(A) Water infrastructure and water supply shall be in place and serviceable prior to any combustible construction.
(B) (1) The city’s Fire Department has established the acceptable emergency response time as ten minutes or less within the district. an acceptable response time to larger scale development may actually be less, as determined by the city’s Fire Department. (It must be realized that prevailing weather conditions, general topography, geographical diversities and unusual traffic conditions may inhibit Fire Department response times at any time of year.)
(2) In order to comply with an acceptable level of service standard, a developer may be required to provide appropriate fire protection infrastructure, including facilities, apparatus and equipment for the city’s Fire Department to comply with the appropriate level of service standard. In addition, approved fire sprinkler and suppression systems may be required by the Fire Marshal in conjunction with other appropriate mitigation measures, which must be approved by the Fire Marshal, to comply with the required level of service standard.
(3) If the city’s Fire Marshal determines that a desired level of service cannot be provided to a proposed development, the developer shall prepare and submit a fire protection mitigation plan to the Fire Marshal for review and approval. This plan shall address the measures that will be used to comply with the intent of the level of service standard, and the timing/phasing in which such measures will be provided. An acceptable mitigation plan shall be approved by the city’s Fire Marshal before a final subdivision plan or final site plan approval is granted. Failure of a developer to provide an acceptable plan may be cause for denial of a development application by the city.
(C) (1) All proposed new subdivisions or developments will be analyzed and rated for wildfire risk using the fire hazard severity scale developed by the state’s Division of State Lands and Forestry. All of these factors can vary from development to development. The composite score will categorize the hazard level of the proposed development. Once a proposed subdivision or development has been classified as to its hazard level, development standards for each level can be used by the city’s Fire Marshal to guide fire protection and wildfire prevention measures. This rating shall be submitted to the city at the initial stage of a subdivision application, as required by the Fire Marshal, or as otherwise required in the processing of development permits for any proposed development. The rating scale is based on five separate factors:
(a) Slope: this factor is displayed as a percentage. It is calculated by measuring the vertical distance and horizontal distance for a given area, and dividing the vertical by the horizontal;
(b) Aspect: this factor is the cardinal direction in which the surface of the ground faces;
(c) Response time of fire agency: this factor is measured in minutes it takes the nearest responsible fire agency to respond to a fire in a given area;
(d) Type of vegetation: this factor is categorized by fuel types. Rates of spread, resistance to control and potential to cause structural damage are the criteria for rating severity; and
(e) Vegetation density: this factor is considered the total combustible vegetation that may be available as a fuel for wildfire.
(2) (a) Hazardous fuels in the form of native vegetation will be cleared around structures and around the perimeter of the development to assist in wildfire prevention measures. This fuel break is not intended as a complete vegetation clearing fire break. Fuel breaks must be in place prior to occupancy of the structure.
(b) The definition of a fuel break by the state’s Division of Lands and Forestry is “a change in fuel continuity, type of fuel or degree of flammability of fuel in a strategically located parcel or strip of land to reduce or hinder the rate of fire spread”.
(c) Fuel breaks shall consist of the following:
1. Grasses within 30 feet of structures shall be mowed to four inches or less;
2. Ground litter shall be removed annually;
3. Over mature, dead and dying trees shall be evaluated as to their potential to ignite and to carry fire and possibly will be removed;
4. Fuel breaks may contain individual tree specimens, ornamental plants or other similar vegetation used as ground cover; provided, they will not provide a means of transmitting wildfire from native vegetation to structures; and
5. Fire resistive vegetation shall be planted in the fuel breaks to prevent undue soil erosion.
(d) A maintained fuel break easement around the perimeter of any development shall be dedicated in favor of the city and shall be shown on the final recorded subdivision plat of a subdivision or the final approved site plan of a development not requiring subdivision. The easement shall be recorded by separate deed for development plans not requiring subdivision of land. Fuel breaks must be maintained by the landowners and a requirement for such maintenance shall be included as a stipulation in private covenants recorded as part of any subdivision plat approval. In subdivisions, planned unit developments, or other developments where a homeowners’ or other association of property owners is created, such association shall be responsible for monitoring of the fuel break easement. private covenants for the subdivision, planned unit development, or other development shall include language enabling the homeowners’ or other property owners’ association to budget for and provide fuel break maintenance services around the perimeter of the development boundary.
(e) The following chart identifies fuel break clearing limits around structures and development perimeters based on the wildfire hazard rating:
Type | Moderate | High | Extreme |
Development perimeters | None | 75 feet | 100 feet |
Structures | 30 feet | 50 feet | 100 feet |
(D) Certification of compliance with adopted service levels and standards of the city’s Fire Department, shall occur prior to final site plan approval, or in the case of a single-family dwelling unit or any use approved as a conditional use or a permitted use, before a building permit is issued for such development.
(E) Fire hydrants, water line sizes, water storage for fire protection and minimum flow for fire protection shall be determined by using the standards of the Insurance Services Office, which are known as the fire system grading standards and the city’s Public Works Standards and Technical Specifications. In no case shall minimum fire flow be less than 1,000 gallons per minute for a period of two hours, unless otherwise permitted herein, or as approved by the Fire Marshal.
(F) (1) All recorded subdivision plats for the North Shore Development shall include the following note. In developments not requiring subdivision of land, an affidavit containing the following note shall be recorded against the subject property in the County Recorder’s office.
(2) The property owner acknowledges that he or she is building in a rural environment adjacent to lands managed primarily for natural values including wildlife habitat and agriculture. As such, the property owner is on notice that public services in the area are subject to the constraints inherent to such environments.
(3) Emergency response time may be longer than it is in more accessible areas, and access by emergency vehicles may be impeded at times due to weather and road conditions. The owner understands and acknowledges that wildfire risks are higher in the North Shore Development than in other areas of the city. By this notice, the property owner assumes the risk of occupancy as outlined above.
(Prior Code, § 29.22.060)