§ 15-362. Legislative findings.

The board of county commissioners finds as follows:

(1)

The county contains large wetlands which are significant and productive in the maintenance and preservation of viable populations of plant and animal species.

(2)

The preservation and protection of property rights of the people of the county require that mechanisms be established which will concurrently provide for the orderly regulation and preservation of environmentally significant and productive wetlands (so as to preserve or restore the productivity of such lands), and the equitable compensation for property development rights denied by reason of such preservation.

(3)

The environmental productivity of wetlands is sensitive to all agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial or public uses in or near such lands.

(4)

Such environmentally sensitive wetlands may be evaluated by examination of soils, vegetation, hydrology and the presence of plant and animal species whose fluctuation is indicative of the relative environmental productivity of such lands.

(5)

Where wetlands serve a significant and productive environmental function, the public health, safety and welfare require that any alteration or development affecting such lands should be so designed and regulated so as to minimize or eliminate any impact upon the beneficial environmental productivity of such lands, consistent with the development rights of property owners.

(6)

Many of the environmentally productive functions of wetlands in their natural state can be replaced or duplicated, and natural inefficiencies or limitations in such functions can be reduced by providing for mitigation of harm to such functions in the design and development of land improvements.

(7)

Under certain conditions, the public health, safety and welfare may be enhanced by the elimination of isolated, nonviable wetlands and their replacement by interconnected wetlands comprising a viable and productive ecosystem.

(Code 1965, § 36B-2; Ord. No. 87-31, § 1.02, 7-27-87; Ord. No. 89-8, § 1(1.02), 7-3-89)