16.55.300 Public Access | Pullman City Code

16.55.300 Public Access.

(a) Promote and enhance the public interest with regard to rights to access waters held in public trust by the state while recognizing that public access does not include the right to enter upon or cross private property, except on dedicated public rights of way or easements or where development is specifically designed to accommodate public access.

(b) Consistent with the overall best interest of the state and the people of the City of Pullman, protect the public’s opportunity to enjoy the physical and aesthetic qualities of shorelines of the state, including water views, by regulating the design, construction, and operation of permitted uses in the City’s shoreline jurisdiction.

(d) Identify opportunities to improve and diversify public access along the shorelines that could expand public access and contribute to long-term planning goals identified in any City parks, recreation, and/or open space plans.

(a) Where feasible, new development and uses shall be designed and operated to avoid and minimize blocking, reducing, or adversely interfering with the public’s physical or visual access to the water and shorelines.

(b) The City adopts the City of Pullman 2014-18 Parks & Recreation Five Year Plan by reference as its shoreline public access plan for the City’s shorelines as it exists now and amended in the future.

(c) In compliance with RCW 35.79.035, public access provided by shoreline street ends, public utilities, and rights of way shall not be diminished.

(d) Existing public access shall not be eliminated unless the applicant shows that there is no feasible alternative and replaces the public access with access of comparable functions and value at another location. Shoreline development shall not interfere with public access and enjoyment of any nearby publicly owned land areas.

(e) Shoreline substantial developments and shoreline conditional uses shall provide for safe and convenient public access to and along the shoreline where any of the following conditions are present:

(i) The development is proposed or funded by a public entity or is on public lands;

(ii) The nature of the proposed use, activity or development will likely result in an increased demand for public access to shoreline;

(iii) The proposed use, activity or development is not a water-oriented or other preferred shoreline use, activity or development under the Act, such as a nonwater-oriented commercial or industrial use; or

(iv) The proposed use, activity or development will interfere with the public use, activity and enjoyment of shoreline areas or waterbodies subject to the Public Trust Doctrine.

(v) The proposed use is a multiple-unit residential development or a subdivision of land for more than four parcels.

(f) An applicant shall not be required to provide public access where the City determines that one or more of the following conditions apply:

(i) Proposed use, activity or development only involves the construction of four or fewer single-family or multi-family dwellings or subdivision of four or fewer lots;

(ii) The proposed use, activity or development only involves agricultural activities;

(iii) The nature of the use, activity or development or the characteristics of the site make public access requirements inappropriate due to health, safety or environmental hazards. The proponent shall carry the burden to demonstrate by substantial evidence the existence of unavoidable or unmitigable threats or hazards to public health, safety, or the environment that would be created or exacerbated by public access upon the site;

(iv) The proposed uses, activity or development has security requirements that are not feasible to address through the application of alternative design features or other measures;

(v) The economic cost of providing for public access upon the site is unreasonably disproportionate to the total long-term economic value of the proposed use, activity, or development.

(vi) Significant unmitigable harm to the shoreline environment would be likely to result from an increase, expansion or extension of public access upon the site;

(vii) Public access has reasonable potential to threaten or harm the natural functions and native characteristics of the shoreline;

(g) Public access locations shall be clearly marked and available to the public.

(h) The City may condition public access proposals to ensure compatibility with existing public access or transportation facilities, address environmental conditions or environmental impacts, and/or address compatibility with adjacent properties. Public access facilities shall be made compatible with adjacent private properties through the use of techniques to define the separation between public and private space, including but not limited to, fencing, vegetation, and elevation separations.

(i) Requirements and conditions for public access shall be consistent with all relevant constitutional and other legal limitations set on regulation of private property.

(j) The City shall pursue public access to publicly owned lands and develop a coordinated system of linked public access wherever possible.

(k) Where public access is provided, it shall be designed and located to achieve no net loss of existing shoreline ecological function. (Ord. 16-3 §31, 2016).