(1) "Existing and ongoing agricultural activities" means current use, or use within the preceding 25 years, of a tract of land primarily devoted to the commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy, apiary, vegetable or animal products or of berries, grain, honey, straw, hay, turf, seed, Christmas trees, hybrid cottonwood, or other similar short-rotation hardwoods grown on land that has been prepared by intensive cultivation and tilling or livestock, and that has long-term commercial significance for agricultural production. Agricultural activities include operation and maintenance of farm and stock ponds or drainage ditches, operation and maintenance of ditches, and normal maintenance repair, or operation of existing structures or facilities. An operation ceases to be an agricultural activity when the area on which it is conducted is proposed for conversion to a nonagricultural use or has lain idle for more than 25 years, unless the idle land is registered in a federal or state soils conservation program, or unless the activity is maintenance of irrigation or drainage ditches related to an existing agricultural activity; provided, however, if the land has lain idle for more than five years, but less than 25 years, in order to take advantage of the exemption set forth in CMC 14.15.050(3), an applicant shall be prohibited from converting such land to nonagricultural use for a period of 10 years from the date when the agricultural use was resumed. In such cases, the applicant may be required to work with the local conservation district or other qualified professional to establish a farm plan designed to minimize adverse impacts to wetlands. Forest practices are not included in this definition. Reliance upon this definition does not relieve any applicant from complying with applicable wetlands regulations, interpretations, and procedures promulgated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

(2) "Administrator" means the town of Cathlamet public works director or his/her designee.

(3) "Applicant" means any natural person or business entity such as a corporation or a partnership which applies for a development proposal, permit or approval subject to review under this chapter. Applicant shall also mean any predecessor or successor in interest involving the same or fundamentally the same individuals or entities.

(4) "Aquifer recharge areas" means geological formations with recharging areas having an effect on aquifers used for potable water where an essential source of drinking water is vulnerable to contamination.

(5) "Commercial activity" means a privately or publicly owned or operated facility or place of business open to the public for sale of goods or services. Examples include restaurants and taverns, hotels, motels, offices, personal services, retail stores, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds.

(6) "De novo" means a new hearing as opposed to a review of a record created at a prior hearing.

(7) "Department" means the town of Cathlamet public works department.

(8) "Development" means a construction project involving property improvement or change of physical character within the site; the act of using land for building or extractive purposes. "Development" shall include, but shall not be limited to, the activities identified in CMC 14.15.040.

(9) "Excavation" means the mechanical removal of earth material.

(10) "High intensity land use" includes public road construction, housing development greater than one house per two and one-half acres, commercial land use, and industrial land use.

(11) "Industrial activity" means public or private use of land or structures for manufacturing, processing, deep water port development, and energy generation facilities.

(12) "Low intensity land use" includes private and town of Cathlamet access road maintenance/construction, and housing development less than or equal to one house per two and one-half acres.

(13) "Filling or fill" is a deposit of earth material, manmade materials, or other potentially damaging materials, placed by artificial means.

(14) "Mitigation" means avoiding, minimizing or compensating for adverse critical area impacts, including the following, in the following order of preference:

(15) "Nonconforming structure" means a structure which was lawfully constructed or established prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter but which does not conform to present regulations or standards of this chapter.

(16) "Normal maintenance or repair" means those acts to an area to prevent a decline from or to restore to a state comparable to its original condition, except if repair requires total replacement or causes substantial adverse impacts to the critical area.

(17) "Pond" means a naturally existing or artificially created body of standing water less than 20 acres in size and not defined as "shorelines of the state" by Chapter 90.58 RCW, Shoreline Management Act. Ponds can include reservoirs which exist on a year-round basis and occur in a depression of land or expanded part of a stream. A pond is bounded by the ordinary high water mark or the extension of the elevation of the pond’s ordinary high water mark within the stream, where the stream enters the pond.

(18) "Qualified critical area professional" means a person with experience, education, and professional degrees and training pertaining to the critical area in question, and with experience in performing delineations, analyzing critical area functions and values, analyzing critical area impacts, and recommending critical area mitigation and restoration. The administrator shall require professionals to demonstrate the basis for qualifications and shall make final determination as to qualifications. Demonstration of qualifications may include, but shall not be limited to, professional certification.

(19) "Reasonable alternative" means an activity that could feasibly attain or approximate a proposal’s objectives, but at a decreased level of environmental degradation. Reasonable alternatives may be used, in part, to mitigate adverse impacts.

(20) "Reasonable use" means the economically viable use of a property owner’s land as articulated by federal and state courts in regulatory takings cases.

(21) "Riparian zone or stream setback" means a specified area alongside a stream where specific measures are taken to protect water quality and fish and wildlife habitat. Riparian zones shall not be developed and natural vegetation shall be maintained. Nonnative invasive species may be controlled within the riparian zone so long as adverse impacts to the riparian zone are minimized.

(22) "Steep slope" means an area which is equal to or in excess of 30 percent slope, or where the ground’s surface rises 10 feet or more vertically within a horizontal distance of 25 feet.

(23) "Stream type" means the classification of a stream according to the water typing system adopted by the Washington State Forest Practices Board and promulgated in WAC 222-16-030. Type I, II, III, IV, and V streams are synonymous with type 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 waters as defined in WAC 222-16-030. (Ord. 433 § 3, 2002)