"Sale"
means the conveyance for consideration of legal or beneficial ownership.
"Salt water intrusion"
means the underground flow of salt water into wells and aquifers.
"Screening"
means a method of visually shielding or obscuring a structure or use from view by fencing, walls, trees, or densely planted vegetation.
"Seaward"
means to or toward the sea.
Seawater Intrusion.
(See "Salt water intrusion.")
"Seawater intrusion protection zone (SIPZ)"
means aquifers and land overlying aquifers with some degree of vulnerability to seawater intrusion.
"Sedimentation"
means the process by which material is transported and deposited by water or wind.
"Seiche and landslide generated wave hazard areas"
means lake and marine shoreline areas susceptible to flooding, inundation, debris impact, or mass wasting as the result of a seiche or landslide generated waves. No known best available science is currently available to characterize potential seiche hazards in Jefferson County.
"Seismic hazard areas"
has the same meaning as in WAC 365-190-030(18).
"Sensitive areas"
associated with JCC § 18.20.345, Sexually oriented businesses, include: schools, day care facilities, libraries, off-road public trails and paths, public indoor recreational facilities, hospitals, parks and playgrounds, places of worship (i.e., churches), community centers, senior citizen centers, cemeteries, residential neighborhoods, master planned resorts.
"Sensitive species"
means species that could become threatened as classified by the State of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Nongame Program, and the Department of Natural Resources, Washington Natural Heritage Plan.
"Service area"
means a geographic area defined by a county or intergovernmental agreement in which a defined set of public facilities provides service to development within the area (e.g., an area identified by a public water system that includes the ability to provide a water tap).
"Setback"
means the distance a structure is placed behind a specified line or topographic feature.
"Sewerage treatment facilities"
means the management, storage, collection, transportation, treatment, utilization, and processing of sewage from a municipal or community sewage treatment plant, not including community drain fields.
"Sexually oriented business"
means:
(1)
Any exhibition, performance or dance conducted in an sexually oriented business facility where such exhibition, performance or dance is distinguished or characterized by a predominant emphasis on matters depicting, describing, or simulating any specified sexual activities or any specified anatomical areas; or
(2)
Any exhibition, performance or dance intended to sexually stimulate any patron and conducted in a sexually oriented business facility where such exhibition, performance or dance is performed for, arranged with, or engaged in with fewer than all patrons in the sexually oriented business facility at that time, with separate consideration paid, either directly or indirectly, for such performance, exhibition or dance. For purposes of example and not limitation, such exhibitions, performances or dances are commonly referred to as table dancing, couch dancing, taxi dancing, lap dancing, private dancing or straddle dancing; or
(3)
Sexually oriented retail store, meaning an enclosed building, or any portion thereof, which, for money or any other form of consideration, devotes a significant or substantial portion of stock in trade to the sale, exchange, rental, loan, trade, transfer or viewing of sexually oriented materials. For purposes of this definition, a retail store devotes a significant or substantial portion of its stock in trade to sexually oriented materials if the sale, exchange, rental, loan, trade, transfer or viewing of such sexually oriented materials is clearly material to the economic viability of the business. It is rebuttably presumed that such sexually oriented materials are clearly material to the viability of the business if sexually oriented materials account for:
(a)
25% or more of the retail dollar value of gross sales over any quarterly period;
(b)
25% or more of the floor area of the store open to the public;
(c)
25% or more of the retail dollar value of all merchandise displayed in the store;
(d)
25% or more of the store's inventory (whether measured by retail dollar value or number of items); or
(e)
25% or more of the store's stock in trade.
(4)
Also see JCC § 5.10.030 for a more complete list of definitions.
"Shooting range"
consists of a firing line or firing points, and an impact area.
“Shoreline buffer”
means any buffer required by Chapter 18.25 JCC.
"Shoreline Management Act"
means the Shoreline Management Act of 1971 (Chapter 90.58 RCW), as amended.
"Shoreline Master Program (SMP)"
means the Jefferson County Shoreline Master Program.
“Short plat” or “short subdivision”
is the division or redivision of land into four or fewer lots, tracts, parcels, sites, or divisions for the purpose of sale, lease, or transfer of ownership; and within UGAs, a division of land up to a maximum of nine lots.
"Short-term rental"
means a lodging use, that is not a hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast, in which a primary or accessory dwelling unit, or portion thereof, is offered or provided to a guest by a short-term rental operator for a fee for fewer than 30 consecutive nights, as set forth in RCW 64.37.010(9)(a).
"Short-term rental advertisement"
means any method of soliciting use of a dwelling unit for short-term rental purposes.
"Short-term rental operator" or "operator"
means any person who receives payment for owning or operating a dwelling unit, or portion thereof, as a short-term rental unit.
"Short-term rental platform" or "platform"
means a person that provides a means through which an operator may offer a dwelling unit, or portion thereof, for short-term rental use, and from which the person or entity financially benefits. Merely publishing a short-term rental advertisement for accommodations does not make the publisher a short-term rental platform.
"Sign"
means any object, device, display or structure, or part thereof, situated outdoors or indoors, which is used to advertise, identify, display, direct or attract attention to an object, person, institution, organization, business, product, service, event or location by any means, including words, letters, figures, design, symbols, fixtures, colors, illumination or projected images. Excluded from this definition are signs required by law, such as handicapped parking signs, and the flags of national and state governments.
"Sign, commercial"
means a sign that directs attention to a business or profession, to a commodity or service sold, offered, or manufactured, or to an entertainment offered on the premises where the sign is located.
"Sign, freestanding"
means a sign not attached to a structure.
"Silviculture"
means the study and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, constitution, health, growth, and quality of forest stands.
"Single-family residence"
means a dwelling unit designed for and occupied by no more than one family.
“Single-family zones”
means those zones where single-family detached residences are the predominant land use.
"SIPZ"
means seawater intrusion protection zones.
"Site evaluation checklist"
means all the information described in JCC § 18.22.945(3)(d).
“Sixplex”
means a residential building with six attached dwelling units.
“Sleeping unit”
is a single unit that provides rooms or spaces for one or more persons, includes permanent provisions for sleeping and can include provisions for living, eating and either sanitation or kitchen facilities but not both. Such rooms and spaces that are also part of a dwelling unit are not sleeping units.
"Small equipment repair, sales and rental services"
means commercial establishments engaged primarily in the repair, and/or rental and sale of small equipment, including, but not limited to, tools, watches, appliances, televisions and other electronic devices, computers, lawnmowers, bicycles and similar items.
"Small-scale"
means of a size or intensity which has minimal impacts on the surrounding area and which makes minimal demands on the existing infrastructure.
"Small-scale recreation or tourist uses"
means recreational uses or tourist uses that are reliant upon a rural setting or location; do not include any new residential development beyond that allowed in the underlying land use district; and otherwise meet the performance standards in JCC § 18.20.350.
"Soil log"
means the excavation and written record of soil septic suitability as per health department written guidelines and requirements.
"Solid waste"
means all putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semi-solid wastes, except wastes identified in WAC 173-304-015, including, but not limited to, junk vehicles, garbage, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes, swill, demolition and construction wastes, abandoned vehicles or parts thereof, and discarded commodities, but excluding agricultural wastes and crop residues returned to the soil at agronomic rates. This includes all liquid, solid and semi-solid materials which are not the primary products of public, private, industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations. Solid waste includes but is not limited to sludge from wastewater treatment plants and septage from septic tanks, wood waste, dangerous waste, and problem wastes. Unrecovered residues from recycling operations shall be considered solid waste.
"Solid waste disposal"
means the act or process of disposing of rubbish and garbage.
"Sound"
means an oscillation in pressure, particle displacement, particle velocity, or other physical parameter in a medium with internal forces that causes compression and rarefaction of that medium, including any characteristics of sound, such as duration, intensity, and frequency.
"Source of contamination"
means a facility or disposal or storage site for material that impairs the quality of groundwater to a degree that creates a potential hazard to the environment, public health, or interferes with a beneficial use; or in reference to well drilling, a specific area or source as defined in WAC 173-160-171.
"Special flood hazard"
means land in the floodplain subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.
"Special report"
means a technical report or study containing certain site analyses or project evaluations or a plan describing mitigation or monitoring recommendations.
"Species of local importance"
has the same meaning as in WAC 365-190-030(19).
"Sponsor"
for purposes of the temporary housing facility regulations in JCC § 18.20.385 means an organization that is:
(1)
A state of Washington registered not-for-profit corporation and federally recognized tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization that invites a temporary housing facility to reside on land it owns or leases; or
(2)
Recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as exempt from federal income taxes as a religious organization, which expresses its religious mission, in part, by organizing living accommodations for those experiencing homelessness.
"Sprawl, low density"
means scattered, poorly planned low density development that occurs particularly in urban fringe and rural areas and frequently invades land important for environmental and natural resource protection. Sprawl typically manifests itself in one or more of the following patterns:
(1)
Leap frog development: when new development of urban or suburban character is sited away from an existing developed urban or suburban area, bypassing vacant parcels located in or closer to the developed area that are suitable for development;
(2)
Strip development: when large amounts of commercial, retail, or other nonresidential development are located in a linear pattern along one or both sides of a major arterial or collector and, typically, accessing directly onto the arterial or collector; and
(3)
Large expanses of low density, single-family dwelling development, outside of urban areas, rural village centers, or master planned resorts, that are located in relatively close proximity to one another.
“Stacked flat"
means dwelling units in a residential building of no more than three stories on a residential zoned lot in which each floor may be separately rented or owned.
“Standard buffer”
means a buffer that has a standard width required by Chapter 18.22 or 18.25 JCC.
"State endangered species"
means a species native to the state of Washington that is seriously threatened with extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range within the state. Endangered species are legally designated in WAC 232-12-014.
"State sensitive species"
means a species, native to the state of Washington, that is vulnerable or declining and is likely to become endangered or threatened in a significant portion of its range within the state without cooperative management or the removal of threats. Sensitive species are legally designated in WAC 232-12-011.
"State threatened species"
means a species, native to the state of Washington, that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout a significant portion of its range within the state without cooperative management or the removal of threats. Threatened species are legally designated in WAC 232-12-011.
"Stockyard"
means any place, establishment, or facility commonly known as a stockyard consisting of pens or other enclosures and their appurtenances in which livestock services such as feeding, watering, weighing, sorting, receiving and shipping are offered to the public; provided, that "stockyard" shall not include any facilities where livestock is offered for sale at public auction, feed lots, or quarantined registered feed lots.
"Storage yard, outdoor"
means an outdoor area used for the storage of equipment, vehicles or materials for periods exceeding 72 hours.
"Street"
means a public or private thoroughfare or easement that affords primary means of access. For the purposes of Chapter 18.35 JCC, the definition of street includes all public and private utilities such as communication lines, cable television lines, electrical lines and equipment, gas distribution lines, stormwater, sidewalks, and other similar facilities commonly found in street rights-of-way.
"Street or road frontage"
means the length along a street which a structure, business, or lot abuts or fronts.
"Structure"
means a permanent or temporary edifice or building or any piece of work artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner, whether installed on, above, or below the surface of the ground or water, except for vessels (WAC 173-27-030).
"Subarea plan"
means a detailed plan consistent with but more specific than this code or the Comprehensive Plan. It may be a detailed land use plan for a specific geographic area, or a functional long-range plan for a land use or resource issue of county-wide concern.
"Subdivision"
means the division or redivision of land into lots, tracts, parcels sites or divisions for the purpose of sale, lease or transfer of ownership.
"Subdivision, alteration of"
means the alteration of lots or changes in dedications or restrictions or easements shown on the face of a plat of a subdivision or short subdivision; except as provided by RCW 58.17.040(6) for boundary line adjustments.
"Subdivision development standards"
means the county's engineering, design and construction standards and specifications contained in Chapter 18.30 JCC, including any incorporated standards, governing the construction of public and private improvements serving new divisions of land. The county's subdivision development standards include the adopted public works standards for design and construction of transportation facilities and standards for clearing and grading, erosion control, stormwater facilities, and water and sewage disposal improvements.
"Subdivision, long"
means the division or redivision of land into five or more lots, tracts, parcels or sites or divisions for the purpose of sale, lease, or transfer of ownership.
"Subdivision, phased"
means a subdivision that is developed in increments over a period of time.
"Subdivision, short"
means the division or redivision of land into four or fewer lots, tracts, parcels or sites or divisions for the purpose of sale, lease, or transfer of ownership.
"Subdivision, vacation of"
means the removal of lots, boundaries, roads, dedications, restrictions, or easements of a recorded subdivision or short subdivision.
"Surface mine"
means any area or areas in close proximity to each other, as determined by the department, where extraction of minerals results: (a) in more than three acres of disturbed area, (b) surface-mined slopes greater than 30 feet high and steeper than one foot horizontal to one foot vertical, (c) more than one acre of disturbed area within an eight-acre area; when the disturbed area results from mineral prospecting or exploration activities. Surface mines include areas where mineral extraction from the surface or subsurface occurs by the auger method or by reworking mine refuse or tailings, when the disturbed area exceeds the size or height thresholds listed in of this definition. Surface mining occurs when operations have created or are intended to create a surface mine as defined by this subsection. Surface mining shall exclude excavations or grading used primarily for on-site construction, on-site road maintenance, or on-site landfill construction, for the purpose of public safety or restoring the land following a natural disaster, for the purpose of removing stockpiles, for forest or farm road construction or maintenance on site or on contiguous lands, primarily for public works projects if the mines are owned or primarily operated by counties with 1993 populations of less than 20,000 persons, and if each mine has less than seven acres of disturbed area, and for sand authorized by RCW 79A.05.630.
"Sustainable"
means actions or activities which preserve and enhance resources for future generations.
(Ord. 8-06 § 1; Ord. 3-12 § 1 (Exh. H); Ord. 14-18 § 4 (Exh. B); Ord. 3-20 § 1 (Appx. A); Ord. 5-20 § 3 (Appx. A); Ord. 5-22 § 3 (Appx. A(3)); Ord. 3-25 § 5 (App. B); Ord. 1-26, 3/9/2026; Ord. 3-26, 7/13/2026)