Nine weeks ago on May 29^th we submitted our permit for King County’s Critical Areas Designation (CAD).  The County is so busy right now, that it was expected to take a while for them to even look at our application.  It actually sat for 9 weeks before someone was able to pick it up and take a look at it.  Our reviewer, Robert King, reviewed our application for completeness two days ago on Wednesday.  Then Thursday he did a site visit and today he approved it!  Nine weeks of the application sitting + 3 days’ worth of review = one approved CAD!

It really couldn’t have been easier for us.  But that’s because we did our homework up front.  I researched the heck out of our property.  This included requesting archived documents that the County had stored in their storage facility to be pulled – in there I found a wetland report that David Evans & Associates did a while back on the wetland for a neighboring property owner.  In addition, I hired Altmann Oliver (a wetland biological firm) to review the wetland in its current state and provide a letter of reconnaissance for the application as well.  When the County reviewed all of the documents that I sent, they said that our application seemed pretty straight forward and that the property had reputable consulting firms.  I guess it pays to hire people who the County trusts; otherwise who knows where we would have ended up.

So, what does this approval mean to us?  Well, it formally records the wetland + buffer with the County and if their regulations change (ie: buffer widths increase) it won’t affect us (at least not until the CAD approval expires in 5 years).  I also had a few questions about the 125’ of buffer space that was cleared in 2005 under an approved clearing & grading permit and if we were able to keep it as a backyard for the boys to run around in.  And guess what…the answer was yes!  Score!!

The next thing on the list to do is turn in our permit application to King County Health Department for our septic + well.  That has to be designed first…here we go again!

CAD Approval Letter 1

CAD Approval Letter 2

CAD Approval Letter 3

CAD Approval Letter 4