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<br />Bay Front Conservation Combining District-
<br />helps prevent the destruction of habitat and
<br />the deterioration of environmental quality and
<br />maintains options for further restoration of
<br />former tidal marshlands. A key provision of
<br />the district is that applicants must complete
<br />an environmental assessment before filing an
<br />applicaDon for development on any undevel-
<br />oped,agricultural,orredevelopableOnfilO
<br />land within the district.
<br />Thedistricthasthreesubzones:atidelands
<br />subzone that includes areas subjecttotidal
<br />action (saltmarshes,beaches,rQckyshorelines,
<br />aml muof\ai.s), a diked bay marshland and agri-
<br />cultural subzone for historic bay marshlands
<br />diked off from tidal action and/or filled and con-
<br />verted to agriculture and urban development,
<br />a~dashoreline subzone rora few shorellne
<br />areas where main roads follow the coastline. The
<br />zoning ordinance has specific development stan-
<br />dards for each of the subzones.
<br />The district also includes design guidelines
<br />to prevent encroachment into wetlands and sen.
<br />sitivewildlife habitats, restrict access to environ-
<br />mentally sensitive marshlands, create buffers
<br />between wetland habitats and developed uses,
<br />and minimize the removal of vegetation.
<br />Oensitybanuse5. Oensi~ bonuses can
<br />encourage developers to protect sensitive habi-
<br />tats and species. Routt County uses maps pre-
<br />pared bytheCo!orado Department of Natural
<br />Resources to determine the location of critical
<br />habitats, including the habitats of threatened or
<br />endangered species. The county provides a den-
<br />sitybonustodeveloperswhoprotectsensitlve
<br />areas and meet several standards, including:
<br />('!) Avoiding areas used by threatened or
<br />endangered speciesifthose areas are critical
<br />to survival or production; (2) avoiding critical
<br />winter habitat of elk, deer, moose, bald eagle,
<br />golden eagle, sharptailgrouse, and sage
<br />grouse: C3} locating development to permit
<br />wildlife movement and migration of elk, deer,
<br />and moose, and maintaining wildlife corridors
<br />of such animals and avoiding fragmentation
<br />of habitat; (4J avoiding areas that are critical
<br />for wildlife production; and CS) limiting wildlife
<br />harassment by domestic predators.
<br />The regulations include specific methods
<br />to assure fulfillmentofthe objectives. For
<br />example, to be certain that criticai wildlife pro-
<br />duction areas are avoided (number four) the
<br />ordinance requires either limiting develop-
<br />mentwithin production areas Oncludingmat-
<br />ing, nesting, rearing, calving, fawning, leks, or
<br />staging areas) or entering into' a wildlife miti-
<br />gation plan agreement. To avoid disruption of
<br />
<br />80
<br />
<br />the critical habitats (r1umbertwo)the reguia-
<br />tions require restrictir1gactivities including
<br />construction, maintenance, and special
<br />events to avoid seasonally sensitive habitat
<br />and limiting development in the area or enter-
<br />inginto a wildlife mitigation plan agreement.
<br />In addition to density bonus provisions,
<br />Routt County requires developers to protect
<br />wildlife through a set of specific mitigation
<br />techniques in specified critical areas. Some of
<br />those mitigation techniques include buffer
<br />zones,domestlcpredatorcontrol,retaining
<br />existingvegetation,fencingrequirements,
<br />developing additional or improved habitat to
<br />
<br />limited development area (LDA),and resource
<br />conservation area (RCfli).IDAisthemostlnten-
<br />siveland.usedesignationinthecriticalarea
<br />and includes areas with housing densities
<br />greater than four dwelling units per acre; con-
<br />centrationsofindustrial,institutional,orcom-
<br />mercialuses;ordevelopmentsinwhichpublic
<br />sewer and water collection and distribution
<br />systems currently serve the area.
<br />LDAdistricts are developed with low-or
<br />moderate-intensity uses, and contain areas of
<br />natural animal and plant habitat. RCAs are
<br />ciYaracterized by nature-clominant envlron-
<br />mentssuchaswetlands,forests,and agricul-
<br />
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<br />, , .;"".: . '" ~ '-0. ~ > l'EA~~,!#1!IUJJJP1QN ORD[~CE5" 0$ ~"-2". - _ '.'i - _
<br />, ",~.'<. ~_ ~"___, ." - ~, _, _. - " ",,- - -._ __ 0- _ .,
<br />
<br />"iii Benton County. Oregon,Ser.sltive Fish and Wildlife HabitatOverla yZone:
<br />www.co.benton.or.us/development/Dev_Code/ch_87.pdf
<br />IIlI Bothen,WEs~ington,NorthCleekFishandWildlifeCriticaIProtection Area:
<br />www.mrsc.org/mc/bothellJTitle12/botheh2S2.html
<br />iii Marin County,Californi:;. Bayfront Combining District:
<br />http,/ !municipalcodes.le;.;isne.>ds.com/codes/marincounty!_DATA/1lTLE22!
<br />Chapte02_14_SPEClAL..PURPOSE...html
<br />11\ Rouet County, Coiorado, wildlife pr!lte'tio~ ragulatTo~s:
<br />www.co.routt.co.us!sections.php?op...Viewarticle&artid"".80914
<br />III Shasta County. (alifornie. HabitetProtection Distri~t:
<br />www.co.shasta.ca.us!departments/resourcemgmt/drm/Zoning...Plan~PDF!1714.pdf
<br />III Tampa. F1oric~, Upland Habit3.t OverTay District (~M. 17.5, art. V):
<br />www.tampsgov.net/dept..land_developmellt/zoning/LandRegulations.asp
<br />Ii Tucson,Arirona,~m:jronmefttaIResourceZone:
<br />VfflW.tucsonaz.govJplanning/codes/luc/llJcweb/Art2divS.html#P:L424....SS473
<br />
<br />compensate for habitat loSS, and providing
<br />bear-or rodent-proof trash containers.
<br />Critkoloreos.Some critical area regula.
<br />tions are prom.pted by state or federal plansor
<br />legislation, such as multTple species recovery
<br />plans underESA,sensitive area planning
<br />requirements-Washington State has these-
<br />or multi-state programs such as the
<br />Chesapeake Bay Program.
<br />Chesterton, Maryland, passed the Criti-
<br />calAreas Act because of the state's Chesa-
<br />peake Bay Critical Area Protection Program.
<br />Affected jurisdictions were required by the
<br />statetodevelopandimpiementacritTcalarea
<br />Tmplementationprograrn.
<br />While Chesterton's Critical Areas Act and
<br />related criteria are separate from the commu-
<br />nity'szonTngordinance,thepurposeisto
<br />Uimplementspecialzoning regulations and
<br />measures designed to protect and enhance
<br />water quality and habitat resources located
<br />within Chesterton's critical area.u
<br />Thecriticalafeasor\!ini!.nceestablisned
<br />three districts: intensely developed area ODA),
<br />
<br />turalareas, existing density less than one
<br />dwelling unit per five acres, or the dominant
<br />landuseinagriculture,wetland,forest,bar-
<br />renland,surfacewater,oropenspace.
<br />The ordinance incllJdes development
<br />standards that are specific-Io each district.
<br />Because LDA and RCA districts indude the
<br />most sensitive environments they \1.avethe
<br />strictest development regulations. All devel-
<br />opmentapplications in these areas must
<br />identify environmental or natural features of
<br />the site, and developmenl must be designed
<br />to protect the identified habitat areas. Roads,
<br />bridges,and utilities must be located to avoid
<br />disturbing the sensitive areas. Requirements
<br />to protect the tree canopy and threatened or
<br />endangered species are also incll.lded in the
<br />ordinance. All development applications must
<br />also in dude identification of element occur-
<br />rencesfrom the state NHPdatabase.
<br />Bothell,Washington, also does sensitive-
<br />area zoning through critical area requirements in
<br />accordance with the state's Growth Management
<br />Act. In the North Creek Fish and Wild\ife Critical
<br />
<br />ZONINGPRACTlCE 1.07
<br />AMER'CANPLANNINGASSOCIA110Nlpag<5
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