FINAL BILL REPORT

SB 5651

C 88 L 03

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Authorizing land banks in certain counties with low population densities.

Sponsors: Senators Hargrove, Mulliken and T. Sheldon.

Senate Committee on Land Use & Planning

House Committee on Local Government

Background: Under the Growth Management Act (GMA), counties must encourage urban growth within urban growth areas (UGAs) and may allow growth outside if it is not urban in nature. The GMA contains several exceptions to the general prohibition against urban growth outside UGAs, one of which grants certain counties the authority to designate an industrial land bank outside of a UGA for up to two master planned locations.

The option to establish industrial land banks was the result of 1995 legislation that intended to provide a more expeditious process for counties to identify locations for major industrial activity in advance of specific proposals and, thus, facilitate the siting of potential development projects. The counties' authority to establish industrial land banks terminates on two different dates, either December 31, 2002, or December 31, 2007, depending on established population, geographic, and unemployment criteria for the county.

Under current law, counties with an average level of unemployment for the preceding three years that exceeds the average state unemployment for those years by 20 percent and are bordered by the Pacific Ocean and by the Hood Canal are included among the group of counties with authority to designate industrial land banks. However, there are presently no counties that meet these requirements.

Summary: Counties that have population densities of less than 100 persons per square mile and are bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the Hood Canal are included among the counties that have the authority to establish a process for designating industrial land banks under the GMA (Jefferson and Clallam counties).

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate       48  0

House       95  0

Effective: July 27, 2003