Wash. Admin. Code § 332-30-106

Current through Register Vol. 24-21, November 1, 2024

Section 332-30-106 - Definitions

All definitions in this section shall apply to the department and to port districts managing aquatic lands under a management agreement (WAC 332-30-114) . For the purpose of this chapter:

(1) "Accretion" means the natural buildup of shoreline through the gradual deposit of alluvium. The general principle of common law applicable is that a riparian or littoral owner gains by accretion and reliction, and loses by erosion. Boundary lines generally will change with accretion.

(2) "Alluvium" means material deposited by water on the bed or shores.

(3) "Anniversary date" means the month and day of the start date of an authorization instrument unless otherwise specified in the instrument.

(4) "Aquaculture" means the culture and/or farming of food fish, shellfish, and other aquatic plants and animals in fresh water, brackish water or salt water areas. Aquaculture practices may include but are not limited to hatching, seeding or planting, cultivating, feeding, raising, harvesting of planted crops or of natural crops so as to maintain an optimum yield, and processing of aquatic plants or animals.

(5) "Aquatic lands" means all state-owned tidelands, shorelands, harbor areas, and the beds of navigable waters (RCW 79.105.060(1) ) . Aquatic lands are part of the public lands of the state of Washington (see subsection (51) of this section). Included in aquatic lands are public places subsection (53) of this section, waterways subsection (78) of this section, bar islands, avulsively abandoned beds and channels of navigable bodies of water, managed by the department of natural resources directly, or indirectly through management agreements with other governmental entities.

(6) "Aquatic land use classes" means classes of uses of tideland, shorelands and beds of navigable waters that display varying degrees of water dependency. See WAC 332-30-121.

(7) "Authorization instrument" means a lease, material purchase, easement, permit, or other document authorizing use of state-owned aquatic lands and/or materials.

(8) "Avulsion" means a sudden and perceptible change in the shoreline of a body of water. Generally no change in boundary lines occurs.

(9) "Beds of navigable waters" means those submerged lands lying waterward of the line of extreme low tide in navigable tidal waters and waterward of the line of navigability in navigable lakes, rivers and streams. The term, "bedlands" means beds of navigable waters.

(10) "Commerce" means the exchange or buying and selling of goods and services. As it applies to aquatic land, commerce usually involves transport and a land/water interface.

(11) "Covered moorage" means slips and mooring floats that are covered by a single roof with no dividing walls.

(12) "Department" means the department of natural resources.

(13) "Dredging" means enlarging or cleaning out a river channel, harbor, etc.

(14) "Educational reserves" means accessible areas of aquatic lands typical of selected habitat types which are suitable for educational projects.

(15) "Enclosed moorage" means moorage that has completely enclosed roof, side and end walls similar to a car garage i.e. boathouse.

(16) "Environmental reserves" means areas of environmental importance, sites established for the continuance of environmental baseline monitoring, and/or areas of historical, geological or biological interest requiring special protective management.

(17) "Erosion" means the gradual cutting away of a shore by natural processes. Title is generally lost by erosion, just as it is gained by accretion.

(18) "Extreme low tide" means the line as estimated by the federal government below which it might reasonably be expected that the tide would not ebb. In Puget Sound area generally, this point is estimated by the federal government to be a point in elevation 4.50 feet below the datum plane of mean lower low water, (0.0). Along the Pacific Ocean and in the bays fronting thereon and the Strait of Juan due Fuca, the elevation ranges down to a minus 3.5 feet in several locations.

(19) "Fair market value" means the amount of money which a purchaser willing, but not obligated, to buy the property would pay an owner willing, but not obligated, to sell it, taking into consideration all uses to which the property is adapted and might in reason be applied (Donaldson v. Greenwood, 40 Wn.2d 238, 1952). Such uses must be consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations affecting the property as of the date of valuation.

(20) "First class shorelands" means the shores of a navigable lake or river belonging to the state not subject to tidal flow, lying between the line of ordinary high water and the line of navigability, or the inner harbor line where established and within or in front of the corporate limits of any city, or within two miles thereof upon either side (RCW 79.105.060(3)) . These boundary descriptions represent the general rule; however exceptions do exist. To determine if the shorelands are within two miles of the corporate limits of a city, the distance is measured along the shoreline from the intersection of the corporate limit with the shoreline.

(21) "First class tidelands" means the shores of navigable tidal waters belonging to the state lying within or in front of the corporate limits of any city, or within one mile thereof upon either side and between the line of ordinary high tide and the inner harbor line; and within two miles of the corporate limits on either side and between the line of ordinary high tide and the line of extreme low tide (RCW 79.105.060(4)) . In general, the line of ordinary high tide is the landward boundary. The line of extreme low tide, or the inner harbor line where established, is the waterward boundary. To determine if the tidelands are within two miles of the corporate limits of a city, the distance is measured along the shoreline from the intersection of the corporate limit with the shoreline.

(22) "Fiscal year" means a period of time commencing on the first day of July and ending on the thirtieth day of June of the succeeding year. A fiscal year is identified by the year in which it ends, e.g., fiscal year 1985 is the period July 1, 1984 through June 30, 1985.

(23) "Floating house" means any floating structure that is designed, or has been substantially and structurally remodeled or redesigned, to serve primarily as a residence. "Floating houses" include house boats, house barges, or any floating structures that serve primarily as a residence and do not qualify as a vessel as provided in subsection (74) of this section. A floating structure that is used as a residence and is capable of navigation, but is not designed primarily for navigation, nor normally is capable of self propulsion and use as a means of transportation is a floating house, not a vessel.

(24) "Governmental entity" means the federal government, the state, county, city, port district, or other municipal corporation or political subdivision thereof.

(25) "Harbor area" means the area of navigable waters determined as provided in section 1 of Article XV of the state Constitution which shall be forever reserved for landings, wharves, streets, and other conveniences of navigation and commerce (RCW 79.105.060(5)) . Harbor areas exist between the inner and outer harbor lines as established by the state harbor line commission.

(26) "Harbor area use classes" means classes of uses of harbor areas that display varying degrees of conformance to the purpose for which harbor areas were established under the Constitution.

(27) "Harbor line" means either or both:

(a) A line (outer harbor line) located and established in navigable waters as provided for in section 1 of Article XV of the state Constitution beyond which the state shall never sell or lease any rights whatever to private persons (RCW 79.105.060(12) ).

(b) A line (inner harbor line) located and established in navigable waters between the line of ordinary high tide and the outer harbor line, constituting the inner boundary of the harbor area (RCW 79.105.060(8) ).

(28) "Inflation rate" means, for a given year, the percentage rate of change in the previous calendar year's all commodity producer price index of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States department of commerce (RCW 79.105.060(7)) . The rate published by the bureau during May of each year for the previous calendar year shall be the rate for the previous calendar year.

(29) "Interest rate" shall be twelve percent per annum (RCW 43.17.240) .

(30) "Interim uses" means certain uses which may, under special circumstances, be allowed to locate in harbor areas (see WAC 332-30-115(5) ) .

(31) "Inventory" means both a compilation of existing data on man's uses, and the biology and geology of aquatic lands as well as the gathering of new information on aquatic lands through field and laboratory analysis. Such data is usually presented in map form such as the Washington Marine Atlas.

(32) "Island" means a body of land entirely and customarily surrounded by water. Land in navigable waters which is only surrounded by water in times of high water, is not an island within the rule that the state takes title to newly formed islands in navigable waters.

(33) "Line of navigability" means a measured line at that depth sufficient for ordinary navigation as determined by the board of natural resources for the body of water in question.

(34) "Log booming" means placing logs into and taking them out of the water, assembling and disassembling log rafts before or after their movement in water-borne commerce, related handling and sorting activities taking place in the water, and the temporary holding of logs to be taken directly into a processing facility (RCW 79.105.060(9) ).

(35) "Log storage" means the water storage of logs in rafts or otherwise prepared for shipment in water-borne commerce, but does not include the temporary holding of logs to be taken directly into a vessel or processing facility (RCW 79.105.060(10) ).

(36) "Marine land" means those lands from the mean high tide mark waterward in marine and estuarine waters, including intertidal and submerged lands. Marine lands represents a portion of aquatic lands.

(37) "Meander line" means fixed determinable lines run by the federal government along the banks of all navigable bodies of water and other important rivers and lakes for the purpose of defining the sinuosities of the shore or bank and as a means of ascertaining the areas of fractional subdivisions of the public lands bordering thereon.

(38) "Moorage facility" means a marina, open water moorage and anchorage area, pier, dock, mooring buoy, or any other similar fixed moorage site.

(39) "Motorized vehicular travel" means movement by any type of motorized equipment over land surfaces.

(40) "Multiple use management" means a management philosophy which seeks to insure that several uses or activities can occur at the same place at the same time. The mechanism involves identification of the primary use of the land with provisions such as performance standards to permit compatible secondary uses to occur.

(41) "Navigability or navigable" means that a body of water is capable or susceptible of having been or being used for the transport of useful commerce. The state of Washington considers all bodies of water meandered by government surveyors as navigable unless otherwise declared by a court.

(42) "Navigation" means the movement of vessels to and from piers and wharves.

(43) "Nonwater-dependent use" means a use that can operate in a location other than on the waterfront. Examples include, but are not limited to, hotels, condominiums, apartments, restaurants, retail stores, and warehouses not part of a marine terminal or transfer facility (RCW 79.105.060(11) ).

(44) "Open moorage" means moorage slips and mooring floats that have completely open sides and tops.

(45) "Open water moorage and anchorage areas" are areas of state-owned aquatic lands leased for moorage and anchorage that do not abut uplands and do not include a built connection to the uplands. They are generally in the center of a waterbody, to provide moorage in addition to any marinas and docks along the edge of the waterbody. They may contain mooring buoys, floating moorage docks, other moorage facilities not connected to the shoreline, and/or anchorage areas, as determined by the lessee and approved by the department. These areas are leased in accordance with WAC 332-30-139(5) and subject to the restrictions therein.

(46) "Optimum yield" means the yield which provides the greatest benefit to the state with particular reference to food production and is prescribed on the basis of the maximum sustainable yield over the statewide resource base as modified by any relevant economic, social or ecological factor.

(47) "Ordinary high tide" means the same as mean high tide or the average height of high tide. In Puget Sound, the mean high tide line varies from 10 to 13 feet above the datum plane of mean lower low water (0.0).

(48) "Ordinary high water" means, for the purpose of asserting state ownership, the line of permanent upland vegetation along the shores of nontidal navigable waters. In the absence of vegetation, it is the line of mean high water.

(49) "Port district" means a port district created under Title 53 RCW (RCW 79.105.060(14) ).

(50) "Public benefit" means that all of the citizens of the state may derive a direct benefit from departmental actions in the form of environmental protection; energy and mineral production; utilization of renewable resources; promotion of navigation and commerce by fostering water-dependent uses; and encouraging direct public use and access; and generating revenue in a manner consistent with RCW 79.105.030.

(51) "Public lands" means lands belonging to or held in trust by the state, which are not devoted to or reserved for a particular use by law, and include state lands, tidelands, shorelands and harbor areas as herein defined, and the beds of navigable waters belonging to the state (RCW 79.02.010) .

(52) "Public interest" means....(reserved).

(53) "Public place" means a part of aquatic lands set aside for public access through platted tidelands, shorelands, and/or harbor areas to the beds of navigable waters.

(54) "Public tidelands" means tidelands belonging to and held in public trust by the state for the citizens of the state, which are not devoted to or reserved for a particular use by law.

(55) "Public trust" means that certain state-owned tidelands, shorelands and all beds of navigable waters are held in trust by the state for all citizens with each citizen having an equal and undivided interest in the land. The department has the responsibility to manage these lands in the best interest of the general public.

(56) "Public use" means to be made available daily to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis, and may not be leased to private parties on any more than a day use basis.

(57) "Public use beach" means a state-owned beach available for free public use but which may be leased for other compatible uses.

(58) "Public utility line" means pipes, conduits, and similar facilities for distribution of water, electricity, natural gas, telephone, other electronic communication, and sewers, including sewer outfall lines (RCW 79.105.060(15) ).

(59) "Real rate of return" means the average for the most recent ten calendar years of the average rate of return on conventional real property mortgages as reported by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board or any successor agency, minus the average inflation rate for the most recent ten calendar years (RCW 79.105.060(16) ).

(60) "Reliction" means the gradual withdrawal of water from a shoreline leaving the land uncovered. Boundaries usually change with reliction.

(61) "Renewable resource" means a natural resource which through natural ecological processes is capable of renewing itself.

(62) "Residential use" means any noncommercial habitation of:

(a) A floating house, as defined in WAC 332-30-106(23); or

(b) A vessel, as defined in WAC 332-30-106(74), when any one of the following applies:

(i) Any person or succession of different persons resides on the vessel in a specific location, and/or in the same area on more than a total of thirty days in any forty-day period or on more than a total of ninety days in any three hundred sixty-five-day period. "In the same area" means within a radius of one mile of any location where the same vessel previously moored or anchored on state-owned aquatic lands. A vessel that is occupied and is moored or anchored in the same area, but not for the number of days described in this subsection, is considered used as a recreational or transient vessel;

(ii) The city or county jurisdiction, through local ordinance or policy, defines the use as a residential use or identifies the occupant of the vessel as a resident of the vessel or of the facility where it is moored;

(iii) The operator of the facility where the vessel is moored, through the moorage agreement, billing statement, or facility rules, defines the use as a residential use or identifies the occupant of the vessel as a resident of the vessel or of the facility; or

(iv) The occupant or occupants identify the vessel or the facility where it is moored as their residence for voting, mail, tax, or similar purposes.

(63) "Riparian" means relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural water course, such as a stream, lake or tidewater.

(64) "Scientific reserves" means sites set aside for scientific research projects and/or areas of unusually rich plant and animal communities suitable for continuing scientific observation.

(65) "Second class shorelands" means the shores of a navigable lake or river belonging to the state, not subject to tidal flow, lying between the line of ordinary high water and the line of navigability, and more than two miles from the corporate limits of any city (RCW 79.105.060(17)) . These boundary definitions represent the general rule; however, exceptions do exist. To determine if shorelands are more than two miles from the corporate limits of a city, the distance is measured along the shoreline from the intersection of the corporate limit with the shoreline.

(66) "Second class tidelands" means the shores of navigable tidal waters belonging to the state, lying outside of and more than two miles from the corporate limits of any city and between the line of ordinary high tide and the line of extreme low tide (RCW 79.105.060(18)) . In general, the line of ordinary high tide is the landward boundary. The line of extreme low tide is the waterward boundary. To determine if the tidelands are more than two miles from the corporate limits of a city, the distance is measured along the shoreline from the intersection of the corporate limit with the shoreline.

(67) "Shore" means that space of land which is alternately covered and left dry by the rising and falling of the water level of a lake, river or tidal area.

(68) "State-owned aquatic lands" means those aquatic lands and waterways administered by the department of natural resources or managed under department agreement by a port district. "State-owned aquatic lands" does not include aquatic lands owned in fee by, or withdrawn for the use of, state agencies other than the department of natural resources (RCW 79.105.060(20) ).

(69) "Statewide value." The term statewide value applies to aquatic land uses and natural resources whose use, management, or intrinsic nature have statewide implications. Such uses and resources may be either localized or distributed statewide. Aquatic land uses of statewide value provide major statewide public benefits. Public use and access, renewable resource use and water-dependent use have been cited by the legislature as examples of such uses. Aquatic land natural resources of statewide value are those critical or uniquely suited to aquatic land uses of statewide value or to environmental quality. For example, wild and scenic rivers, high quality public use beaches and aquatic lands fronting state parks are of statewide value for public use and access. Commercial clam and geoduck beds and sites uniquely suited to aquaculture are of statewide value to renewable resource use. Harbor areas are of statewide value to water-dependent navigation and commerce. Certain aquatic land habitats and plant and animal populations are of statewide value to recreational and commercial fisheries, wildlife protection, and scientific study.

(70) "Streamway" means stream dependent corridor of single or multiple, wet or dry channel, or channels within which the usual seasonal or storm water run-off peaks are contained, and within which environment the flora, fauna, soil and topography is dependent on or influenced by the height and velocity of the fluctuating river currents.

(71) "Terminal" means a point of interchange between land and water carriers, such as a pier, wharf, or group of such, equipped with facilities for care and handling of cargo and/or passengers (RCW 79.105.060(21) ).

(72) "Thread of stream - thalweg" means the center of the main channel of the stream at the natural and ordinary stage of water.

(73) "Town" means a municipal corporation of the fourth class having not less than three hundred inhabitants and not more than fifteen hundred inhabitants at the time of its organization (RCW 35.01.040) .

(74) "Vessel" means a floating structure that is designed primarily for navigation, is normally capable of self propulsion and use as a means of transportation, and meets all applicable laws and regulations pertaining to navigation and safety equipment on vessels, including, but not limited to, registration as a vessel by an appropriate government agency.

(75) "Water-dependent use" means use which cannot logically exist in any location but on the water. Examples include, but are not limited to, waterborne commerce; terminal and transfer facilities; ferry terminals; watercraft sales in conjunction with other water dependent uses; watercraft construction, repair, and maintenance; moorage and launching facilities; aquaculture; log booming; and public fishing piers and parks (RCW 79.105.060(24) ).

(76) "Waterfront" means a parcel of property with upland characteristics which includes within its boundary, a physical interface with the existing shoreline of a body of water.

(77) "Water oriented use" means use which historically has been dependent on a waterfront location, but with existing technology could be located away from the waterfront. Examples include, but are not limited to, wood products manufacturing, watercraft sales, fish processing, petroleum refining, sand and gravel processing, log storage, and houseboats (RCW 79.105.060(25) ).

(78) "Waterway" means an area platted across aquatic lands or created by a waterway district providing for access between the uplands and open water, or between navigable bodies of water.

(79) "Wetted perimeter" means a fluctuating water line which separates submerged river beds from the dry shoreland areas at any given time.

Wash. Admin. Code § 332-30-106

Statutory Authority: RCW 79.105.360. 06-06-005 (Order 724), § 332-30-106, filed 2/16/06, effective 3/19/06. Statutory Authority: RCW 79.90.455, 79.90.460. 02-21-076 (Order 710), § 332-30-106, filed 10/17/02, effective 11/17/02. Statutory Authority: RCW 79.01.132, 79.01.216, 79.90.520, 79.90.535 and 1991 c 64 §§ 1 and 2. 91-22-079 (Order 580), § 332-30-106, filed 11/5/91, effective 12/6/91. Statutory Authority: RCW 79.90.105, 79.90.300, 79.90.455, 79.90.460, 79.90.470, 79.90.475, 79.90.520, 79.68.010, 79.68.68 [79.68.080], and chapter 79.93 RCW. 85-22-066 (Resolution No. 500), § 332-30-106, filed 11/5/85. Statutory Authority: 1984 c 221 and RCW 79.90.540. 84-23-014 (Resolution No. 470), § 332-30-106, filed 11/9/84. Statutory Authority: RCW 43.30.150. 80-09-005 (Order 343), § 332-30-106, filed 7/3/80.