2025 Critical Areas Update

About
The City's critical areas ordinance (CAO) was updated February 17, 2026 to reflect the most recent requirements for environmentally critical areas, such as wetlands, streams, steep slopes and coal mine hazard areas. Below you can find resources, a schedule, FAQs and contact information.

Quick Links
Critical Areas Ordinance as adopted
Stream Buffer Dashboard

Schedule
The ordinance was adopted at the 2/17/2026 City Council meeting. Please contact staff with any questions. You can reach them at [email protected].

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if a critical area is near my property and what type is?
The only "official" way to find out is to have a qualified professional survey your property. However, critical areas, formerly known as "environmentally sensitive areas," or "sensitive area tracts" can be found on your subdivision plat map (see Resources section, below). Sometimes lots have easements called "Native Growth Protection Easements (NGPEs)," which can also mean a critical area is nearby.

Will the changes affect my existing residence and/or other buildings?
If you retain your existing buildings, they will not be affected. (This is called "grandfathering" or more technically a "legal non-conformity.") If you remove a building, there is a chance you will have to bring your lot or the building up to code to rebuild it, which could require moving the building. We recommend you take a look at the Critical Areas Ordinance in the Quick Link, above.

Will the changes affect future development on my lot?
Exemptions were built into the critical areas code for lots fully encumbered by critical areas. Please refer to the adopted code for more information, or contact [email protected].

Is there anything I can do about property taxes?
Please contact the King County Assessor's Office

Resources
Best Available Science
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: All Resources
Washington Department of Ecology: Buffer Widths

Property Information
Here are the resources staff regularly use to determine information about parcels in Newcastle.

Newcastle Wetland and Stream Inventories: Although these are about 25 years old, they can provide some information about streams and wetlands in Newcastle. Please note these reports cannot replace requirements for critical areas reviews on individual lots and the stream types have changed.

King County iMap has some critical areas information. Users need to turn on (by clicking the box in the layer list) the "environmentally sensitive areas" layer. The legend will show the symbols for the various types of critical areas and stream types King County has on file, although these are not always correct.

Recorded plan (subdivision and site plan) maps that the city has electronically on file are available in our Document Center. They may help you identify where critical areas have been identified on or near your lot.

If you don't know what the name of your subdivision is (sometimes they change!) you can look up your parcel on King County Parcel Viewer or iMap to find out the subdivision name and what your lot number was (that's the identifier your property had before it was assigned an address and assessor's parcel number).

If you do not find your plat map, you can try using King County Records Search. You can search by address or parcel number. Pro Tip! When you run your search query, use "contains" rather than exact search. Oftentimes this will provide better results!

Additional information on Stream Types: You can look up a stream type on this DNR Forestry Practices map. Note: not all stream types or actual stream locations are accurate.

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City of Newcastle