[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to efficient and effective land use planning in Washington; amending RCW 36.70A.130; and adding a new section to chapter 90.58 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 36.70A.130 and 1997 c 429 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) Each comprehensive land use plan and development regulations shall be subject to continuing review and evaluation by the county or city that adopted them. ((~~Not later than September 1, 2002, and at least every five years thereafter,~~)) A county or city planning under RCW 36.70A.040 shall take action to review and, if needed, revise its comprehensive land use plan and development regulations to ensure that the plan and regulations ((~~are complying~~)) comply with the requirements of this chapter according to the time periods specified in subsection (4) of this section. A county or city not planning under RCW 36.70A.040 shall take action to review and, if needed, revise its policies and development regulations regarding critical areas and natural resource lands adopted according to this chapter to ensure that these policies and regulations comply with the requirements of this chapter according to the time periods specified in subsection (4) of this section. The review and evaluation required by this subsection may be combined with the review required by subsection (3) of this section.

(b) Any amendment of or revision to a comprehensive land use plan shall conform to this chapter((~~, and~~)). Any ((~~change~~)) amendment of or revision to development regulations shall be consistent with and implement the comprehensive plan.

(2)(a) Each county and city shall establish and broadly disseminate to the public a public participation program identifying procedures whereby proposed amendments or revisions of the comprehensive plan are considered by the governing body of the county or city no more frequently than once every year ((~~except that~~)). Amendments may be considered more frequently than once per year under the following circumstances:

(i) The initial adoption of a subarea plan;

(ii) The adoption or amendment of a shoreline master program under the procedures set forth in chapter 90.58 RCW; and

(iii) The amendment of the capital facilities element of a comprehensive plan that occurs concurrently with the adoption or amendment of a county or city budget.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in (a) of this subsection, all proposals shall be considered by the governing body concurrently so the cumulative effect of the various proposals can be ascertained. However, after appropriate public participation a county or city may adopt amendments or revisions to its comprehensive plan that conform with this chapter whenever an emergency exists or to resolve an appeal of a comprehensive plan filed with a growth management hearings board or with the court.

(3) Each county that designates urban growth areas under RCW 36.70A.110 shall review, at least every ten years, its designated urban growth area or areas, and the densities permitted within both the incorporated and unincorporated portions of each urban growth area. In conjunction with this review by the county, each city located within an urban growth area shall review the densities permitted within its boundaries, and the extent to which the urban growth occurring within the county has located within each city and the unincorporated portions of the urban growth areas. The county comprehensive plan designating urban growth areas, and the densities permitted in the urban growth areas by the comprehensive plans of the county and each city located within the urban growth areas, shall be revised to accommodate the urban growth projected to occur in the county for the succeeding twenty-year period. The review required by this subsection may be combined with the review and evaluation required by RCW 36.70A.215.

(4) The department shall establish a schedule for counties and cities to conduct the review and evaluation required by subsection (1) of this section. The schedule established by the department shall provide for the reviews and evaluations to be completed as follows:

(a) On or before the following dates, and at least every five years thereafter, for Clark, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston counties and the cities within those counties:

(i) December 1, 2003, for policies and regulations regarding critical areas. However, any amendments to these policies and regulations adopted as a result of this review and evaluation shall not be effective before July 1, 2004; and

(ii) July 1, 2004, for policies, comprehensive plans, and development regulations other than policies and regulations regarding critical areas that are adopted according to this chapter;

(b) On or before December 1, 2004, and at least every ten years thereafter, for Clallam, Jefferson, and Whatcom counties and the cities within those counties;

(c) On or before December 1, 2005, and at least every ten years thereafter, for Cowlitz, Island, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, and Skamania counties and the cities within those counties;

(d) On or before December 1, 2006, and at least every ten years thereafter, for Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Spokane, and Yakima counties and the cities within those counties; and

(e) On or before December 1, 2007, and at least every ten years thereafter, for Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, and Whitman counties and the cities within those counties.

(5) Nothing in this section precludes a county or city from conducting the review and evaluation required by this section before the time limits established in subsection (4) of this section. Counties and cities may begin this process early and may be eligible for grants from the department, subject to available funding, if they elect to do so.

(6) A county or city subject to the time periods in subsection (4)(a) of this section that, pursuant to an ordinance adopted by the county or city establishing a schedule for periodic review of its comprehensive plan and development regulations, has conducted a review and evaluation of its comprehensive plan and development regulations and, on or after January 1, 2001, has taken action in response to that review and evaluation shall be deemed to have conducted the first review required by subsection (4)(a) of this section. Subsequent review and evaluation by the county or city of its comprehensive plan and development regulations shall be conducted in accordance with the time periods established under subsection (4)(a) of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 90.58 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The guidelines adopted by the department and master programs developed or amended by local governments according to RCW 90.58.080 shall not require modification of or limit agricultural activities occurring on agricultural lands. In jurisdictions where agricultural activities occur, master programs developed or amended after the effective date of this act shall include provisions addressing new agricultural activities on land not meeting the definition of agricultural land, conversion of agricultural lands to other uses, and development not meeting the definition of agricultural activities. Nothing in this section limits or changes the terms of the current exception to the definition of substantial development in RCW 90.58.030(3)(e)(iv).

(2) For the purposes of this section:

(a) "Agricultural activities" means agricultural uses and practices including, but not limited to: Producing, breeding, or increasing agricultural products; rotating and changing agricultural crops; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie fallow in which it is plowed and tilled but left unseeded; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant as a result of adverse agricultural market conditions; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant because the land is enrolled in a local, state, or federal conservation program, or the land is subject to a conservation easement; conducting agricultural operations; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural equipment; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural facilities, provided that the replacement facility is no closer to the shoreline than the original facility; and maintaining agricultural lands under production or cultivation;

(b) "Agricultural products" includes but is not limited to horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, vegetable, fruit, berry, grain, hops, hay, straw, turf, sod, seed, and apiary products; feed or forage for livestock; Christmas trees; hybrid cottonwood and similar hardwood trees grown as crops and harvested within twenty years of planting; and livestock including both the animals themselves and animal products including but not limited to meat, upland finfish, poultry and poultry products, and dairy products;

(c) "Agricultural equipment" and "agricultural facilities" includes, but is not limited to: (i) The following used in agricultural operations: Equipment; machinery; constructed shelters, buildings, and ponds; fences; upland finfish rearing facilities; water diversion, withdrawal, conveyance, and use equipment and facilities including but not limited to pumps, pipes, tapes, canals, ditches, and drains; (ii) corridors and facilities for transporting personnel, livestock, and equipment to, from, and within agricultural lands; (iii) farm residences and associated equipment, lands, and facilities; and (iv) roadside stands and on-farm markets for marketing fruit or vegetables; and

(d) "Agricultural land" means those specific land areas on which agricultural activities are conducted.

(3) The department and local governments shall assure that local shoreline master programs use definitions consistent with the definitions in this section.