14.40.060 Threshold determination.
The SEPA responsible official shall review SEPA checklists to determine if they are complete and ready for processing. If the checklist has not been completed, the city shall notify the applicant in writing and shall identify what additional information must be provided. If the checklist has been completed, the SEPA responsible official shall make a threshold determination and issue either a determination of nonsignificance (DNS), a mitigated determination of nonsignificance (MDNS), or a determination of significance (DS).
A. An applicant may request in writing early notice that a determination of significance may be likely.
1. The city shall notify the applicant in writing if a determination of significance is likely and the concerns that may trigger the need for the preparation of an EIS.
2. The applicant shall be given the opportunity to clarify or revise their proposal in order to lessen the potential adverse impacts.
B. If the city determines that the proposed action shall not have a probable, significant adverse impact on the environment, it shall issue a determination of nonsignificance, and no further environmental review of the proposed action shall be required. Upon issuance of the DNS the city may proceed with processing the application(s) associated with the proposed action.
C. If the city determines that the proposed action may have significant adverse impacts on the environment, but that they can be reasonably mitigated by measures to avoid, minimize, or compensate for the potential adverse impacts, it shall issue a mitigated determination of nonsignificance, and shall identify in writing the mitigating measures that shall be included as subsequent conditions of approval.
1. The issuance of an MDNS shall include public notice and a fifteen-day comment period. No permits or approvals associated with the proposed action shall be taken until the completion of this comment period.
2. Based on comments received the city may modify required mitigation measures, impose additional measures, or may rescind the threshold determination.
D. If the city determines that the proposed action is likely to have a probable, significant adverse impact on the environment, it shall issue a determination of significance and require the preparation of an environmental impact statement, or supplemental environmental impact statement, in accordance with the provisions of this title and Chapter 197-11 WAC.