Washington State Growth Management Act.

The Planning & Development Committee later reported concurrence with staff and the planning commission recommendation to adopt Critical Areas Ordinance updates (docket group 19b, docket D235) and recommended preparing the ordinance for first reading when drafting is complete. The ordinance was not presented for final council adoption at this meeting; council action was limited to concurrence with the committee report.