BILL REQ. #:  H-3824.1 

Read first time 01/25/12.   Referred to Committee on Local Government.

     AN ACT Relating to incentivizing upfront environmental planning and review; amending RCW 36.70A.490, 36.70A.500, and 82.02.020; and adding a new section to chapter 82.02 RCW.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 36.70A.490 and 1995 c 347 s 115 are each amended to read as follows:
     The growth management planning and environmental review fund is hereby established in the state treasury. Moneys may be placed in the fund from the proceeds of bond sales, tax revenues, budget transfers, federal appropriations, gifts, or any other lawful source. Moneys in the fund may be spent only after appropriation. Moneys in the fund shall be used to make grants or loans to local governments for the purposes set forth in RCW 43.21C.240, 43.21C.031, or 36.70A.500. Any payment of either principal or interest, or both, derived from loans made from this fund must be deposited into the fund.

Sec. 2   RCW 36.70A.500 and 1997 c 429 s 28 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department of ((community, trade, and economic development)) commerce shall provide management services for the growth management planning and environmental review fund created by RCW 36.70A.490. The department shall establish procedures for fund management. The department shall encourage participation in the grant or loan program by other public agencies. The department shall develop the grant or loan criteria, monitor the grant or loan program, and select grant or loan recipients in consultation with state agencies participating in the grant or loan program through the provision of grant or loan funds or technical assistance.
     (2) A grant or loan may be awarded to a county or city that is required to or has chosen to plan under RCW 36.70A.040 and that is qualified pursuant to this section. The grant or loan shall be provided to assist a county or city in paying for the cost of preparing an environmental analysis under chapter 43.21C RCW, that is integrated with a comprehensive plan, subarea plan, plan element, countywide planning policy, development regulation, monitoring program, or other planning activity adopted under or implementing this chapter that:
     (a) Improves the process for project permit review while maintaining environmental quality; or
     (b) Encourages use of plans and information developed for purposes of complying with this chapter to satisfy requirements of other state programs.
     (3) In order to qualify for a grant or loan, a county or city shall:
     (a) Demonstrate that it will prepare an environmental analysis pursuant to chapter 43.21C RCW and subsection (2) of this section that is integrated with a comprehensive plan, subarea plan, plan element, countywide planning policy, development regulations, monitoring program, or other planning activity adopted under or implementing this chapter;
     (b) Address environmental impacts and consequences, alternatives, and mitigation measures in sufficient detail to allow the analysis to be adopted in whole or in part by applicants for development permits within the geographic area analyzed in the plan;
     (c) Demonstrate that procedures for review of development permit applications will be based on the integrated plans and environmental analysis;
     (d) Include mechanisms to monitor the consequences of growth as it occurs in the plan area and to use the resulting data to update the plan, policy, or implementing mechanisms and associated environmental analysis;
     (e) Demonstrate substantial progress towards compliance with the requirements of this chapter. A county or city that is more than six months out of compliance with a requirement of this chapter is deemed not to be making substantial progress towards compliance; and
     (f) Provide local funding, which may include financial participation by the private sector.
     (4) In awarding grants or loans, the department shall give preference to proposals that include one or more of the following elements:
     (a) Financial participation by the private sector, or a public/private partnering approach;
     (b) Identification and monitoring of system capacities for elements of the built environment, and to the extent appropriate, of the natural environment;
     (c) Coordination with state, federal, and tribal governments in project review;
     (d) Furtherance of important state objectives related to economic development, protection of areas of statewide significance, and siting of essential public facilities;
     (e) Programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the permitting process by greater reliance on integrated plans and prospective environmental analysis;
     (f) Programs for effective citizen and neighborhood involvement that contribute to greater likelihood that planning decisions can be implemented with community support; ((and))
     (g) Programs to identify environmental impacts and establish mitigation measures that provide effective means to satisfy concurrency requirements and establish project consistency with the plans; or
     (h) Environmental review that addresses the impacts of increased density or intensity of comprehensive plans, subarea plans, or receiving areas designated by a city or town under the regional transfer of development rights program in chapter 43.362 RCW.
     (5) If the local funding includes funding provided by other state functional planning programs, including open space planning and watershed or basin planning, the functional plan shall be integrated into and be consistent with the comprehensive plan.
     (6) State agencies shall work with grant or loan recipients to facilitate state and local project review processes that will implement the projects receiving grants or loans under this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 82.02 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds that:
     (a) Detailed environmental analysis integrated with comprehensive plans, subarea plans, and development regulations will facilitate planning for and managing growth, allow greater protection of the environment, and benefit both the general public and private property owners;
     (b) Compact development in urban growth areas, or transfer of development rights programs, will assist in the conservation of rural, agricultural, and forest land by redirecting growth from this land to areas designated for compact development or receiving areas in cities and towns where growth should occur;
     (c) Cities and towns planning for increased growth in receiving areas under chapter 43.362 RCW must comply with chapter 43.21C RCW;
     (d) Planning for compact or increased growth in urban growth areas, or receiving areas under chapter 43.362 RCW in compliance with chapter 43.21C RCW, presents a financial burden on cities and towns;
     (e) Planning for compact or increased growth in urban growth areas, or receiving areas under chapter 43.362 RCW in compliance with chapter 43.21C RCW, should be encouraged to ensure that the quality of life in receiving neighborhoods and the protection of environmental values over time are maintained by providing financial assistance through the growth management planning and environmental review fund created in RCW 36.70A.490;
     (f) Access to financial assistance through the growth management planning and environmental review fund created in RCW 36.70A.490 may be increased by allowing the fund to become a revolving loan program rather than only a grant program; and
     (g) Counties, cities, and towns will have the ability to repay loans from the growth management planning and environmental review fund created in RCW 36.70A.490, or recoup their own costs associated with environmental review conducted at a comprehensive plan or subarea plan level, with fees they collect from developers who will benefit from the environmental review that the city or county has already conducted under chapter 43.21C RCW on a comprehensive plan or subarea plan, or in conjunction with the designation of a receiving area under chapter 43.362 RCW, and that addresses the impacts of compact development or projects using transferable development rights.
     (2) Counties, cities, and towns that conduct detailed environmental review under chapter 43.21C RCW, integrated with a comprehensive plan or subarea plan within urban growth areas, are authorized to impose environmental fees on development activity as part of the financing for environmental review conducted under chapter 43.21C RCW on a comprehensive plan or subarea plan.
     (3) The environmental fees:
     (a) May only be imposed for environmental review costs that have been identified as reasonably related to the new development;
     (b) May not exceed the proportionate share of the costs of environmental review conducted for a comprehensive plan or subarea plan; and
     (c) May, if applicable, be used to repay a loan from the growth management planning and environmental review fund created in RCW 36.70A.490.

Sec. 4   RCW 82.02.020 and 2010 c 153 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     Except only as expressly provided in chapters 67.28, 81.104, and 82.14 RCW, the state preempts the field of imposing retail sales and use taxes and taxes upon parimutuel wagering authorized pursuant to RCW 67.16.060, conveyances, and cigarettes, and no county, town, or other municipal subdivision shall have the right to impose taxes of that nature. Except as provided in RCW 64.34.440, section 3 of this act, and RCW 82.02.050 through 82.02.090, no county, city, town, or other municipal corporation shall impose any tax, fee, or charge, either direct or indirect, on the construction or reconstruction of residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, or on any other building or building space or appurtenance thereto, or on the development, subdivision, classification, or reclassification of land. However, this section does not preclude dedications of land or easements within the proposed development or plat which the county, city, town, or other municipal corporation can demonstrate are reasonably necessary as a direct result of the proposed development or plat to which the dedication of land or easement is to apply.
     This section does not prohibit voluntary agreements with counties, cities, towns, or other municipal corporations that allow a payment in lieu of a dedication of land or to mitigate a direct impact that has been identified as a consequence of a proposed development, subdivision, or plat. A local government shall not use such voluntary agreements for local off-site transportation improvements within the geographic boundaries of the area or areas covered by an adopted transportation program authorized by chapter 39.92 RCW. Any such voluntary agreement is subject to the following provisions:
     (1) The payment shall be held in a reserve account and may only be expended to fund a capital improvement agreed upon by the parties to mitigate the identified, direct impact;
     (2) The payment shall be expended in all cases within five years of collection; and
     (3) Any payment not so expended shall be refunded with interest to be calculated from the original date the deposit was received by the county and at the same rate applied to tax refunds pursuant to RCW 84.69.100; however, if the payment is not expended within five years due to delay attributable to the developer, the payment shall be refunded without interest.
     No county, city, town, or other municipal corporation shall require any payment as part of such a voluntary agreement which the county, city, town, or other municipal corporation cannot establish is reasonably necessary as a direct result of the proposed development or plat.
     Nothing in this section prohibits cities, towns, counties, or other municipal corporations from collecting reasonable fees from an applicant for a permit or other governmental approval to cover the cost to the city, town, county, or other municipal corporation of processing applications, inspecting and reviewing plans, or preparing detailed statements required by chapter 43.21C RCW, including reasonable fees that are consistent with RCW 43.21C.420(6).
     This section does not limit the existing authority of any county, city, town, or other municipal corporation to impose special assessments on property specifically benefited thereby in the manner prescribed by law.
     Nothing in this section prohibits counties, cities, or towns from imposing or permits counties, cities, or towns to impose water, sewer, natural gas, drainage utility, and drainage system charges. However, no such charge shall exceed the proportionate share of such utility or system's capital costs which the county, city, or town can demonstrate are attributable to the property being charged. Furthermore, these provisions may not be interpreted to expand or contract any existing authority of counties, cities, or towns to impose such charges.
     Nothing in this section prohibits a transportation benefit district from imposing fees or charges authorized in RCW 36.73.120 nor prohibits the legislative authority of a county, city, or town from approving the imposition of such fees within a transportation benefit district.
     Nothing in this section prohibits counties, cities, or towns from imposing transportation impact fees authorized pursuant to chapter 39.92 RCW.
     Nothing in this section prohibits counties, cities, or towns from requiring property owners to provide relocation assistance to tenants under RCW 59.18.440 and 59.18.450.
     Nothing in this section limits the authority of counties, cities, or towns to implement programs consistent with RCW 36.70A.540, nor to enforce agreements made pursuant to such programs.
     This section does not apply to special purpose districts formed and acting pursuant to Title 54, 57, or 87 RCW, nor is the authority conferred by these titles affected.