Volume 2: Draft Gorst Planned Action Environmental Impact Statement

GORST PLANNED ACTION EIS | AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT, SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS, AND MITIGATION MEASURESWith annexation of the Gorst UGA, City of Bremerton regulations pertaining to aquatic habitats would apply. Asdescribed in Section 3.14 Relationship to Plans and Policies, City of Bremerton buffer standards are smaller alongGorst Creek than Kitsap County’s standard buffers. Under Alternative 1, the Gorst Subarea Plan, which includesadditional protective measures recognized with the shift from Kitsap County to City of Bremerton shorelineregulation, would not be implemented. Therefore BMPs proposed in the Subarea Plan would not apply and wouldnot promote buffer enhancement.Alternative 2Under this alternative, approximately 70 acres, or one percent of the total area of the Gorst watershed, would bedeveloped in the future; additionally, existing or future rights of way and lands for public purposes would bedisturbed. Therefore, the amount of existing wildlife habitat that would be impacted either through permanentloss, permanent modification to more urban wildlife habitat, or short-term loss and eventual replacement withhabitat of similar value, would be nearly double that under Alternative 1. The total impacted acreage wouldremain very small, however. Under this alternative, sensitive terrestrial and wetland species and habitats wouldgenerally be protected from impacts associated with development within the UGA by applicable CAO regulations.The Draft Gorst Subarea Plan includes a policy that promotes compatible and equivalent environmentalregulations. Since the City of Bremerton and Kitsap County regulations pertaining to terrestrial and wetlandspecies and habitats are currently very similar, it is expected that the new regulations would be similar to thosethat are currently in place under the CAOs, and that these would continue to protect sensitive terrestrial andwetland species and habitats.Alternative 2 includes 16 acres of land zoned as Open Space/Recreation within the UGA. Parks, recreation areas,and other open spaces would be expected to provide more wildlife habitat and a wider variety of wildlife speciesthan the commercial and industrial areas it would be replacing. Because this area would be surrounded bycommercial development, it is likely to have a large component of urban wildlife species.Under Alternative 2, the Gorst UGA would shift from Kitsap County to City of Bremerton regulatory oversight, asdiscussed earlier in this section. Buffer distances under the proposed City of Bremerton Shoreline Master Programwould be less for Gorst Creek than those under the Kitsap County Shoreline Master Program recognizing currentdegraded creek conditions, but the proposed Gorst Creek Watershed Characterization & Framework Plan andGorst Subarea Plan policies would promote recommended BMPs from the Watershed Characterization Study.Policies promote minimization of new impervious surface associated with development, such as retention ofvegetation and enhancement of degraded areas to offset increases in impervious surfaces. If these policies areimplemented with similar regulations this would help minimize potential impacts to Gorst Creek and the aquaticspecies it supports associated with reduced standard buffers. Additionally, the final Subarea Plan addressing apreferred alternative could incorporate one of the shoreline buffer options in this Draft EIS Appendix D ShorelineBuffer Comparison & Options or another similar option to provide for compatibility of standards.At a watershed scale, the new Stormwater Management Plan, Watershed Characterization & Framework Plan, andGorst Subarea Plan would include efforts to minimize impervious surface in developed/redeveloped areas,improve stormwater facilities, restore degraded stream channels, and protect key recharge/discharge/storageareas. All of these features would benefit aquatic species within the watershed and UGA by reducing impacts towater quality.The following zoning and BMPs would have the following benefits to wildlife and their habitats within thewatershed:• Zoning actions that minimize certain types of development in key areas would help improve groundwaterrecharge and flows in streams that provide habitat for sensitive fish species.• Limiting logging and maintaining forest cover in certain areas would help protect water flows and minimizesediment export.Draft | June 2013 3-67