1. “Applicant” means the person, party, firm, corporation or other legal entity or agent thereof that proposes to do grading work, clear property, excavate or fill, or create impervious areas in the city. The applicant shall in each instance include the owner of the subject property.

2. “Area of special flood hazard” means land in a floodplain area subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year as designated by the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program or as adopted by the city.

3. “Bench” means a relatively level step excavated into natural earth or fill material.

4. “Certification” means a written engineering opinion, stamped, signed and dated by a professional civil engineer, concerning the progress or completion of work.

5. “City” means the city of Algona, Washington.

6. “City official” means an authorized representative of the city who is authorized to review proposals, render judgments, enforce code compliance and issue permits by the Algona Municipal Code.

7. “Clearing/clear-cutting” means the removal of timber, brush, grass, ground cover or other vegetative matter from a site which exposes the earth’s surface of the site. Removal of trees on undeveloped lots is controlled by Section 22.60.090 of this code.

8. “Compaction” means the densification of a fill by mechanical means.

9. “Drainage course” means any flow of water through a natural drainage system manmade conveyance system or overland drainage in sheet flow condition.

10. “Earth/earth material” means naturally occurring rock, soil, stone, dirt or combination thereof.

11. “Earthwork” means any operation involving the excavation, grading or filling of earth materials.

12. “Engineer” means a professional civil engineer, licensed by the state of Washington, and retained and acting on behalf of the applicant.

13. “Environmentally sensitive area” means wetlands, critical habitat areas or areas supporting an endangered species, fish-bearing waters, historic or archaeological sites, or other areas determined to be sensitive by the Algona environmental official.

14. “Erosion” means the wearing away of the earth’s surface as a result of the movement of wind, water or ice.

15. “Excavation” means the mechanical removal of earth material.

16. “Fill/fill material” means a deposit of earth material placed by mechanical means.

17. “Filling” means the act of transporting or placing (by any manner or mechanism) fill material from, to or on any soil surface or fill material including temporary stockpiling of fill material.

18. “Grading” means any excavation, filling or creation of impervious surfaces or any combination thereof.

19. “Grading permit/permit” means the permit required by this chapter.

20. “Impervious surface” means a nonvegetated surface area that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development. A nonvegetated surface area which causes water to run off the surface in greater quantities or at an increased rate of flow from the flow present under natural conditions prior to development. Common impervious surfaces include but are not limited to roof tops, walkways, patios, driveways, parking lots or storage areas, compacted gravel, concrete or asphalt paving, packed earthen materials, and oiled, macadam or other surfaces which similarly impede the natural infiltration of stormwater.

21. “Manual” means the Department of Ecology’s most recently adopted version of the Stormwater Management Manual for Western Washington by the city.

22. “Minerals” means coal, clay, stone and gravel, metallic ore or any other similar solid material or substance occurring from natural deposits on or in the earth.

23. “Mining” means the removal of minerals from deposits on or in the earth.

24. “Natural buffer area (N.B.A.)” means a parcel or strip of land that is designated to permanently remain in an undisturbed and untouched condition. No building, clearing, filling or grading is permitted within this area, except for minor watercourse maintenance when applicable.

25. “Parcel/original tract” means a legally created unit of land that the applicant holds the controlling ownership thereof, under single or unified ownership, or controls through a leasehold agreement.

26. “Permanent erosion control” means continuous on-site and off-site control measures that are needed to control conveyance and/or deposition of earth, turbidity or pollutants after construction or development.

27. “Property owner” means the person or persons, corporation, partnership, contract purchaser or other legal entity which has or asserts ownership or control of the property now and in the future.

28. “Site” means any parcel or combination of contiguous parcels where grading, filling, clearing or creation of an impervious surface is proposed, and which may be controlled by more than one property owner.

29. “Slope” means an inclined earth surface, the inclination of which is expressed as the ratio of horizontal distance to vertical distance.

30. “Soils engineer” means a professional civil engineer, licensed by the state of Washington, with demonstrated experience and knowledge in soils engineering.

31. “Stockpiling” means the placement of material with the intent to remove at a later date.

32. “Temporary erosion control” means on-site and off-site control measures that are needed to control conveyance or deposition of earth, turbidity or pollutants during construction or development, but may not be needed when the project is completed or when ground conditions have been stabilized by permanent erosion control measures.

33. “Uniform Building Code (UBC)” means the most recently adopted version by the city of the Uniform Building Code.

34. “Wetland” means those areas of the city that are inundated or saturated by ground or surface water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions or those areas identified as wetlands using the 1987 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. Where the vegetation has been removed or substantially altered, a wetland shall be determined by the presence or evidence of hydric or organic soil, as well as other documentation of the previous existence of wetland vegetation such as aerial photographs.

35. “WSDOT specifications” means the requirements or standards of the latest edition of the Washington State Department of Transportation Standard Plans and/or Specifications. (Ord. 1113-15 § 1; Ord. 810 § 1, 1996).