EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Wetland Mitigation Banking Rules
These administrative rules establish the
criteria governing the creation and use of wetland mitigation
banks in King County in accordance with the Metropolitan King
County Council's directive codified at King County Code (KCC)
21A.24.345.
These rules are the result of a cooperative
effort with state and federal agencies, tribes and other stakeholders
to create a program that provides a strong incentive to restore
existing degraded wetland systems and provide some flexibility
in the existing regulatory permit process. These rules do not
change the existing wetland mitigation sequencing process; they
do provide an alternative form of off-site mitigation that may
be used when it has been demonstrated that wetland impact is
unavoidable, and on-site mitigation is not feasible. It should
be noted that a fairly narrow scope of projects, such as linear
projects, are likely to meet the requirements necessary to participate
in the wetland mitigation banking program. Wetland and other
sensitive area impact should be avoided whenever possible; this
should not change with the adoption of the wetland mitigation
banking program.
Wetland mitigation banks are established
when an existing degraded wetland is restored. Although restoration
is the preferred mitigation, the rules also allow credit for
creation, enhancement and preservation activities in certain
circumstances. Restoring a degraded wetland system creates mitigation
'credit' in a bank site. The amount of 'credit' is determined
by permitting agencies and is usually based on the number of
acres that are restored, created, enhanced or preserved. Credit
at a bank site can be held or sold. Specific detail on credit
value, credit release, and design and monitoring requirements
is included in these rules.
Bank site service areas are defined as
watersheds located in King County. Adopted basin plans may also
encompass one service area. The project proponent, in cooperation
with King County, shall determine the bank site service area
when a bank is established. In exceptional circumstances, watersheds
can be service areas. Projects that have permitted wetland impacts
within a defined service area can withdraw credit from the bank
located in that service area subject to the approval of the regulatory
agencies.
Because banks are established before mitigation
is permitted, the temporal losses often associated with the standard
wetland mitigation process do not occur. Additionally, the focus
of a wetland mitigation bank site is ecological success of that
site. Mitigation banking provides a strong economic incentive
to obtain ecologically successful sites by assigning higher credit
value to those sites that meet all performance standards specified
in wetland mitigation bank site designs.
Cost savings occur not just because of
successful design, but because banks can provide mitigation for
more than one impact site. Restoring one 20 acre site is much
more efficient than individually restoring 20 one acre sites.
Banks can realize a huge economy of scale, both in planning,
permitting, and mobilization costs. Additionally, banks allow
planning at a landscape scale -- a bank site should be sited
based on watershed needs and opportunities -- as identified in
basin plans or other planning documents.
The administrative rules center on the
details of what banks are, how to bank, who can bank, where banks
should be located and when credits can be withdrawn. Sections
1 through 3 address the subject, purpose and organizations affected
by the rule adoption. Section 4.0 of the rules references King
County's regulatory authority to engage in wetland mitigation
banking as well as general guidance on wetland mitigation banking
at the state and federal level. Section 5.0 of the rules is the
definitions section. Section 6.0 establishes the policies, including
specific program authority, the mitigation sequencing process,
preconditions for mitigation bank sites, Bank Site Implementation
Plans, credit availability and release, replacement ratios, currency,
and permanent bank site protection. Section 7.0 of the rules
establishes the procedures for creating a wetland mitigation
bank site and the subsequent withdrawal of credits from that
bank site. Section 8.0 establishes the roles and responsibilities
of the wetland Bank Manager, the King County Department of Development
and Environmental Services (KCDDES), the Bank Creator, the Bank
User, and the King County Wetland Mitigation Banking Group, an
intra-agency oversight committee. Finally, section 9.0 of the
rules, attachments, contains A Guide to King County Wetland
Mitigation Banking Program Rules which includes expanded
information on wetland mitigation banking, both on the programmatic,
and the bank site specific level. The guide is a substantive
part of the rules and is incorporated therein by reference.
Return to Wetland
Mitigation Banking Program
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