AN ACT Relating to local government planning; amending RCW 35.63.010, 35.63.110, 35A.63.010, 35A.63.100, 36.70.020, and 36.70.750; and declaring emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. Section 35.63.010, chapter 7, Laws of 1965 and RCW 35.63.010 are each amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter the following terms shall have the meaning herein given them:

"Appointive members" means all members of a commission other than ex officio members;

"Board" means the board of county commissioners;

"City" includes every incorporated city and town;

"Commission" means a city or county planning commission;

"Council" means the chief legislative body of a city;

"Ex officio members" means the members of a commission chosen from among city or county officials;

"Highways" include streets, roads, boulevards, lanes, alleys, viaducts and other traveled ways;

"Manufactured housing" means a residence bearing an insignia issued by the United States department of housing and urban development (or its designated agency) indicating that the residence complies with all the applicable construction standards of the United States department of housing and urban development for manufactured homes;

"Mayor" means the chief executive of a city;

"Municipality" includes every county and city.

Sec. 2. Section 35.63.110, chapter 7, Laws of 1965 and RCW 35.63.110 are each amended to read as follows:

For any or all of such purposes the council or board, on recommendation of its commission, may divide the municipality or any portion thereof into districts of such size, shape and area, or may establish such official maps, or development plans for the whole or any portion of the municipality as may be deemed best suited to carry out the purposes of this chapter and within such districts it may regulate and restrict the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair or use of buildings, structures or land: PROVIDED, That manufactured housing shall be regulated as single-family residences on individual lots and shall only be subject to land use regulations applicable to other single-family residences on individual lots.

Sec. 3. Section 35A.63.010, chapter 119, Laws of 1967 ex. sess. and RCW 35A.63.010 are each amended to read as follows:

The following words or terms as used in this chapter shall have the meanings set forth below unless different meanings are clearly indicated by the context:

(1) "Chief administrative officer" means the mayor in code cities operating under the mayor-council and commission forms, the city manager in code cities operating under the council-manager forms, or such other officer as the charter of a charter code city designates as the chief administrative officer.

(2) "City" means an incorporated city or town.

(3) "Code city" is used where the application of this chapter is limited to a code city; where joint, regional, or cooperative action is intended, a code city may be included in the unrestricted terms "city" or "municipality".

(4) "Comprehensive plan" means the policies and proposals approved by the legislative body as set forth in RCW 35A.63.060 through 35A.63.072 of this chapter and containing, at least, the elements set forth in RCW 35A.63.061.

(5) "Legislative body" means a code city council, a code city commission, and, in cases involving regional or cooperative planning or action, the governing body of a municipality.

(6) "Manufactured housing" means a residence bearing an insignia issued by the United States department of housing and urban development (or its designated agency) indicating that the residence complies with all the applicable construction standards of the United States department of housing and urban development for manufactured homes.

(7) "Municipality" includes any code city and, in cases of regional or cooperative planning or action, any city, town, township, county, or special district.

((~~(7)~~)) (8) "Ordinance" means a legislative enactment by the legislative body of a municipality; in this chapter "ordinance" is synonymous with the term "resolution" when "resolution" is used as representing a legislative enactment.

((~~(8)~~)) (9) "Planning agency" means any person, body, or organization designated by the legislative body to perform a planning function or portion thereof for a municipality, and includes, without limitation, any commission, committee, department, or board together with its staff members, employees, agents, and consultants.

((~~(9)~~)) (10) "Special district" means that portion of the state, county, or other political subdivision created under general law for rendering of one or more local public services or for administrative, educational, judicial, or political purposes.

Sec. 4. Section 35A.63.100, chapter 119, Laws of 1967 ex. sess. as amended by section 8, chapter 170, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. and RCW 35A.63.100 are each amended to read as follows:

After approval of the comprehensive plan, as set forth above, the legislative body, in developing the municipality and in regulating the use of land, may implement or give effect to the comprehensive plan or parts thereof by ordinance or other action to such extent as the legislative body deems necessary or appropriate. Such ordinances or other action may provide for:

(1) Adoption of an official map and regulations relating thereto designating locations and requirements for one or more of the following: Streets, parks, public buildings, and other public facilities, and protecting such sites against encroachment by buildings and other physical structures.

(2) Dividing the municipality, or portions thereof, into appropriate zones within which specific standards, requirements, and conditions may be provided for regulating the use of public and private land, buildings, and structures, and the location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of buildings and structures, size of yards, courts, open spaces, density of population, ratio of land area to the area of buildings and structures, setbacks, area required for off-street parking, protection of access to direct sunlight for solar energy systems, and such other standards, requirements, regulations, and procedures as are appropriately related thereto. The ordinance encompassing the matters of this subsection is hereinafter called the "zoning ordinance". No zoning ordinance, or amendment thereto, shall be enacted by the legislative body without at least one public hearing, notice of which shall be given as set forth in RCW 35A.63.070. Such hearing may be held before the planning agency or the board of adjustment or such other body as the legislative body shall designate.

(3) Adoption of design standards, requirements, regulations, and procedures for the subdivision of land into two or more parcels, including, but not limited to, the approval of plats, dedications, acquisitions, improvements, and reservation of sites for public use.

(4) Scheduling public improvements on the basis of recommended priorities over a period of years, subject to periodic review.

(5) Regulating "manufactured housing" as single-family residences on individual lots and only subject to land use regulations applicable to other single-family residences on individual lots.

(6) Such other matters as may be otherwise authorized by law or as the legislative body deems necessary or appropriate to effectuate the goals and objectives of the comprehensive plan or parts thereof and the purposes of this chapter.

Sec. 5. Section 36.70.020, chapter 4, Laws of 1963 and RCW 36.70.020 are each amended to read as follows:

The following words or terms as used in this chapter shall have the following meaning unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:

(1) "Approval by motion" is a means by which a board, through other than by ordinance, approves and records recognition of a comprehensive plan or amendments thereto.

(2) "Board" means the board of county commissioners.

(3) "Certification" means the affixing on any map or by adding to any document comprising all or any portion of a comprehensive plan a record of the dates of action thereon by the commission and by the board, together with the signatures of the officer or officers authorized by ordinance to so sign.

(4) "Commission" means a county or regional planning commission.

(5) "Commissioners" means members of a county or regional planning commission.

(6) "Comprehensive plan" means the policies and proposals approved and recommended by the planning agency or initiated by the board and approved by motion by the board (a) as a beginning step in planning for the physical development of the county; (b) as the means for coordinating county programs and services; (c) as a source of reference to aid in developing, correlating, and coordinating official regulations and controls; and (d) as a means for promoting the general welfare. Such plan shall consist of the required elements set forth in RCW 36.70.330 and may also include the optional elements set forth in RCW 36.70.350 which shall serve as a policy guide for the subsequent public and private development and official controls so as to present all proposed developments in a balanced and orderly relationship to existing physical features and governmental functions.

(7) "Conditional use" means a use listed among those classified in any given zone but permitted to locate only after review by the board of adjustment, or zoning adjustor if there be such, and the granting of a conditional use permit imposing such performance standards as will make the use compatible with other permitted uses in the same vicinity and zone and assure against imposing excessive demands upon public utilities, provided the county ordinances specify the standards and criteria that shall be applied.

(8) "Department" means a planning department organized and functioning as any other department in any county.

(9) "Element" means one of the various categories of subjects, each of which constitutes a component part of the comprehensive plan.

(10) "Ex officio member" means a member of the commission who serves by virtue of his official position as head of a department specified in the ordinance creating the commission.

(11) "Manufactured housing" means a residence bearing an insignia issued by the United States department of housing and urban development (or its designated agency) indicating that the residence complies with all the applicable construction standards of the United States department of housing and urban development for manufactured homes.

(12) "Official controls" means legislatively defined and enacted policies, standards, precise detailed maps and other criteria, all of which control the physical development of a county or any part thereof or any detail thereof, and are the means of translating into regulations and ordinances all or any part of the general objectives of the comprehensive plan. Such official controls may include, but are not limited to, ordinances establishing zoning, subdivision control, platting, and adoption of detailed maps.

((~~(12)~~)) (13) "Ordinance" means a legislative enactment by a board; in this chapter the word, "ordinance", is synonymous with the term "resolution", as representing a legislative enactment by a board of county commissioners.

((~~(13)~~)) (14) "Planning agency" means (a) a planning commission, together with its staff members, employees and consultants, or (b) a department organized and functioning as any other department in any county government together with its planning commission.

((~~(14)~~)) (15) "Variance". A variance is the means by which an adjustment is made in the application of the specific regulations of a zoning ordinance to a particular piece of property, which property, because of special circumstances applicable to it, is deprived of privileges commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same vicinity and zone and which adjustment remedies disparity in privileges.

Sec. 6. Section 36.70.750, chapter 4, Laws of 1963 and RCW 36.70.750 are each amended to read as follows:

Any board, by ordinance, may establish classifications, within each of which, specific controls are identified, and which will:

(1) Regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land as between agriculture, industry, business, residence, and other purposes;

(2) Regulate location, height, bulk, number of stories and size of buildings and structures; the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces; the density of population; the percentage of a lot which may be occupied by buildings and structures; and the area required to provide off-street facilities for the parking of motor vehicles;

(3) Regulate "manufactured housing" as single-family residences on individual lots and only subject to land use regulations applicable to other single-family residences on individual lots.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately. Any local government subject to the terms of this act shall have until January 1, 1986, to bring applicable local codes into conformance with this act, but such delay shall not affect the immediate application of the remedial terms hereof.