S-4528.1 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 6555
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By Senators Prentice, Nelson, Vognild, Sheldon, Oke and Winsley
Read first time 01/27/94. Referred to Committee on Transportation.
AN ACT Relating to local government coordination of approvals for major transportation projects; adding new sections to chapter 36.70A RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. INTENT. The legislature recognizes that there are major transportation projects that affect multiple jurisdictions as to economic development, fiscal influence, environmental consequences, land use implications, and mobility of people and goods. The legislature further recognizes that affected jurisdictions have important interests that must be addressed, and that these jurisdictions' present planning and permitting authority may result in multiple local permits and other requirements being specified for the projects.
The legislature finds that the present permitting system may result in segmented and sequential decisions by local governments that do not optimally serve all the parties with an interest in the decisions. The present system may also make more difficult achieving the consistency among plans and actions that is an important aspect of this chapter.
It is the intent of the legislature to provide for more efficiency and equity in the decisions of local governments regarding major transportation projects by encouraging coordination or consolidation of the processes for reviewing planning and permitting requirements for those projects. The legislature intends that local governments coordinate their regulatory decisions by considering together the range of local, state, and federal requirements for major transportation projects. Nothing in sections 1 through 4 of this act alters the authority of cities or counties under any other planning or permitting statute.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. COLLABORATIVE PROJECT REVIEW. (1) The legislative authority of a county that plans under this chapter shall establish, in cooperation with the cities located in whole or in part within the county and using the process established under RCW 36.70A.210 or a similar collaborative process, a mechanism for review of proposals for major transportation projects within that county.
(2) A major transportation project review process must include, at a minimum, procedures by which the county will serve as the coordinator for all local permits and planning requirements for the project. The process may provide that the county issue either a consolidated permit or a package of permits that contain all of the requirements of the local governments affected by the project, if those other local governments have agreed to the consolidation of requirements.
(3) Two or more contiguous counties may adopt multicounty processes for reviewing proposals for major transportation projects according to the process established under this section or other processes agreed to among the counties and cities within the affected counties throughout the multicounty region.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. ELIGIBILITY. Transportation projects eligible for consideration under section 2 of this act are those that a county has designated as essential public facilities under RCW 36.70A.200.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. TIMING. Counties required by section 2 of this act to adopt major transportation project review processes shall adopt those processes by the deadline for adoption of consistent development regulations under RCW 36.70A.040.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Section captions used in this act constitute no part of the law.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 4 of this act are added to chapter 36.70A RCW.
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