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Lake Stevens planners review CAO update proposing wider stream buffers and new aquifer protections
Summary
City staff presented a periodic update to Lake Stevens's Critical Areas Ordinance that would raise many stream buffers and add regulations for critical aquifer recharge areas; commissioners pressed staff on impacts to existing properties, monitoring, and growth targets.
City planning staff on Jan. 21 outlined proposed updates to Lake Stevens's Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) intended to align local rules with state law and the best available science, including larger stream buffers and a new chapter on critical aquifer recharge areas.
Principal Planner David Levitan told the commission the update is a Type 6 legislative amendment that follows the comprehensive plan periodic update and must be reviewed by the Department of Commerce and submitted to Ecology for review. He said the change is a targeted, technical update focused on stream buffers, wetland mitigation ratios, monitoring requirements and the addition of critical aquifer recharge area (CARA) regulations.
The packet proposes raising perennial and seasonal stream (type NP/NS)…
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