FWCP_Glossary_of_TermsGLOSSARY OF TERMS
Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) – Either a free-standing detached structure or an
attached part of a structure which is subordinate and incidental to the main or primary
dwelling unit located on the subject property; providing complete, independent living
facilities exclusively for one single housekeeping unit, including permanent provisions
for living, sleeping, cooking, and sanitation.
Affordable Housing – The HUD definition of “affordable housing” is housing where the
occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of gross income for gross housing costs,
including utilities.
Aquifer – A water-bearing porous soil or rock strata capable of yielding a significant
amount of groundwater to wells or springs.
Aquifer Recharge Areas – Areas in which water reaches the zone of saturation by
surface infiltration. These areas are hydro-geologically susceptible to contamination and
contamination loading potential including, but not limited to, such areas as sole water
source aquifer recharge areas, special protection groundwater management areas,
wellhead protection areas, and other areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers
used for potable water.
Arterial – A major thoroughfare used mainly for through traffic rather than access to
adjacent property. Arterials generally have greater traffic carrying capacity than collector
or local streets and are designed for continuously moving traffic.
Buffer – An area on a property or site, generally adjacent to and parallel with the
property line, either consisting of natural vegetation or created through the use of trees,
shrubs, fences, and/or berms, designed to limit the view of and/or sound from the site to
adjacent properties.
Buildable Lands – In 1997, the Washington State legislature adopted the Buildable
Lands amendment to the Growth Management Act (RCW 36.70A.215). The amendment
requires six Washington counties and their cities to determine the amount of suitable land
for urban development, and evaluate its capacity for growth, based upon measurement of
five years of actual development activity. King County and the other five counties must
report to the state by September 1, 2002, and every five years thereafter.
Land Capacity – Land capacity is a measure of a jurisdiction’s ability to accommodate
targeted or forecasted household and job growth, based on its land supply and
development potential under current or planned zoning.
Capital Facilities – As a general definition, structures, improvements, pieces of
equipment, or other major assets, including land, that have a useful life of at least 10 years.
Capital facilities are provided by and for public purposes and services. For the purposes of
the Capital Facilities chapter, capital facilities are surface water facilities, parks and open
space facilities, transportation facilities, government offices, law enforcement facilities,
public school facilities, water facilities, sewer facilities, and fire and rescue facilities.
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Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) – A general plan that identifies and balances capital
expenditures and revenues for a specified period of time and demonstrates the viability of
the land use plan.
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) – A six-year plan for future capital expenditures
that identifies each capital project, including anticipated time of completion, and allocates
existing funds and known revenue sources. The CIP is updated and adopted annually as
part of the city budget.
CityShape – CityShape is the name given to the process used to develop the City’s GMA
comprehensive plan.
Cluster Housing – A development design technique that concentrates buildings in
specific areas on a site to allow the remaining land to be used for recreation, common
open space, or preservation of environmentally sensitive areas.
Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) – A federal funding program
that provides annual funding for eligible local governments for housing and community
development programs targeted primarily to low-income persons and neighborhoods.
Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) – A document that is prepared
to lay out housing affordability strategies that address the needs of homeless, low-, and
moderate-income people in ways that promote community and individual stability.
Comprehensive Plan – A generalized coordinated policy statement of the governing
body of the city that is adopted pursuant to the GMA. A document or series of documents
prepared by a professional planning staff and planning commission that sets forth broad
guidelines and policies for the future development of a community. Such plan should be
the result of considerable public input, study, and analysis of existing physical, economic,
environmental, and social conditions, and a projection of what the future conditions are
likely to be.
Concomitant Development Agreement – An agreement between the city and an
applicant under RCW 36.70B.170 that promotes diversity and creativity in site design,
protects and enhances natural and community features, and encourages unique
developments that may combine a mixture of residential, commercial, office, and
industrial uses. Concomitant development agreements may be used to formalize site
development requirements in conjunction with an area’s annexation into the city, or as
part of a specific development application.
Concurrency – A program to ensure that those public facilities and services necessary to
support development shall be adequate to serve the development at the time the
development is available for occupancy and use, without decreasing the current service
level below locally established minimum standards. (Under the GMA, only transportation
facilities and services must satisfy the concurrency requirement.)
Density – The number of families, persons, housing units, jobs, or building per unit of
land usually expressed as “per acre.”
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Development Regulations – Any controls placed on the development or use of land by a
city including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, subdivisions ordinances, and
environmental regulations.
Development Right – The right to use or develop property for some economic purpose.
Residential occupancy is a type of economic purpose.
Development Standard – In respect to any development, fixed requirements, or standards
imposed by regulation or ordinance. A setback is an example of a development standard.
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) – A document intended to provide an impartial
discussion of significant environmental impacts, which may result from a proposed
development project or non-project action. If the responsible official determines that a
project or action may have a significant adverse effect upon the quality of the
environment, SEPA requires that an EIS be prepared. The purpose of the EIS document is
to provide the government decision makers with information to be considered prior to
determining a project’s acceptability. The Draft EIS, which is circulated for review and
comment, describes the action, analyzes the impacts of the action, and proposes
alternatives and mitigating measures. Comments on and revisions to the Draft EIS are
included in the Final EIS, the findings of which can be appealed.
Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) – Those areas designated, mapped, and
regulated by environmentally sensitive area regulations. These areas have existing site
conditions that require development standards to minimize specific on-site and off-site
adverse environmental impacts such as stream siltation, hill slides, reduction of habitat
areas, etc.
Erosion Hazard Areas – Areas having a severe to very severe erosion hazard due to
natural agents such as wind, rain, splash, frost action, or stream flow.
Essential Public Facilities – Any facility or conveyance that has the following attributes:
1) It is typically difficult to site due to unusual site requirements and/or significant
public opposition.
2) It is a necessary component of a system, network, or program that provides a
public service or good.
3) It is owned or operated by a unit of local or state government; private or nonprofit
organization under contract with or receiving government funding; or private firms
subject to a public service obligation.
Fair Share Housing – A qualification of each jurisdiction’s “share” of middle and low
income housing needs in a region or county, and a plan for how each jurisdiction will
satisfy its obligation to provide for its share of the need.
Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Area – The management of land for
maintaining species in suitable habitats within their natural geographic distribution so
that isolated sub-populations are not created. Habitat conservation areas include, but are
not limited to, such areas as:
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1) Areas with which endangered, threatened, and sensitive species have a primary
association.
2) Habitats and species of local importance.
3) Commercial and recreational shellfish areas.
4) Kelp and eelgrass beds; herring and smelt spawning areas.
5) Naturally occurring ponds under 20 acres and their submerged aquatic beds that
provide fish or wildlife habitat.
6) Waters of the state.
7) Lakes, ponds, and streams planted with game fish by a governmental or tribal
entity.
8) State natural area preserves and natural resource conservation areas.
9) Streams.
Floor Area Ratio – The project building square footage (total floor area) divided by net
project land area (gross land area minus constrained land [sensitive areas, right-of-way,
and public purpose land]).
Geographic Information System (GIS) – A computerized system used to map and
access geographic information that is contained in a database.
Geologically Hazardous Areas – Areas that, because of their susceptibility to erosion,
landslides, seismic, or other geological events, are not suited to siting commercial,
residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or safety concerns.
Geologically hazardous areas include erosion hazard areas, landslide hazard areas,
seismic hazard areas, and steep slope hazard areas.
Groundwater – Water that occurs in subsurface openings in the earth, such as the spaces
between particles in unconsolidated deposits or along fractures in consolidated deposits.
Growth Management Act (GMA) – Refers to the 1990 Washington State Growth
Management Act (ESHB 2929) as amended in 1991, requiring urban counties and cities
within those counties to develop comprehensive plans to deal with growth in Washington
State over the next 20 years. The GMA is codified in RCW 36.70A and other chapters.
Growth Management Planning Council (GMPC) – A body made-up of city and
county representatives and created through an interlocal agreement by most of the cities
in King County and the county itself to undertake interjurisdictional planning pursuant to
requirements of the GMA or its successor.
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Growth Targets – A jurisdiction’s policy statement on how many net new households and
jobs it intends to accommodate in the future based on population forecasts, the expected
size of the average household, and the jurisdiction’s vision of what its future should be.
High Capacity Transit (HCT) – A system of public transportation services within an
urbanized region operating principally on exclusive rights-of-way. The supporting services
and facilities necessary to implement such a system, including interim express services and
high occupancy vehicle lanes, which taken as a whole provides a substantially higher level
of passenger capacity, speed, and service frequency than traditional public transportation
systems operating principally in general purpose roadways. Includes light rail transit and
express buses on exclusive bus ways and their supporting services.
Impact Fees – Fees imposed on developers to help pay for cost of providing public
facilities needed to serve new development. Such charges reflect a desire to make new
development pay for its impact on the community. The use of impact fees is authorized
by the GMA.
Infrastructure – The basic foundation of facilities and services (for example: potable
water, sewage treatment, power, and streets) that are necessary for urban development.
King County Countywide Planning Policies (CWPPs) – As required by the GMA, the
King County Council adopted and the cities ratified a series of policies that embody a
vision of the future of King County. These policies are intended to guide development of
city and county comprehensive plans.
Land Use – A term used to indicate the utilization of a piece of land. The term may be
used for either the way in which the land is being used or may be used.
Landslide Hazard Areas – Those areas potentially subject to episodic down slope
movement of a mass of soil or rock including, but not limited to, the following areas:
1. Any area with a combination of:
a. Slopes greater than 15 percent;
b. Permeable sediment, predominately sand and gravel, overlying
relatively impermeable sediment or bedrock, typically silt and clay; and
c. Springs or groundwater seepage.
2. Any area which has shown movement during the Holocene epoch, from 10,000
years ago to the present, or which is underlain by mass wastage debris of that epoch.
3. Any area potentially unstable as a result of rapid stream incision, stream bank
erosion, or under-cutting by wave action.
4. Any area located in a ravine or on an active alluvial fan, presently or potentially
subject to inundation by debris flows or flooding.
5. Those areas identified by the United States Department of Agriculture Soil
Conservation Service as having a severe limitation for building site development.
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6. Those areas mapped as class u (unstable), uos (unstable old slides), and urs
(unstable recent slides) by the Department of Ecology.
7. Slopes having gradients greater than 80 percent subject to rockfall during seismic
shaking.
Level of Service (LOS) – A measure of a public facility or service’s operational
characteristics used to gauge its performance.
Local Improvement District (LID) – A financing mechanism whereby specially
benefited properties are assessed the costs of constructing public improvements.
Manufactured Housing – Factory-built housing that is transportable in one or more
sections, is built on a permanent chassis, and designed to be a dwelling with or without a
permanent foundation when connected to required utilities. Manufactured housing shall
be built to comply with the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety
Standards of 1974 (regulations effective June 15, 1976).
Mitigate – To reasonably reduce or eliminate the impact(s) of development.
Mixed Use Development – The development of a tract of land, building, or structure
with a variety of complementary and integrated uses such as, but not limited to,
residential, office, retail, manufacturing, or entertainment in a compact urban form.
Pedestrian – An individual traveling on foot.
Pedestrian Friendly – Development designs that encourage walking by providing site
amenities for pedestrians. Pedestrian friendly environments reduce auto dependence and
may encourage use of public transportation.
Pedestrian Oriented – Businesses whose signs, advertising, window displays, and
entryways are oriented toward pedestrian traffic. Pedestrian oriented businesses may
include restaurants, retail shops, personal service businesses, travel services, banks
(except drive-through windows), and similar establishments.
Planned Unit Development (PUD) – A planning technique that provides increased
flexibility for the property owner in exchange for a higher quality development. Usually
used for larger parcels, PUDs are characterized by a focus on overall project design rather
than lot-by-lot zoning, setbacks, and placement. Innovative housing types, open space,
and recreation facilities are often included.
Policy – An agreed upon course of action adopted and pursued by decision makers for
achieving one or several goals and objectives, which are used to guide the formulation of
regulations and programs.
Potential Annexation Area (PAA) – Current unincorporated areas surrounding the City
of Federal Way that Federal Way may annex within the 20-year comprehensive plan time
frame. These areas have been agreed to by neighboring cities.
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Public Facilities – Any use of land or physical structures, whether publicly or privately
owned, for transportation, utilities, communication, or the benefit of the general public,
including streets, schools, libraries, fire and police stations, municipal and county
buildings, powerhouses, recreational centers, parks, and cemeteries.
Public Services – A variety of services such as fire protection and suppression, law
enforcement, public health, recreation, environmental protection, etc., available to the
public and provided by government, substantially funded by government, contracted for
or by government, or provided by private entities subject to public service obligation.
Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) – Formerly the Puget Sound Council of
Governments, the PSRC is a regional planning and decision-making body for growth and
transportation issues in King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. Under federal
transportation law, PSRC is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), responsible
for regional transportation planning and programming of federal transportation funds in
the four county region. It is also the designated Regional Transportation Planning
Organization (RTPO) for the four county region. PSRC manages the adopted regional
growth strategy, Vision 2020.
Right-of-Way – Land dedicated or conveyed to the public or a unit of government, the
primary purpose of which is the movement of vehicles and/or pedestrians and providing
for access to adjacent parcels, with the secondary purpose of providing space for utility
lines and appurtenances and other devices and facilities benefiting the public.
State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) – Chapter 43.21C RCW. The state law passed
in 1971 requiring state and local agencies to consider environmental impacts in the
decision-making process. A determination of environmental significance must be made for
all non-exempt projects or actions that require license or decision from a government
agency. If the action does not have significant adverse environmental impacts, a
Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS) is issued. If the action has adverse environmental
impacts that can be mitigated, a Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS) is
issued. If the action or project could have major impacts, an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) is required.
Street Furniture – Constructed, aboveground objects such as outdoor seating, kiosks,
bus shelters, sculptures, tree grids, trash receptacles, fountains, and telephone booths that
have the potential for enlivening and giving variety to streets, sidewalks, plazas, and
other outdoor spaces open to, and used by, the public.
Streetscape – A term in urban design that defines and describes the character and quality
of a street by the amount and type of features and furnishings abutting it. Such features
and furnishings may include trees and other landscaping, benches, lighting, trash
receptacles, bollards, curbing, walls, different paving types, signage, kiosks, trellises, art
objects, bus stops, and typical utility equipment and appurtenances.
Strip Commercial – Commercial or retail uses, usually one-story high and one lot deep,
that front on a major street.
Subarea Plan – A comprehensive, long-range plan that focuses on a particular area or
neighborhood of the city, e.g. the City Center.
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Townhouse – A form of ground-related housing where individual dwelling units are
attached along at least one common wall to at least one other dwelling unit. Each
dwelling unit occupies space from the ground to the roof and has direct access to private
open space.
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) – A program in which the unused portion of a
“sending” property’s zoning capacity—one of the separable rights of property—is sold to
the developer of a “receiving” site, who is allowed to add the capacity to the zoned limit
of that site. TDRs can be used to prevent demolition of affordable housing units, protect
historically significant property, environmentally sensitive areas, or open space.
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) – Private and public strategies and
programs designed to manage demand based on transportation supply. Strategies are
typically aimed at reducing the number of vehicle trips, shortening trip lengths, and
changing the time of trips out of peak hours. TDM programs are frequently directed
toward increasing the use of public transportation, carpools and vanpools, and non-
motorized travel modes.
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) – Federal reauthorization
bill for transportation funding passed in 1998. Successor to ISTEA, authorizing higher
funding levels through the year 2003.
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) – A six-year funded program of
transportation improvements. The TIP is updated and adopted annually.
Urban Center – Defined in the CWPPs as an area for focusing growth and aligning a
high capacity transit system. To be designated an urban center an area must: have a land
area of between 0.5 and 1.5 square miles; be able to support a minimum of 15,000 jobs
within 1 and 12 miles of a transit center; have a minimum density of 50 jobs per gross
acre; and a minimum residential density of 15 households per gross acre.
Urban Growth Area (UGA) – The area designated in the King County Comprehensive
Plan for urban development and to be served with urban services, in addition to
greenbelts, open space, and other appropriate areas.
Urban Growth Boundary – A site-specific line, delineated on a map or by written
description, that separates the projected urban growth from rural land.
Urban Services – Includes those governmental services historically and typically
delivered by cities and includes storm and sanitary sewer systems, domestic water
systems, street cleaning services, fire and police protection services, public transit
service, and other public utilities associated with urban areas and normally not associated
with rural areas.
Vision 2020 – The adopted regional growth strategy that describes linking high density
residential and employment centers throughout the region by high capacity transit, and
promoting a multi-modal transportation system. Vision 2020 was adopted in 1990 by the
Puget Sound Council of Governments, which was the predecessor to the Puget Sound
Regional Council.
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Wellfield – An area containing two or more wells with overlapping zones of contribution
that supply a public water system.
Wellhead Protection Area –The surface and subsurface area surrounding a well or
wellfield supplying a public water system, through which contaminants are reasonably
likely to move toward and reach the water well or wellfield.
Wetland – Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a
frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do
support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.
Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
Zero Lot Line Development (ZLL) – A siting technique that allows single-family
houses to be built along one lot line. This helps to preserve privacy and usable yard
space, especially in small lot areas. Variations include angled “Z-lots,” alternate width
lots, and shared lot lines, which give the appearance of a duplex.
Zone or Zoning District – A specifically delineated area or district in a municipality
within which generally uniform regulations or requirements govern the use, size, and
development of land and buildings.
Zoning – A type of development regulation that manages the use and development of
land. Federal Way’s zoning regulations are contained in the Federal Way Revised Code
(FWRC) Title 19.
Zoning Map – The series of maps adopted by the city, and designated the official zoning
map of the city, showing the geographical location of use zones within the municipal
boundaries.
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LIST OF ACRONYMS
AASHTO American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act
ADU Accessory Dwelling Unit
AVI Automated Vehicle Identification
BPA Bonneville Power Administration
CFP Capital Facilities Plan
CAC Citizens Advisory Committee
CDBG Community Development Block Grant
Program
CHAS Comprehensive Housing Affordability
Strategy
CIP Capital Improvement Program
CMAQ Congestion Management and Air Quality
CMS Concurrency Management System
CTR Commute Trip Reduction
CWPPs King County Countywide Planning
Policies
DNS Determination of Nonsignificance
EIS Environmental Impact Statement
EMF Electro Magnetic Field
EMS Emergency Medical Service
ESA Environmentally Sensitive Area
FAR Floor Area Ratios
FCC Federal Communications Commission
FERE Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
FWBAC Federal Way Bicycle Advisory
Committee
FWRC Federal Way Revised Code
FWCP Federal Way Comprehensive Plan
GIS Geographic Information System
GMA Growth Management Act
GMPC Growth Management Planning Council
GPS Global Positioning System
HCM Highway Capacity Manual
HCT High Capacity Transit
HMP Heliport Master Plan
HOV High Occupancy Vehicle
HSS Highways of Statewide Significance
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act of 1991
ITS Intelligent Traveler Service
LID Local Improvement District
LOS Level of Service
MDNS Mitigated Determination of
Nonsignificance
MGD Million Gallons per Day
mph Miles per Hour
MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization
MTP Metropolitan Transportation Plan
MVET Motor Vehicle Excise Tax
NHS National Highway System
NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System
OFM Washington State Office of Financial
Management
PAA Potential Annexation Area
PSE Puget Sound Energy
PS/HELP Puget Sound Helicopter Emergency
Lifesaver Plan
PSHSP Puget Sound Heliport System Plan
PSRC Puget Sound Regional Council
PT Pierce Transit
PUD Planned Unit Development
RCW Revised Code of Washington
RPTO Regional Transportation Planning
Organization
RTA Regional Transit Authority (Sound
Transit)
SEPA State Environmental Policy Act
SOV Single Occupancy Vehicle
SR State Route
STP Surface Transportation Project
TAZ Transportation Analysis Zone
TDM Transportation Demand Management
TDR Transfer of Development Rights
TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century
TIB Transportation Improvement Board
TIF Transportation Impact Fee
TIP Transportation Improvement Program
TSM Transportation Systems Management
UGA Urban Growth Area
v/c Volume/Capacity Ratio
VMT Vehicle Miles Traveled
WAC Washington Administrative Code
WSDOT Washington State Department of
Transportation
WUTC Washington Utilities and Transportation
Commission
ZLL Zero Lot Line