PART 200 Exemptions.
30.63A.200 General exemptions.
The following new development and redevelopment activities shall be exempt from all stormwater management requirements of this chapter except as otherwise specified below:
(1) Repair or installation of underground or overhead facilities performed by a utility. For this exemption to apply, the repair or installation shall only replace ground surfaces with in-kind materials or materials with similar runoff characteristics and the development activities shall comply with minimum requirement 2 (SCC 30.63A.445 and 30.63A.450) and must occur outside all critical areas, together with the buffers of and setbacks from these critical areas, except that such activities may occur within floodplains and aquifer recharge areas of low or moderate sensitivity to groundwater contamination.
(2) Utility facility maintenance and repairs performed by a utility that replace ground surfaces with in-kind materials or materials with similar runoff characteristics, that do not add hard surfaces, and that do not adversely impact any critical areas, critical area buffers or upstream or downstream properties, except that such activities shall comply with minimum requirement 2 (SCC 30.63A.445 and 30.63A.450).
(3) Remodeling or tenant improvements that do not meet the definitions of new development, redevelopment or land disturbing activity.
(4) RESERVED.
(5) Forest practice Classes I, II, III and Class IV special nonconversion forest practices regulated by WAC Title 222.
(6) Oil and gas field activities or operations, including the construction of drilling sites, waste management pits, access roads and transportation and treatment infrastructure (such as pipelines, natural gas treatment plants, natural gas pipeline compressor stations and crude oil pumping stations). Operators are encouraged to implement and maintain best management practices to minimize erosion and control sediment during and after construction activities to help ensure protection of surface water quality during storm events.
(7) The following road and pavement maintenance activities: pothole and square cut patching, overlaying existing asphalt or concrete pavement with asphalt or concrete without expanding the coverage area, shoulder grading, reshaping and/or re-grading drainage systems, crack sealing, resurfacing with in-kind material without expanding the road prism, pavement preservation activities that do not expand the pavement prism, and vegetation maintenance.
(8) The following commercial agricultural activities:
(a) Tilling, soil preparation, fallow rotation, planting, harvesting and other commercial agricultural activities involving working the land when such activities are outside of critical areas (except for floodplains and aquifer recharge areas with low or moderate sensitivity to groundwater contamination), together with the buffers of and setbacks from these critical areas;
(b) Maintenance or repair of existing commercial agricultural facilities including drainage facilities, ponds, animal stock flood sanctuaries, animal waste management facilities, agricultural buildings, fences, roads and bridges; and
(c) New construction of drainage ditches (including enlargement of existing drainage ditches) that require less than 500 cubic yards of grading. To qualify under this exemption, such ditches shall not adversely impact critical areas or upstream or downstream properties, be located within 100 feet of streams, wetlands, lakes, marine waters, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, or erosion hazard areas, or contain water on site for retention, infiltration or evaporation and the development activities must occur outside all critical areas, together with the buffers of and setbacks from these critical areas, except that such activities may occur within floodplains and aquifer recharge areas of low or moderate sensitivity to groundwater contamination.
(9) Agricultural activities defined in chapter 30.32B SCC or SCC 30.91A.090 provided:
(a) The activity occurs on property on which agriculture is a legal use of the property;
(b) The activity requires no other permit or project approval from Snohomish County except for a flood hazard permit under chapter 30.43C SCC; and
(c) The activity does not occur in a wetland as defined under state law, unless:
(i) The activity is exempt from wetlands regulations under section 404(f) of the federal Clean Water Act; or
(ii) The wetland is an area of no greater than 5,000 square feet of nonriparian wetland Categories II or III or 10,000 square feet of nonriparian Category IV wetlands, pursuant to SCC 30.62A.230(2).
(10) The construction or maintenance of recreational trails, not including challenge areas, parking areas, spectator areas, or any other developed or disturbed areas that are not trails, provided that the following criteria are met:
(a) The trail at issue is on land located in a rural or resource zone;
(b) The trail at issue is located in a public park or a private park, as those terms are defined in chapter 30.91P SCC;
(c) The area in which the construction or maintenance will be performed does not drain into the county’s municipal separate storm sewer system, as that term is defined in chapter 30.91M SCC; and
(d) Design of the trail conforms to:
(i) The standards specified in the United States Forest Service Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook and the United States Forest Service Standard Specifications for Construction and Maintenance of Trails; or
(ii) Such other standards for the design and construction of recreational trails that provide equivalent or greater environmental protection, provided that such standards are adopted by rule pursuant to SCC 30.82.010. (Added by Amended Ord. 10-026, June 9, 2010, Eff date Sept. 30, 2010; Amended by Amended Ord. 11-048, Aug. 31, 2011, Eff date Sept. 22, 2011; Amended by Amended Ord. 13-042, July 10, 2013, Eff date July 22, 2013; Amended by Ord. 15-102, Jan. 11, 2016, Eff date Jan. 22, 2016; Amended by Amended Ord. 21-025, June 16, 2021, Eff date July 1, 2021).