Passed by the House March 11, 2005 Yeas 93   ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 12, 2005 Yeas 41   ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED HOUSE BILL 2241 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/25/2005. Referred to Committee on Local Government.
AN ACT Relating to limited recreational activities, playing fields, and supporting facilities existing before July 1, 2004, on designated recreational lands in jurisdictions planning under RCW 36.70A.040; amending RCW 36.70A.030, 36.70A.060, and 36.70A.130; adding new sections to chapter 36.70A RCW; creating a new section; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature recognizes the need for
playing fields and supporting facilities for sports played on grass as
well as the need to preserve agricultural land of long-term commercial
significance. With thoughtful and deliberate planning, and adherence
to the goals and requirements of the growth management act, both needs
can be met.
The legislature acknowledges the state's interest in preserving the
agricultural industry and family farms, and recognizes that the state's
rich and productive lands enable agricultural production. Because of
its unique qualities and limited quantities, designated agricultural
land of long-term commercial significance is best suited for
agricultural and farm uses, not recreational uses.
The legislature acknowledges also that certain local governments
have either failed or neglected to properly plan for population growth
and the sufficient number of playing fields and supporting facilities
needed to accommodate this growth. The legislature recognizes that
citizens responded to this lack of planning, fields, and supporting
facilities by constructing nonconforming fields and facilities on
agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance. It is the
intent of the legislature to permit the continued existence and use of
these fields and facilities in very limited circumstances if specific
criteria are satisfied within a limited time frame. It is also the
intent of the legislature to grant this authorization without
diminishing the designation and preservation requirements of the growth
management act pertaining to Washington's invaluable farmland.
Sec. 2 RCW 36.70A.030 and 1997 c 429 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in
this section apply throughout this chapter.
(1) "Adopt a comprehensive land use plan" means to enact a new
comprehensive land use plan or to update an existing comprehensive land
use plan.
(2) "Agricultural land" means land primarily devoted to the
commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural,
dairy, apiary, vegetable, or animal products or of berries, grain, hay,
straw, turf, seed, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax
imposed by RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, finfish in upland
hatcheries, or livestock, and that has long-term commercial
significance for agricultural production.
(3) "City" means any city or town, including a code city.
(4) "Comprehensive land use plan," "comprehensive plan," or "plan"
means a generalized coordinated land use policy statement of the
governing body of a county or city that is adopted pursuant to this
chapter.
(5) "Critical areas" include the following areas and ecosystems:
(a) Wetlands; (b) areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers
used for potable water; (c) fish and wildlife habitat conservation
areas; (d) frequently flooded areas; and (e) geologically hazardous
areas.
(6) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and
economic development.
(7) "Development regulations" or "regulation" means the controls
placed on development or land use activities by a county or city,
including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, critical areas
ordinances, shoreline master programs, official controls, planned unit
development ordinances, subdivision ordinances, and binding site plan
ordinances together with any amendments thereto. A development
regulation does not include a decision to approve a project permit
application, as defined in RCW 36.70B.020, even though the decision may
be expressed in a resolution or ordinance of the legislative body of
the county or city.
(8) "Forest land" means land primarily devoted to growing trees for
long-term commercial timber production on land that can be economically
and practically managed for such production, including Christmas trees
subject to the excise tax imposed under RCW 84.33.100 through
84.33.140, and that has long-term commercial significance. In
determining whether forest land is primarily devoted to growing trees
for long-term commercial timber production on land that can be
economically and practically managed for such production, the following
factors shall be considered: (a) The proximity of the land to urban,
suburban, and rural settlements; (b) surrounding parcel size and the
compatibility and intensity of adjacent and nearby land uses; (c) long-term local economic conditions that affect the ability to manage for
timber production; and (d) the availability of public facilities and
services conducive to conversion of forest land to other uses.
(9) "Geologically hazardous areas" means areas that because of
their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other
geological events, are not suited to the siting of commercial,
residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or
safety concerns.
(10) "Long-term commercial significance" includes the growing
capacity, productivity, and soil composition of the land for long-term
commercial production, in consideration with the land's proximity to
population areas, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land.
(11) "Minerals" include gravel, sand, and valuable metallic
substances.
(12) "Public facilities" include streets, roads, highways,
sidewalks, street and road lighting systems, traffic signals, domestic
water systems, storm and sanitary sewer systems, parks and recreational
facilities, and schools.
(13) "Public services" include fire protection and suppression, law
enforcement, public health, education, recreation, environmental
protection, and other governmental services.
(14) "Recreational land" means land so designated under section 4
of this act and that, immediately prior to this designation, was
designated as agricultural land of long-term commercial significance
under RCW 36.70A.170. Recreational land must have playing fields and
supporting facilities existing before July 1, 2004, for sports played
on grass playing fields.
(15) "Rural character" refers to the patterns of land use and
development established by a county in the rural element of its
comprehensive plan:
(a) In which open space, the natural landscape, and vegetation
predominate over the built environment;
(b) That foster traditional rural lifestyles, rural-based
economies, and opportunities to both live and work in rural areas;
(c) That provide visual landscapes that are traditionally found in
rural areas and communities;
(d) That are compatible with the use of the land by wildlife and
for fish and wildlife habitat;
(e) That reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land
into sprawling, low-density development;
(f) That generally do not require the extension of urban
governmental services; and
(g) That are consistent with the protection of natural surface
water flows and ground water and surface water recharge and discharge
areas.
(((15))) (16) "Rural development" refers to development outside the
urban growth area and outside agricultural, forest, and mineral
resource lands designated pursuant to RCW 36.70A.170. Rural
development can consist of a variety of uses and residential densities,
including clustered residential development, at levels that are
consistent with the preservation of rural character and the
requirements of the rural element. Rural development does not refer to
agriculture or forestry activities that may be conducted in rural
areas.
(((16))) (17) "Rural governmental services" or "rural services"
include those public services and public facilities historically and
typically delivered at an intensity usually found in rural areas, and
may include domestic water systems, fire and police protection
services, transportation and public transit services, and other public
utilities associated with rural development and normally not associated
with urban areas. Rural services do not include storm or sanitary
sewers, except as otherwise authorized by RCW 36.70A.110(4).
(((17))) (18) "Urban growth" refers to growth that makes intensive
use of land for the location of buildings, structures, and impermeable
surfaces to such a degree as to be incompatible with the primary use of
land for the production of food, other agricultural products, or fiber,
or the extraction of mineral resources, rural uses, rural development,
and natural resource lands designated pursuant to RCW 36.70A.170. A
pattern of more intensive rural development, as provided in RCW
36.70A.070(5)(d), is not urban growth. When allowed to spread over
wide areas, urban growth typically requires urban governmental
services. "Characterized by urban growth" refers to land having urban
growth located on it, or to land located in relationship to an area
with urban growth on it as to be appropriate for urban growth.
(((18))) (19) "Urban growth areas" means those areas designated by
a county pursuant to RCW 36.70A.110.
(((19))) (20) "Urban governmental services" or "urban services"
include those public services and public facilities at an intensity
historically and typically provided in cities, specifically including
storm and sanitary sewer systems, domestic water systems, street
cleaning services, fire and police protection services, public transit
services, and other public utilities associated with urban areas and
normally not associated with rural areas.
(((20))) (21) "Wetland" or "wetlands" means areas that are
inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency
and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances
do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in
saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes,
bogs, and similar areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial
wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but
not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined swales,
canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm
ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created after July 1,
1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of the construction
of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands may include those artificial
wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas created to
mitigate conversion of wetlands.
Sec. 3 RCW 36.70A.060 and 1998 c 286 s 5 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1)(a) Except as provided in section 4 of this act, each county
that is required or chooses to plan under RCW 36.70A.040, and each city
within such county, shall adopt development regulations on or before
September 1, 1991, to assure the conservation of agricultural, forest,
and mineral resource lands designated under RCW 36.70A.170.
Regulations adopted under this subsection may not prohibit uses legally
existing on any parcel prior to their adoption and shall remain in
effect until the county or city adopts development regulations pursuant
to RCW 36.70A.040. Such regulations shall assure that the use of lands
adjacent to agricultural, forest, or mineral resource lands shall not
interfere with the continued use, in the accustomed manner and in
accordance with best management practices, of these designated lands
for the production of food, agricultural products, or timber, or for
the extraction of minerals.
(b) Counties and cities shall require that all plats, short plats,
development permits, and building permits issued for development
activities on, or within five hundred feet of, lands designated as
agricultural lands, forest lands, or mineral resource lands, contain a
notice that the subject property is within or near designated
agricultural lands, forest lands, or mineral resource lands on which a
variety of commercial activities may occur that are not compatible with
residential development for certain periods of limited duration. The
notice for mineral resource lands shall also inform that an application
might be made for mining-related activities, including mining,
extraction, washing, crushing, stockpiling, blasting, transporting, and
recycling of minerals.
(2) Each county and city shall adopt development regulations that
protect critical areas that are required to be designated under RCW
36.70A.170. For counties and cities that are required or choose to
plan under RCW 36.70A.040, such development regulations shall be
adopted on or before September 1, 1991. For the remainder of the
counties and cities, such development regulations shall be adopted on
or before March 1, 1992.
(3) Such counties and cities shall review these designations and
development regulations when adopting their comprehensive plans under
RCW 36.70A.040 and implementing development regulations under RCW
36.70A.120 and may alter such designations and development regulations
to insure consistency.
(4) Forest land and agricultural land located within urban growth
areas shall not be designated by a county or city as forest land or
agricultural land of long-term commercial significance under RCW
36.70A.170 unless the city or county has enacted a program authorizing
transfer or purchase of development rights.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 A new section is added to chapter 36.70A RCW
to read as follows:
(1)(a) The legislative authority of a county subject to the
provisions of RCW 36.70A.215 with a population fewer than one million
and a total market value of production greater than one hundred twenty-five million dollars as reported by the United States department of
agriculture's 2002 census of agriculture county profile may, by
resolution, and in accordance with the requirements of RCW 36.70A.035
and 36.70A.140, designate agricultural lands designated pursuant to RCW
36.70A.170 as recreational lands. Lands eligible for designation as
recreational lands must not be in use for the commercial production of
food or other agricultural products and must have playing fields and
supporting facilities existing before July 1, 2004, for sports played
on grass playing fields.
(b) Designated recreational lands may be used only for athletic or
related activities, playing fields, and supporting facilities for
sports played on grass playing fields or for agricultural uses.
(c) The recreational lands designation shall supersede previous
designations and shall require an amendment to the comprehensive plan
prepared pursuant to RCW 36.70A.070.
(2) Lands eligible for designation as recreational land must be
registered by the property owner or owners with the county within which
the land is located no fewer than ninety days before being designated
as recreational land.
(3) Agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance
designated under RCW 36.70A.170: (a) That were purchased in full or in
part with public funds; or (b) with property rights or interests that
were purchased in full or in part with public funds,
may not be designated as recreational land.
(4) Playing fields and supporting facilities for sports played on
grass playing fields must comply with applicable permitting
requirements and development regulations. The size and capacity of the
playing fields and supporting facilities, irrespective of parcel size,
may not exceed the infrastructure capacity of the county within which
the fields and facilities are located.
(5) The designation of recreational land shall not affect other
lands designated under RCW 36.70A.170(1)(b), and shall not preclude
reversion to agricultural uses.
(6) This section expires June 30, 2006.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 A new section is added to chapter 36.70A RCW
to read as follows:
In accordance with sections 2 through 4 of this act and RCW
36.70A.130, playing fields and supporting facilities existing before
July 1, 2004, on designated recreational lands shall be considered in
compliance with the requirements of this chapter.
Sec. 6 RCW 36.70A.130 and 2002 c 320 s 1 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. A county or city shall take legislative action
to review and, if needed, revise its comprehensive land use plan and
development regulations to ensure the plan and regulations 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 these policies and regulations comply with the
requirements of this chapter according to the time periods specified in
subsection (4) of this section. Legislative action means the adoption
of a resolution or ordinance following notice and a public hearing
indicating at a minimum, a finding that a review and evaluation has
occurred and identifying the revisions made, or that a revision was not
needed and the reasons therefore. The review and evaluation required
by this subsection may be combined with the review required by
subsection (3) of this section. The review and evaluation required by
this subsection shall include, but is not limited to, consideration of
critical area ordinances and, if planning under RCW 36.70A.040, an
analysis of the population allocated to a city or county from the most
recent ten-year population forecast by the office of financial
management.
(b) Any amendment of or revision to a comprehensive land use plan
shall conform to this chapter. Any 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 consistent with RCW
36.70A.035 and 36.70A.140 that identifies procedures and schedules
whereby updates, 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. "Updates" means to review and revise,
if needed, according to subsection (1) of this section, and the time
periods specified in subsection (4) of this section. Amendments may be
considered more frequently than once per year under the following
circumstances:
(i) The initial adoption of a subarea plan that does not modify the
comprehensive plan policies and designations applicable to the subarea;
(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; and
(iv) Until June 30, 2006, the designation of recreational lands
under section 4 of this act. A county amending its comprehensive plan
pursuant to this subsection (2)(a)(iv) may not do so more frequently
than every eighteen months.
(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 take action to review and, if needed, revise their
comprehensive plans and development regulations to ensure the plan and
regulations comply with the requirements of this chapter. The schedule
established by the department shall provide for the reviews and
evaluations to be completed as follows:
(a) On or before December 1, 2004, and every seven years
thereafter, for Clallam, Clark, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Pierce,
Snohomish, Thurston, and Whatcom counties and the cities within those
counties;
(b) On or before December 1, 2005, and every seven years
thereafter, for Cowlitz, Island, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, and
Skamania counties and the cities within those counties;
(c) On or before December 1, 2006, and every seven years
thereafter, for Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Spokane, and
Yakima counties and the cities within those counties; and
(d) On or before December 1, 2007, and every seven 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)(a) 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.
(b) State agencies are encouraged to provide technical assistance
to the counties and cities in the review of critical area ordinances,
comprehensive plans, and development regulations.
(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.
(7) The requirements imposed on counties and cities under this
section shall be considered "requirements of this chapter" under the
terms of RCW 36.70A.040(1). Only those counties and cities in
compliance with the schedules in this section shall have the requisite
authority to receive grants, loans, pledges, or financial guarantees
from those accounts established in RCW 43.155.050 and 70.146.030. Only
those counties and cities in compliance with the schedules in this
section shall receive preference for grants or loans subject to the
provisions of RCW 43.17.250.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 This act is necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the
state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect
immediately.