HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1998
This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in
their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a
statement of legislative intent.
As Reported by House Committee On:
Local Government
Title: An act relating to growth in rural areas.
Brief Description: Providing for rural villages as a new strategy for growth in rural areas.
Sponsors: Representatives McCoy, B. Sullivan, Strow, Dunshee, Priest, Wood, Springer and Linville.
Brief History:
Local Government: 2/13/07, 2/26/07 [DPS].
Brief Summary of Substitute Bill |
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 5 members: Representatives Simpson, Chair; Eddy, Vice Chair; Curtis, Ranking Minority Member; B. Sullivan and Takko.
Minority Report: Without recommendation. Signed by 2 members: Representatives Schindler, Assistant Ranking Minority Member and Ross.
Staff: Thamas Osborn (786-7129).
Background:
Overview of the Growth Management Act
The Growth Management Act (GMA) establishes a comprehensive land use planning
framework for county and city governments in Washington. Counties and cities meeting
specific population and growth criteria are required to comply with the major requirements of
the GMA. Counties not meeting these criteria may choose to plan under the GMA.
Twenty-nine of 39 counties, and the cities within those 29 counties, are required to or have
chosen to comply with the major requirements of the GMA (GMA jurisdictions).
Rural Development Provisions in Comprehensive Land Use Plans
Among numerous planning requirements, GMA jurisdictions must adopt internally consistent
comprehensive land use plans (comprehensive plans), which are generalized, coordinated
land use policy statements of the governing body. Each comprehensive plan must include
certain elements, including land use, housing, and transportation elements. Counties fully
planning under the GMA must also include a rural element within their comprehensive plan.
The rural element must specify provisions for lands not designated for urban growth,
agriculture, forest, or mineral resources. Such provisions include:
To achieve a variety of rural densities and uses, counties may provide for clustering, density
transfer, design guidelines, conservation easements, and other innovative techniques that will
accommodate appropriate urban densities and uses that are not characterized by urban growth
and that are consistent with the character of rural lands.
Limited Areas of More Intensive Rural Development (LAMIRDs)
In planning for the rural element, counties may permit the creation of LAMIRDs in rural
areas, including necessary public facilities and public services. Three types of LAMIRDs are
permitted:
"Public facilities" are defined in the GMA to 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. "Public services" are defined to
include fire protection, law enforcement, public health, education, recreation, environmental
protection, and other governmental services.
Transfers of Development Rights (TDRs)
A "transfers of development rights" (TDR) is a market-based technique that encourages the
voluntary transfer of growth from a place where a community would like to encourage less
development, referred to as a sending area, to a place where a community would like to
encourage more development, referred to as a receiving area. In a typical TDR transaction,
conservation-oriented, permanent deed restrictions are placed on sending area properties to
ensure that the land will be used only for approved activities such as farming, forest
management, conservation, or passive recreation. Under this technique, the costs of
purchasing the recorded development restrictions are borne by the developers who receive a
"building credit" or "bonus." In return, developers may use this building credit or bonus to
obtain or enhance development rights in the receiving area. Typically, the end result of this
process is that a rural or natural area (e.g., agricultural, forest, or open space land) is
preserved through permanent restrictions on development, while the receiving area is subject
to increased development and/or population density as the result of changes in zoning
requirements.
Summary of Substitute Bill:
Introduction and Overview of the Act:
The act authorizes the creation of a maximum of three "rural village" demonstration projects
in certain GMA planning counties. A "rural village" is defined as a "compact,
environmentally-friendly rural development created using a transfer of development rights."
A rural village must be located in a designated rural area outside of a LAMIRD and must
coexist with farming and other traditional, non-urban land uses. An eligible county is
limited to designating no more than one rural village within its jurisdiction.
For the purposes of GMA planning requirements, rural villages do not constitute "urban
growth" nor are they lands "characterized by urban growth."
To be eligible, a county must be located in the Puget Sound Regional Council's planning area,
which includes the following four central Puget Sound counties:
The rural village demonstration project will be monitored by the Department of Community,
Trade, and Economic Development (Department). A county must notify the Department of
its intent to initiate an urban village project or when it decides to withdraw a project. The act
requires the Department to report to the Legislature regarding the rural village pilot project
and creates specified reporting requirements.
The authority of an eligible county to designate a rural village in its development regulations
terminates on December 31, 2009, unless a county has properly notified the Department of its
intent to designate a rural village before that time.
Authorized Types of Development
Subject to specified requirements, a rural village may contain both residential and
non-residential development. Residential development may consist of between 50 and 200
dwelling units of specified types. Lot sizes for single family homes are limited to a
maximum of 7,000 square feet. Nonresidential development is allowed if it is designed to
serve the village population and rural residents living in nearby areas.
Transfers of Development Rights
The development of a rural village is premised on the use of TDRs to conserve surrounding
rural areas and natural resource lands (sending area) by transferring the development rights
from those areas to the area designated for the rural village (receiving area). Village
nonresidential development or proposed dwelling units that exceed base zoning in the
receiving area can be developed only upon the transfer or purchase of development rights
from a sending area.
The act provides a variety of recommendations and technical requirements regarding the
mechanics of using TDRs for the creation of rural villages. Although counties are given
some discretion in determining the ratio of development rights that must be transferred from
rural and resource lands, the act requires that at least one-half of the development rights used
in developing a rural village be transferred from rural lands, with any remainder coming from
resource lands.
Creation and Enforcement of Conservation Easements
Development rights purchased or transferred from sending area properties must be
extinguished with conservation easements held jointly by a nonprofit organization and the
relevant local government. The conservation easement must permanently restrict
development of the property, but must allow for typical rural land uses, including agriculture
and working forestry.
Siting Requirements
The siting of a rural village must be included in a county's comprehensive plan, be
determined in accordance with the requirements of the GMA, and must favor sites having:
Public Facilities and Services
Public facilities and services may be financed through impact fees and are limited to those
necessary to serve the rural village. Such facilities and services must be provided in a
manner that does not permit low-density urban sprawl.
Transportation Requirements
Site planning must include multimodal transportation considerations and may include bicycle
paths, park-and-ride facilities, community vanpools, and carshare parking spaces. Other
transportation requirements and considerations include:
Miscellaneous Planning Requirements and Recommendations
The act creates additional development requirements and recommendations pertaining to the
following aspects of rural village planning:
Rural villages are prohibited from being "gated communities" and must grant the general
public specified, formal legal rights regarding access to roads, paths, and walkways.
Reporting Requirements for the Department of Community, Trade and Economic
Development
The Department is required to report annually to the appropriate committees of the
Legislature regarding the progress of the rural villages established under the act. In addition,
the Department must prepare a final report, due no later than December 1, 2012, that
addresses the success of the program in meeting the goals of the GMA regarding the
preservation of rural lands and the fostering of compatible commercial, recreational, and
tourist uses of rural areas. In preparing the report, the Department must consult with
landowners, developers, local governments, and other pertinent entities and persons. The
report must address specified subject-matter areas and contain recommendations regarding
the authorization of additional rural villages and any necessary statutory changes.
Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:
The substitute bill makes the following changes to the original bill:
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on February 12, 2007.
Effective Date of Substitute Bill: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Staff Summary of Public Testimony:
(In support) This bill is needed to address GMA planning issues that will arise as populations
begin to increase in rural areas. This is a well-crafted pilot project that provides a visionary
approach for dealing with development issues that are increasingly problematic. Although it
is vitally important to concentrate growth in urban areas, planning must be done to
accommodate the development that is certain to occur outside of the urban growth
boundaries. This bill addresses key long-term planning needs for residential development in
rural areas and will provide counties with a needed tool for dealing with rural development.
Furthermore, the bill is fully consistent with the goals of the GMA.
The bill provides a planning mechanism for the development of compact, high density, rural
residential areas in order to preserve remaining rural lands. Encouraging higher density rural
residential development will better enable counties to control rural residential sprawl. The
goal is to shrink the amount of land used for rural residential purposes and thus preserve
existing agricultural and forest lands. Many European countries use a rural village model in
order to better concentrate rural residential uses and thus preserve the natural integrity of
rural and agricultural areas.
The current environmental trends in rural areas are negative, insofar as urban-style sprawl is
beginning to occur as the result of "large lot" residential development. This type of
development is quickly eliminating large, continuous areas of open areas and forest lands.
This results in the creation of "fragmented landscapes" containing many scattered, large-lot
residences sited on lands that were once rural in nature. Such piecemeal destruction of rural
land is contrary to the goals of the GMA with respect to preserving the natural character of
rural areas. This trend has very negative environmental consequences with respect to wildlife
habitat, watershed protection, and the preservation of agricultural areas and working forest
lands. The development of compact rural villages could reverse this trend while at the same
time allow for the more efficient provision of services to residences. Allowing "rural
residential sprawl" to continue will have negative impacts on farmers and the owners of
working forests.
The bill is in need of some changes with respect to provisions regarding school siting.
(With concerns) The provisions of the bill pertaining to water law need fine tuning. The
Puyallup Tribe and Yakama Nation would like to see the Department of Ecology involved
regarding water and salmon issues.
(Opposed) None.
Persons Testifying: (In support) Larry Stout, Washington Realtors; Michelle Connor,
Cascade Land Conservancy; Rod Brandon, King County; Joan Burlingame, Back Country
Horseman; Kaleen Cottingham, Futurewise; J. Allen; Rick Dunning, Washington Farm
Forestry Association; Scott Dahlman, Washington Grange; Heath Packard, Audubon; Eric
Johnson, Washington Association of Counties; Patti Case, Green Diamond; Josh Weiss,
Washington Forest Protection Association; Genesee Adkins, Transportation Choices; Gayle
Broadbent, Adams Cove Group; Rod Brandon, King County; and Charlie Brown, Puget
Sound School Coalition.
(With concerns) Dawn Vyvyan, Puyallup Tribe of Indians/Yakama Nation.
(Opposed) None.