All impacts to environmentally sensitive areas functions and values shall be mitigated. Mitigation actions by an applicant or property owner shall occur in the following sequence:

A. Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of actions;

B. Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation;

C. Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating or restoring the affected environment;

D. Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action; and/or

E. Compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments. (Ord. 00-387 §1(part), 2000)