Environmental Checklists and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Determinations
"SEPA" stands for State Environmental Policy Act. When you apply for any permit requiring a SEPA review, you will have to complete an environmental checklist with supplemental information as necessary at the same time as you submit the project proposal that triggered the SEPA process. For example, if you are turning in a SEPA checklist that has been triggered by a grading permit for 60 cubic yards, you would need to submit the building permit (to the Building Division) and the SEPA at the same time. The checklist contains questions about the natural environment (earth, air, water, etc.) and the built environment (traffic, schools, noise, etc.) of the site. The questions on the checklist apply to the entire project - including future plans for development. If your project will have multiple phases or parts, you can (and are encouraged to) include the entirety of the project into one SEPA checklist, even if you aren't ready to do the entire project. The SEPA process is to review the impacts of the development on the local environment - having the entire project explained will make review faster and more complete.
Whenever Benton County issues a determination on a checklist in accordance with the State Environmental Policy Act, we are required to notify the public. One of the ways we are giving public notice is to publish these determinations on our website. Now that the Department of Ecology has created a public-facing SEPA Register, we will be linking our SEPA documents to that page. You can reach the register (filtered for Benton County projects) here: Benton County SEPA Register (including city projects)
