BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to buildable lands; and amending RCW 36.70A.215.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 36.70A.215 and 1997 c 429 s 25 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Subject to the limitations in subsection ((~~(7)~~)) (11) of this section, a county shall adopt, in consultation with its cities, county-wide planning policies to establish a review and evaluation program. This program shall be in addition to the requirements of RCW 36.70A.110, 36.70A.130, and 36.70A.210. In developing and implementing the review and evaluation program required by this section, the county and its cities shall consider information from other appropriate jurisdictions and sources. The purpose of the review and evaluation program shall be to:

(a) Determine whether a county and its cities are achieving urban densities within urban growth areas by comparing growth and development assumptions, targets, and objectives contained in the county-wide planning policies and the county and city comprehensive plans with actual growth and development that has occurred in the county and its cities; and

(b) Identify reasonable measures((~~, other than adjusting urban growth areas,~~)) that will be taken to comply with the requirements of this chapter.

(2) The review and evaluation program shall:

(a) Encompass land uses and activities both within and outside of urban growth areas and provide for annual collection of data on urban and rural land uses, development, critical areas, and capital facilities to the extent necessary to determine the quantity and type of land suitable for development, both for residential and employment-based activities;

(b) Provide for evaluation of the data collected under (a) of this subsection every ((~~five~~)) two years as provided in subsection (3) of this section. The first evaluation shall be completed not later than September 1, 2002. The county and its cities may establish in the county-wide planning policies indicators, benchmarks, and other similar criteria to use in conducting the evaluation;

(c) Provide for methods to resolve disputes among jurisdictions relating to the county-wide planning policies required by this section and procedures to resolve inconsistencies in collection and analysis of data; and

(d) Provide for the amendment of the county-wide policies and county and city comprehensive plans as needed to remedy an inconsistency identified through the evaluation required by this section, or to bring these policies into compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

(3) At a minimum, the evaluation component of the program required by subsection (1) of this section shall:

(a) Determine whether there is sufficient land suitable ((~~land~~)) for development to accommodate the county-wide population projection established for the county pursuant to RCW 43.62.035 and the subsequent population allocations within the county and between the county and its cities and the requirements of RCW 36.70A.110;

(b) Determine the actual density of housing that has been constructed and the actual amount of land developed for commercial and industrial uses within the urban growth area since the adoption of a comprehensive plan under this chapter or since the last periodic evaluation as required by subsection (1) of this section; and

(c) Based on the actual density of development as determined under (b) of this subsection, review commercial, industrial, and housing needs by type and density range to determine the amount of land needed for commercial, industrial, and housing for the remaining portion of the twenty-year planning period used in the most recently adopted comprehensive plan.

(4) If the evaluation required by subsection (3) of this section demonstrates ((an inconsistency between what has occurred since the adoption of the county-wide planning policies and the county and city comprehensive plans and development regulations and what was envisioned in those policies and plans and the planning goals and the requirements of this chapter, as the inconsistency relates to)) the urban growth area does not contain sufficient land suitable for development to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial needs for twenty years based on the evaluation factors specified in subsection (3) of this section, the county ((and its cities shall adopt and implement measures that are reasonably likely to increase consistency during the subsequent five-year period. If necessary, a county, in consultation with its cities as required by RCW 36.70A.210, shall adopt amendments to county-wide planning policies to increase consistency. The county and its cities shall annually monitor the measures adopted under this subsection to determine their effect and may revise or rescind them as appropriate)) shall take one or more of the following actions:

(a) Amend its comprehensive plan or development regulations to include new, incentive-based measures that demonstrably increase the likelihood that development will occur at densities sufficient to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial needs for twenty years without expansion of the urban growth area;

(b) Amend its urban growth area to include sufficient land suitable for development to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial needs for twenty years at the actual developed density during the period since the last periodic review or within the last five years, whichever is greater. As part of this process, the amendment must include sufficient land reasonably necessary to accommodate the siting of public facilities or other urban infrastructure that is or will be needed by new development within the expanded urban growth area; or

(5) A county that amends its comprehensive plan or development regulations to include new, incentive-based measures shall annually monitor and record the level of development activity and development density following the date of the adoption of the new measures and may revise or rescind the measures as appropriate. If, after five years of initial implementation of incentive-based measures and annual monitoring, development is not occurring at densities sufficient to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial needs for twenty years, the county shall amend its urban growth area as provided in subsection (4)(b) of this section.

(6) If the evaluation required in subsection (3) of this section demonstrates the urban growth area does not contain sufficient land suitable for development to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial needs for twenty years based on the evaluation factors specified in subsection (3) of this section, the city or cities within the urban growth area shall amend their comprehensive plans or development regulations to include new, incentive-based measures that demonstrably increase the likelihood that development will occur at densities sufficient to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial needs for twenty years without expansion of the urban growth area. A city that takes this action shall annually monitor and record the level of development activity and development density following the date of the adoption of the new measures and may revise or rescind the measures as appropriate.

(7) Amendments by the county and its cities to comprehensive plans or development regulations must comply with this chapter.

(8) In establishing that actions and measures adopted under subsections (4) and (5) of this section demonstrably increase the likelihood of higher density residential, commercial, and industrial development, the county, city, or town shall at a minimum ensure that land zoned for needed housing and commercial and industrial structures is in locations appropriate for such development and is zoned at density ranges that are likely to be achieved by the market using the analysis in subsection (3) of this section. Actions or incentive-based measures, or both, are adopted as part of development regulations and are available to all applicable properties within the zone, are not negotiated on a case-by-case basis, and may include, but are not limited to:

(a) Financial incentives for higher density housing, including, but not limited to removal of fees associated with development;

(b) Removal or easing of approval standards or procedures;

(d) Authorization of housing types not previously allowed by the comprehensive plan or development regulations.

((~~(5)~~)) (9)(a) Not later than July 1, 1998, the department shall prepare a list of methods used by counties and cities in carrying out the types of activities required by this section. The department shall provide this information and appropriate technical assistance to counties and cities required to or choosing to comply with the provisions of this section.

(b) By December 31, 2007, the department shall submit to the appropriate committees of the legislature a report analyzing the effectiveness of the activities described and measures taken by the counties and cities in this section in achieving the goals envisioned by the county-wide planning policies and the comprehensive plans and development regulations of the counties and cities.

((~~(6)~~)) (10) From funds appropriated by the legislature for this purpose, the department shall provide grants to counties, cities, and regional planning organizations required under subsection ((~~(7)~~)) (11) of this section to conduct the review and perform the evaluation required by this section.

((~~(7)~~)) (11) The provisions of this section shall apply to counties, and the cities within those counties, that were greater than one hundred fifty thousand in population in 1995 as determined by office of financial management population estimates and that are located west of the crest of the Cascade mountain range. Any other county planning under RCW 36.70A.040 may carry out the review, evaluation, and amendment programs and procedures as provided in this section.

(12) For the purposes of this section, "land suitable for development" means the land:

(a) Is not within any critical area or governed by any development regulation designed to protect critical areas adopted under RCW 36.70A.060, regardless of whether any development may occur on the lands;

(b) Is serviced by all public facilities necessary for development or needed public facilities are provided for in the capital facilities element of the county or city's comprehensive plan adopted under RCW 36.70A.070 within the following five years;

(c) Is available for development, including both vacant land and developed land likely to be redeveloped. However, land that is developed with a building currently occupied and determined habitable by the local jurisdiction with an assessed value greater than the assessed value of the land on which the building is located may not be considered developed land likely to be redeveloped; and

(d) May be developed without causing the level of service on a transportation facility to decline below the standards adopted in the transportation element of the comprehensive plan.