Federal Way, WA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

FWRC 7.05.020, Erosion and sedimentation regulation, declares it a development regulation violation, a public nuisance, and a Code violation for the owner of a subject property to create, allow, or perpetuate conditions that cause erosion or undermining of adjacent property. The same section separately bars creating, allowing, or perpetuating a condition that causes deposition of sediments or movement of other geologic materials onto adjacent property, which reaches sediment tracked or washed off a construction site onto a neighbor's land. Because a violation is classified as both a public nuisance and a development regulation violation, it is enforceable under the Title 7 nuisance-abatement and penalty framework at FWRC 7.03.050 through 7.03.070, including the civil infraction penalties in FWRC 1.15.110 (a default $100.00 first offense, $200.00 second, $300.00 third or subsequent, with each day of an unabated condition a separate violation) and the code enforcement officer's right of entry to inspect a site.

The section cross-references the city's broader environmental and land-use titles that govern construction-site erosion control in more technical detail: the storm and surface water utility provisions in FWRC Title 11, Division III; building regulations in Title 13; environmental policy in Title 14; surface and stormwater management standards in Title 16; subdivision requirements in Title 18; required improvements under Chapter 19.135 FWRC; and the environmentally sensitive areas provisions in Title 19, Division V, which govern steep-slope and critical-area erosion hazards tied to the state Growth Management Act.