AN ACT Relating to
requiring specific funding to implement the buildable lands review and
evaluation program; 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) 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 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 suitable land 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 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.
(5)(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 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) 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) of this section to conduct the review and perform the evaluation
required by this section.
(7) 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.
(8)
This section only applies if specific funding for the purposes of this section
of at least two million five hundred thousand dollars per biennium is
appropriated and distributed pursuant to subsection (6) of this section by July
31 of the first year of the biennium.
