Skip to main content
Loading…
This section is included in your selections.

Balloon sign: an inflated sign that is attached to the ground or some other anchor and is not a free-floating conveyance.

Banner sign: a temporary sign made of flexible material attached to a building or fence or strung between support posts.

Banner sign, commercial: a banner sign erected by a commercial for-profit entity.

Banner sign, noncommercial: a banner sign erected by a not-for-profit entity advertising an event or activity or displaying a message.

Base flood: the flood having a one (1) percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year (also referred to as the “100-year flood”). See Chapter 14.270 SMC and 44 CFR 59.1.

Base flood elevation (BFE): the elevation to which floodwater is anticipated to rise during the base flood.

Base station, wireless communications: a structure or equipment at a fixed location that enables FCC-licensed or authorized wireless communications between user equipment and a communications network. The term does not include a tower, as defined herein, or any equipment associated with a tower. Base station includes, without limitation:

1. Equipment associated with wireless communications services such as private, broadcast, and public safety services, as well as unlicensed wireless services and fixed wireless services such as microwave backhaul.

2. Radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial or fiber-optic cable, regular and backup power supplies, and comparable equipment regardless of technological configuration (including distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small-cell networks).

3. Any structure other than a tower that, at the time the relevant application is filed with the City under this section, supports or houses equipment described in subsections 1 and 2 of this definition that has been reviewed and approved by the City.

Basement: a building story partly or wholly underground and having at least one-half (1/2) of its height, measured from its floor to its finished ceiling, below the average adjoining grade. For flood loads, a basement is the portion of a building having its floor below ground level on all sides.

Bed and breakfast: a single-family residence within which up to four (4) bedrooms are available for short-term lodging for paying guests.

Bed and breakfast inn: a commercial facility within which up to six (6) bedrooms are available for short-term lodging for paying guests.

Belt course: a contrasting horizontal layer of stones, bricks, tile, etc., in a wall.

Best available science: current scientific information used in the process to designate, protect, or restore critical areas that is derived from a valid scientific process as defined by WAC 365-195-900 through 925.

Blank wall: a wall as described in SMC 14.214.550 that does not provide visual interest with articulation, color and texture variety, windows, doors and other similar treatments.

Boarding house: an owner-occupied detached single-family residence where rooms are occupied by nonfamily members in exchange for compensation on a monthly or annual basis for periods of 30 days or longer. A rooming house shall have a maximum of three roomers/boarders occupying the residence at one time. Boarding houses must be operated in a manner consistent with SMC 14.207.075(7). “Rooming house” means the same as “boarding house.”

Bog: a low-nutrient, acidic wetland with organic soils and characteristic bog plants, as described in Washington State Wetland Rating System for Western Washington: 2014 Update (Washington State Department of Ecology Publication No. 14-06-29, Olympia, WA, October 2014).

Bond: a financial security provided in an amount and form satisfactory to the regulations of this title to insure that required improvements are installed, and providing a warranty against defective material or workmanship.

Boundary line adjustment: a survey made for the purpose of adjusting or relocating existing property lines.

Breakwater: an in-water structure, either floating or not, designed and purposed to absorb, dampen, or reflect wave energy.

Buffer: an area contiguous to a critical area that is established to maintain and protect the functions and/or structural stability of the critical area.

Buildable area: the portion of a lot free of special restrictions or encumbrances that can be developed subject only to the dimensional and other requirements established in Chapter 14.210 SMC. Buildable area does not include setback areas established by this title for the land use designation area in which the lot is located.

Building: see Structure.

Building height: the vertical distance from a specified point on the ground to a specified point on a building. Refer to SMC 14.210.030(E).

Building Official: the person responsible for administering building codes in the City of Snohomish.

Building sign: any sign that is painted on, or attached directly to or supported by, an exterior building wall, including facade signs, awning signs, canopy signs, and marquees, but excluding window signs. Also referred to as a wall sign.

Bulb-out: a traffic-calming and pedestrian-safety device that narrows the street by widening the curb and sidewalk, typically at intersections. Also referred to as a curb extension.

Bulkhead: a solid or open wall of rock, concrete, steel, timber, or other material erected generally parallel to the shoreline for the purpose of protecting upland areas from inundation, saturation, waves, current, etc. A bulkhead may have earthen fill placed upland of the wall structure.

Note: This definition is only applicable to Chapter 14.250 SMC.

Bulkhead: a low wall or lower portion of a building wall containing a dimensional panel or constructed of contrasting material.

Note: This definition is applicable to SMC Title 14 except for Chapter 14.250 SMC.

Bungalow court: a configuration of four (4) or more detached single-family residences arranged around and facing a common, shared pedestrian courtyard open to the street, with pedestrian access to the building entrances from the courtyard and street. Parking is aggregated on one (1) portion of the site rather than occurring at each unit, with no vehicular access within the courtyard.

Bus base: a facility for the storage, dispatch, repair, and maintenance of transit vehicles. (Ord. 2401, 2020; Ord. 2421, 2021; Ord. 2425, 2022; Ord. 2434, 2022; Ord. 2446, 2022)