Drafter
Clerk 09/25/2018
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to changing the natural resources mitigation fund from a special revenue fund to a capital fund and updating the types of moneys contributed to the fund and types of allowed disbursements from the fund; and amending Ordinance 17527, Section 150, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.200.455.
Body
PREAMBLE:
The water and land resources division within the department of natural resources and parks operates the King County mitigation reserves program. The program enables sponsors to pay a fee to King County in lieu of providing their own compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources such as wetlands and streams. One component of the mitigation reserves program is a federally authorized in-lieu fee program which was authorized in 2012 to function under applicable federal regulations by Ordinance 17254. The mitigation reserves program also has a component called the integrated restoration and permitting program, which is a program run in partnership with the National Marine Fisheries Service whereby sponsors of projects to replace waterfront docks and piers on Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish can pay a conservation fee to King County in lieu of providing onsite conservation measures. The water and land resources division is also exploring development of a voluntary carbon credit program; this program would involve voluntary payments to King County for carbon credits created by preserving intact forests or restoring forests to store more carbon, and expenditure of credit sales revenue to protect more forests and sequester more carbon.
The natural resources mitigation fund was established by Ordinance 17257, Section 150, which was codified as K.C.C. 4A.200.455. This ordinance makes several amendments to the types of moneys that can be contributed and types of expenditures allowed from the fund, primarily to accommodate the contribution and expenditure of moneys for the carbon credit program.
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