18J.15.240 Solid Waste Handling, Treatment and Storage Facilities.
A. Applicability. This Section applies to solid waste facilities whether or not a Solid Waste Permit is required by State regulations or the Health Department, unless otherwise stated. Individual facilities requiring a Conditional Use Permit may be subject to increased standards. Solid waste facilities that require a Solid Waste Permit shall indicate on a site plan that the facility meets the State and the Health Department's locational siting standards for that particular facility. Variances to the Health Department's Solid Waste Permit that impact these development standards or conditions required through the Conditional Use Permit must receive the Department's review and possible rehearing.
B. Design Objectives.
1. Provide mitigation measures to reduce noise, odor, dust, litter, and lighting impacts on users of the site and abutting uses and to coordinate these measures with the permit requirements of other local and state agencies;
2. Promote compatibility between land uses and unify development with aesthetic screening;
3. Provide mitigation measures for security, vector, and fire control;
4. Provide for potential corrective measures for groundwater protection; and
5. Promote the use of water conservation in the design, planting, and maintenance of landscaping.
C. Standards.
1. Organic Waste Processing Facilities. This includes any solid waste facility specializing in the controlled decomposition of organic solid waste and which requires a Solid Waste Permit under Chapter 70.95 RCW.
a. Soil Treatment Facility or Composting Facility. These standards apply to any soil treatment facility or any composting facility designed to handle more than 40 cubic yards, and which composts a feedstock material other than municipal solid waste.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen.
b. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Composting Facility. This includes any MSW composting facility which requires a Solid Waste Permit including a facility located within an enclosed structure.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen, buffer area, and fencing.
2. Waste Disposal Facilities. This Section applies to all waste disposal facilities requiring a Solid Waste Permit under Chapter 70.95 RCW.
a. Waste-to-Energy Facility. These development standards apply to all energy recovery and incinerator facilities, including those which burn less than 12 tons of solid waste per day, except for facilities burning woodwaste or gases recovered at a landfill.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen and fencing.
b. Landfill. These development standards apply to all landfills, including all surface impoundments or other solid waste facilities to be closed as permanent disposal landfill sites and only to those inert and demolition landfills to contain 2,000 cubic yards or more of fill.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen, buffer area, and fencing.
3. Waste Transfer Facilities. These development standards apply to all transfer facilities receiving solid waste from off-site.
a. Drop Box Transfer Station. This Section applies to all drop-box transfer stations requiring a Solid Waste Permit under Chapter 70.95 RCW.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen and fencing.
b. Transfer station, waste separation recovery facility, or moderate-risk waste facility. This Section applies to all interim transfer facilities that require a Solid Waste Permit under Chapter 70.95 RCW.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen, buffer area, and fencing.
c. Tire Piles. This Section applies to all tire piles whether or not they are required to have a Solid Waste Permit under Chapter 70.95 RCW.
(1) Landscaping and Buffering. This use type requires a landscape screen and fencing.
(2) Size and Height. No tire pile shall be visible from off-site when viewed 50 feet from the property line containing the pile. Tire piles shall not exceed 15,000 tires, shall not be more than 0.5 acre in size, shall not be in excess of 40 feet in any horizontal dimension, and shall be limited to 10 feet in height. A tire pile of less than 2,500 tires shall have 30-foot fire lanes between piles. Tire piles of more than 2,500 tires shall have a dirt berm not less than 5 feet in height around each stack of tires and shall have a 40-foot fire lane between piles to include 10 feet at the base of each berm plus 20 feet between berms.
D. Standards – Landscaping and Buffering.
1. Use of Existing Vegetation to Satisfy Requirements. The applicant is responsible for submitting to the Department an alternative conceptual landscape plan, supporting photographs, and a brief explanation as to how the alternative plan satisfies the intent of the landscaping required in this Section for each type of facility. Supplemental plant material may be required to be installed within the natural landscape area, critical area, or critical area buffer to fully comply with the intent of this Section.
2. Landscape Screen. A soil treatment or composting facility shall have a perimeter landscaping area not less than 20 feet in width. Landscape screening shall be designed and maintained so as not to impair vehicle visibility at corner intersections or adjacent to points of ingress or egress. Landscape planting screens shall be planted according to an approved site plan, utilizing LID techniques when the site warrants it, with due consideration to seasonal planting conditions, use of drought-tolerant vegetation, irrigated as necessary, and permanently maintained. All plant material which does not live shall be replaced within the next planting season. Landscaping areas shall incorporate:
a. A perimeter, sight-obscuring earth berm when adjacent to existing residential or commercial uses or residential or commercial zones. The earth berm shall be at least 3 feet high with a slope not more than 40 percent (1:2.5) on the side away from the active area and shall be terraced and/or planted with ground cover to minimize erosion.
b. At least one row of deciduous and evergreen trees, staggered and spaced not more than 15 feet apart.
c. At least one row of evergreen shrubs spaced not more than 5 feet apart which will grow to form a continuous hedge at least 5 feet in height when adjacent to existing residential or commercial uses or residential and commercial zones.
d. A mixture of lawn, low-growing shrubs, or hardy evergreen ground cover over the balance of the area.
3. Buffer Areas.
a. A municipal solid waste composting facility shall have a buffer area around the active area so that the active area is no closer than 50 feet to the facility property line when adjacent to existing residential or commercial uses or residential or commercial zones.
b. With the exception of woodwaste or inert and demolition landfill, a landfill shall have a buffer area around the active area so that the active area is no closer than 100 feet to the facility property line when adjacent to land zoned for commercial or industrial uses and no closer than 250 feet to existing residential uses or residential zones.
c. A transfer station, waste separation recovery facility, or a moderate-risk waste facility shall have a buffer zone around the active area so that the active area is no closer than 50 feet to the facility property line when adjacent to existing residential or commercial uses or residential or commercial zones.
4. Fencing. To impede entry by the public and animals, a solid waste facility shall have perimeter fencing 6 feet to 8 feet in height with a lockable gate, provided that no sight-obscuring fence constituting a traffic hazard is erected within any required setback flanking a street. Every fence shall be maintained in a condition of good repair and shall not be allowed to become or remain in a condition of disrepair including, but not limited to, noticeable leaning, sagging, missing sections, or broken supports.