9.4720 Waterside Protection Areas.
/WP areas consist of 3 component areas: the area within the channel banks, the setback area, or any riparian area that extends landward beyond the setback (defined below). Areas developed prior to May 24, 1995, are excluded from /WP areas. For purposes of this section, development means buildings or other substantial structures, including paved or gravel parking areas. For purposes of this section, fences and landscaping do not constitute “development” to warrant exclusion from the /WP overlay zone. Graded and graveled areas are exempt under these provisions only when they were constructed prior to May 24, 1995, and only if they were constructed as an essential component of the development of the site. The 3 components of the /WP area are described and defined as follows:
(1) The area within the channel limits of a water feature (from top of high bank to top of high bank). For a given stream, river, or channel, the top of the bank is the highest point at which the bank meets the grade of the surrounding topography, characterized by an abrupt or noticeable change from a steeper grade to a less steep grade, and, where natural conditions prevail, by a noticeable change from topography or vegetation primarily shaped by the presence and/or movement of the water to topography not primarily shaped by the presence of water. Where there is more than one such break in the grade, the uppermost shall be considered the top of the high bank.
(2) Buffer setback areas are measured horizontally from the top of the high bank or from the line of ordinary high water. The planning director shall determine whether the buffer is measured from the top of the high bank or from the line of ordinary high water.
(a) Where possible, the buffer setback is measured horizontally from the top of the high bank of the water feature, as defined above. Buffer setback distances measured from the top of the high bank are as follows:
Minimum Buffer Setbacks from Top of Bank |
|
|---|---|
Water Feature |
Buffer setback |
Perennial, within floodway |
60 feet |
Perennial, outside floodway |
40 feet |
Intermittent or seasonal |
20 feet |
(b) If the top of the high bank is not identifiable, the buffer setbacks are measured horizontally from the line of ordinary high water. In a given stream, pond, or other water body, the line of ordinary high water is the line on the bank or shore to which seasonal high water rises annually. Identified in the field by physical characteristics that include one or more of the following:
1. A clear, natural line impressed on the bank.
2. Changes in the characteristics of soils.
3. The presence of water-borne litter and debris.
4. Destruction of terrestrial vegetation.
If reliable water level data are available for 3 or more consecutive previous years, the line of ordinary high water can be considered the mean of the highest water level for all years for which data is available. Buffer setback distances measured from the line of ordinary high water are as follows:
|
Minimum Buffer Setbacks from Ordinary High Water |
|
|---|---|
|
Water Feature |
Buffer setback |
|
Perennial, within floodway |
75 feet |
|
Perennial, outside floodway |
50 feet |
|
Intermittent or seasonal |
25 feet |
(3) Contiguous riparian areas which extend landward from the water feature beyond the buffer setback area, as defined in this overlay zone.
(a) Riparian habitat, riparian area. Lands adjacent to water features which contain primarily native vegetation including species that typically grow in wet areas (wet area species). For purposes of this land use code “wet area species” are those species listed as “facultative,” “facultative wetland,” or “obligate wetland” species in the most recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “list of plant species that occur in wetlands” for the Eugene area. Where large forested areas adjoin a water feature, only that portion which contains wet area species is considered riparian.
(b) The city shall maintain maps of regulated riparian areas, and make them available to the public. These maps will be used to identify the extent of the riparian area unless the applicant can demonstrate through detailed inventory information (including maps showing the location and species of vegetation growing in the disputed area) that the city’s maps are in error.