HomeMy WebLinkAboutIV.B Shoreline Master Program
Memorandum
To:
Planning and Community Development Committee
From:
Kelly McLain Aardal, Environmental Protection Manager
Date:
March 23, 2009
Re:
Shoreline Master Program Update - Comments received during the required 30-day
comment period
The following five comments were received during Ecology’s comment period that ran from
February 4 to March 4, 2009. The comments were received from Douglas Hill, Auburn resident,
and Karen Walter of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Fisheries Division. Staff are working on
written responses to these comments to be submitted to Ecology.
1. My name is Douglas Hill. I live at 30658 Green River Road SE, Auburn, WA and I wanted to
be certain that under the large goal of enhancing public access to the rivers that the City’s
plan would also take a look at some places where public access has been commonly
granted simply as a custom even on land that technically is privately owned. But for decades
some of these places have been defacto public access for people for fishing and swimming
and things like that. Now I know of several of those places along the Green River and it
wouldn’t surprise me if there were comparable places along the White and I would just hope
that this whole process would recognize those areas of public access by custom and
perhaps formalize access, so that something like a land transaction where some private
owner buys a piece of property and that person would hopefully be prevented from
eliminating what had been public access to the river.
2. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Fisheries Division would like to receive notice of all projects
that are within the Shoreline Master Program regulated area, regardless of whether or not
these proposals undergo environmental review via SEPA. This would include projects that
are exempt under the City’s regulations. Currently Auburn’s code 16.08.070 has the Director
sending a letter of exemption to “the applicant, the federal or state permitting agency, and
Ecology”. There is no mention of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe in this list and the Tribal
Fisheries Division should be added to this list.
3. There is a potential conflict within the Shoreline Master Program. In the Table 2 of the
Shoreline Permitted Uses, Shoreline Habitat and Natural Systems Enhancement Projects
are permitted under all three environmental designations. However, instream structures
(which includes wood and wood jams) are a conditional use in this same table. Instream
wood used for habitat projects should be considered a habitat enhancement component and
should be an outright use, not a conditional use.
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4. The Auburn SMP is also encouraging trails along both the Green and White Rivers, which
will permanently remove the opportunity to restore riparian areas needed to create and
maintain fish habitat functions, including the recruitment of woody debris and the
maintenance of water temperature, particularly along 303(d) listed reaches of the Green and
White Rivers. These trails could be located within 50 feet of these mainstem rivers per
Table 2 and the regulations on page 4-5. The SMP should be modified to require these
trails to be located outside of the SMP so that we do not preclude the existing and future
establishment of vegetation needed to provide functional riparian areas.
5.
The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe should also get notice for any projects that require water
withdrawals from the Green and White Rivers (see Section 4.7.1.1, Regulation 3).
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