Growth Management Act.
The Growth Management Act (GMA) is the comprehensive land use planning framework for counties and cities in Washington. The GMA establishes land use designation and environmental protection requirements for all Washington counties and cities.
The GMA also establishes a significantly wider array of planning duties for 28 counties, and the cities within those counties, that are obligated to satisfy all planning requirements of the GMA. The GMA directs fully planning jurisdictions to adopt internally consistent comprehensive land use plans. Comprehensive plans are implemented through locally adopted development regulations, and both the plans and the local regulations are required to be reviewed and, if necessary, revised every 10 years, in accordance with county-based deadlines set in statute.
Impact Fees.
Impact fees are one-time charges assessed by a local government on new development projects to help pay for new or expanded public capital facilities that will directly address the increased demand for services created by the development. Approval of a new development may be conditioned on the payment of impact fees.
Local governments planning under the GMA are authorized to impose impact fees for public streets and roads, publicly owned parks and recreation facilities, school facilities, and fire protection facilities. Impact fees may only be used on public facilities included in the capital facilities element of the comprehensive plan. The public facilities must be reasonably related to, and reasonably benefit, the new development, and must be designed to provide services to the community at large.
Housing Development Opportunity Zones.
A city, town, or code city may designate a geographic area within its jurisdiction as a housing development opportunity zone (opportunity zone), which encompasses areas characterized by large commercial development, such as shopping malls, vacant department stores, and vacant grocery stores. The opportunity zone project site area must be defined by existing improvements on the parcel, including parking and landscape areas. Residential development must be prioritized in opportunity zones.
Housing development within the opportunity zone must:
The jurisdiction may waive any impact fees associated with development or redevelopment within the opportunity zone.
Resolutions or ordinances made to implement an opportunity zone are exempt from GMA revision and review requirements and may be implemented at any time within the planning period under the condition that the next comprehensive plan update incorporate the changes.
Review by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee must evaluate the number of housing units and affordable housing units created in opportunity zones and provide its review to the Legislature by September 1, 2043. If the review finds that the number of affordable housing units have not increased, then the Legislature intends to repeal the authorization for cities to establish opportunity zones.
The act expires July 1, 2045.