native growth protection area FAQs

Waterford Park Homeowners Association assumes ownership and responsibility for ensuring the NGPAs in the neighborhood are managed properly. Though some individual homeowner lots border parts of the NGPAs, maintenance of NGPA property is the sole responsibility of the Waterford Park Homeowners Association.

A Native Growth Protection Area (NGPA), or Critical Area Protection Area (CAPA), is the Snohomish County Code designation for permanently protected property that contains a critical area, a critical area buffer or both. The landowner(s) of the NGPA or CAPA, are responsible for protecting and preserving these critical areas and buffers. In most cases an NGPA/CAPA is part of a developed neighborhood or condominium building and it is the responsibility of the neighborhood homeowners or Homeowners Association (HOA) to manage and protect it.

The original plat document and repeated in the CC&Rs (Article 5, Section 2) for Waterford Park describes the restrictions applying to the NGPAs as "No clearing, grading or filling of any kind, building construction or placement, or road construction shall occur within any "Native Growth Protection Easement" except for necessary utility installations, removal of trees by the property owner shall be limited to those which are dead, diseased or hazardous. No adjustment to the boundary of this easement(s) shall occur unless first approved through the formal plat process."

 The most common request from homeowners regarding the NGPA is to ensure dead, diseased, or hazardous trees are cut or removed as needed. If you believe there is a tree within one of the NGPAs that fit that description and need attention, please notify the WP Board to ask that the tree(s) be reviewed and considered for trimming and/or cutting down.