My project site is located in Seattle WA on a parcel of land created in 1916 when the level of Lake Washington was lowered 9 feet. The parcel is a couple hundred feet from the lake edge and all stormwater from the site will flow (and currently flows) into Lake Washington. The project, a new high school on an existing high school site (it's a tear-down and replace project), will comply with Seattle and King County's very aggressive stormwater regulations and all runoff from pollution-generating surfaces will be treated with biofiltration swales. However, stormwater will not be retained on site and infiltration is not possible making us unable to qualify for this credit in normal scenarios.

However, considering our somewhat unusual condition of being former lakebed, I am wondering about Option 2 Natural Land Cover Conditions. In the case of our site whose natural condition was to be covered in 4 feet of water, the natural land cover conditions would result in all rainfall falling into the lake. My question is, can I make the case that directing all stormwater into Lake Washington is matching the "natural land cover" condition and thereby qualifying for this credit?