19.76.040 Stormwater management manual.
A. The City of Anacortes adopts Ecology’s 2019 Stormwater Management Manual for Western Washington, as the city’s stormwater management manual.
B. The City of Anacortes adopts the Thresholds, Definitions, Minimum Requirements, and Exceptions, Adjustment, and Variance Criteria found in Appendix 1 of the city’s NPDES permit.
C. Any undefined terms in this chapter have the meanings established in the stormwater management manual.
D. The City of Anacortes utilizes the 2012 Puget Sound Partnership Low Impact Development Technical Guidance Manual for information related to best management practices.
E. The Director is the administrator authorized to determine feasibility and make decisions on adjustments and exceptions under the stormwater management manual.
F. Feasibility.
1. The Director may determine infiltration is infeasible without the infiltration testing required by the stormwater management manual stormwater BMPs when infiltration is known to the city to be infeasible due to any of the following:
a. Soil conditions;
b. Presence of significant naturally occurring groundwater;
c. Significant tidal influence on groundwater;
d. Presence of geologically hazardous areas that would be made unstable by infiltration.
G. Exceptions/Variances.
1. The Director may grant an adjustment to the application of the stormwater management manual and its minimum requirements prior to permit approval and construction consistent with the criteria in the city’s NPDES permit Appendix 1, Section 5, Adjustments.
2. The Director may grant an exception/variance from this chapter or the application of the stormwater management manual and its minimum requirements prior to permit approval and construction when consistent with the criteria in the city’s NPDES permit Appendix 1, Section 6, Exceptions and Variances.
3. The Director shall keep records, including the written findings of fact, of all local exceptions to the minimum requirements.
4. Exceptions/variances (exceptions) to the minimum requirements may be granted by the city following legal public notice of an application for an exception or variance, legal public notice of the city’s decision on the application, and written findings of fact that document the city’s determination to grant an exception. Project-specific design exceptions based on site-specific conditions do not require prior approval of Ecology. The city must seek prior approval by Ecology for any jurisdiction-wide exception.
5. A request for an adjustment or exception must meet the criteria in the city’s NPDES permit (Appendix 1) and be submitted on a form provided by the Department. The city may grant an exception to the minimum requirements if such application imposes a severe and unexpected economic hardship. To determine whether the application imposes a severe and unexpected economic hardship on the project applicant, the Director must consider and document with written findings of fact the following:
a. The current (preproject) use of the site; and
b. How the application of the minimum requirements restricts the proposed use of the site compared to the restrictions that existed prior to the adoption of the minimum requirements; and
c. The possible remaining uses of the site if the exception were not granted; and
d. The uses of the site that would have been allowed prior to the adoption of the minimum requirements; and
e. A comparison of the estimated amount and percentage of value loss as a result of the minimum requirements versus the estimated amount and percentage of value loss as a result of requirements that existed prior to adoption of the minimum requirements; and
f. The feasibility for the owner to alter the project to apply the minimum requirements;
g. The exception will not increase risk to the public health and welfare, nor be injurious to other properties in the vicinity and/or downstream, and to the quality of waters of the state; and
h. The exception is the least possible exception that could be granted to comply with the intent of the minimum requirements. (Ord. 4022 § 1 (Att. A), 2022; Ord. 2991 § 1 (Att. A), 2016)