Volume 2: Draft Gorst Planned Action Environmental Impact Statement

GORST PLANNED ACTION EIS | AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT, SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS, AND MITIGATION MEASURES• Maintaining appropriate zoning to protect areas with high wildlife habitat value.• Restoring areas with high habitat value or a high potential to provide salmon refugia.• Implementing measures to reduce erosion and sediment export in areas identified for future development(e.g., buffers, setbacks from steep slopes, reduction of overland flow through infiltration).Capital facility improvements may include removal or repair of culverts and other fish passage blockages thatrestrict the movement of fish upstream. Other improvements would address stormwater deficiencies and floodingissues, which would help reduce associated water quality impacts and improve aquatic habitats.Applicable Regulations and CommitmentsCity of Bremerton Comprehensive Plan – Environment Chapter. The City of Bremerton’s Comprehensive Planaddresses wetlands, marine resources, wildlife habitat conservation areas and corridors, streams, riparian areas,and other important wildlife habitats. The plan includes goals and policies pertaining to conservation of criticalareas and non-renewable resources, open space, marine protected areas, native wildlife habitats and other wildlifefeatures within the City of Bremerton. The goals and policies in the plan provide direction to individuals and policymakers about how the City of Bremerton’s environmental resources should be treated.Kitsap County Comprehensive Plan – Natural Systems Chapter. The Kitsap County’s Comprehensive Plan guidesnon-regulatory efforts to enhance natural resources, including habitat/open space planning, salmon recovery, andwater resources planning. Goals of these efforts include protecting the ecological integrity of aquatic habitats andwetlands, and protecting and restoring fish and wildlife habitat, including priority habitats for sensitive species.Kitsap County CAO. The County CAO includes regulations to protect wetlands and Fish and Wildlife HabitatConservation Areas. Wetlands are regulated based on their category. New development requires a wetlanddelineation report, a mitigation report, and erosion and sedimentation control measures, as required underregulations pertaining to stormwater management. Wetland buffers are determined based on wetland category,and a building or impervious surface setback line of 15 feet is required from the edge of any wetland buffer.Additional regulations pertain to roads, utilities, and stormwater discharges, and other aspects of development.Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas are areas that support regulated fish or wildlife species habitats,which are typically identified by known point locations of species (e.g., a nest or den), habitat areas, or both. Theyinclude certain categories of streams, saltwater shorelines, certain lakes, habitats for federal and/or state listedspecies, habitat areas targeted for preservation by federal, state, and/or local governments, areas that containhabitats and species of local importance, and important habitats for state-listed candidate and monitored species.Kitsap County development standards require buffers and building setbacks in order to protect these importantwildlife habitats. For development within wildlife habitat conservation areas, a habitat management plan may berequired.City of Bremerton CAO. The City of Bremerton CAO provides development standards for protecting wetlands thatare similar to those provided in the Kitsap County CAO. Wetlands are rated using the same system, althoughstandard buffers may be different. Compensatory mitigation for alterations to wetlands is required to achieveequivalent or greater biologic functions.The City of Bremerton CAO defines Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas as areas necessary for maintainingspecies in suitable habitats within their natural geographic distribution, so that isolated subpopulations are notcreated. They include areas with which federally or state listed or sensitive species have a primary association,priority habitats and species of local importance, streams and watercourses used by juvenile salmonids, habitat ofspecies essential to the juvenile salmonid diet, commercial and recreational shellfish areas, kelp and eelgrass beds,sandlance spawning habitat, herring and smelt spawning areas, ponds under 20 acres, Waters of the State, waterbodies planted with game fish by a governmental or tribal entity, state natural area preserves and natural resourceconservation areas, and land essential for preserving connections between habitat blocks and open spaces. TheDraft | June 2013 3-69