BILL REQ. #: S-0362.2
| State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/11. Referred to Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections.
AN ACT Relating to landscape conservation and local infrastructure; amending RCW 84.55.010, 84.55.120, and 36.70A.080; adding a new chapter to Title 39 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 101
(2) Under RCW 36.70A.090 and 43.362.005 the legislature has
encouraged:
(a) The use of innovative land use management techniques, including
the transfer of development rights, to meet growth management goals;
and
(b) The creation of a regional transfer of development rights
marketplace in the central Puget Sound to assist in conserving
agricultural and forest land, as well as other lands of state or
regional priority.
(3) The legislature finds that:
(a) Local governments are in need of additional resources to
provide public infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing
population, and that public infrastructure is fundamental to community
health, safety, and economic vitality. Investment in public
infrastructure in growing urban areas supports growth management goals,
encourages the redevelopment of underutilized or blighted urban areas,
stimulates business activity and helps create jobs, lowers the cost of
housing, promotes efficient land use, and improves residents' quality
of life;
(b) Transferring development rights from agricultural and forest
lands to urban areas where public facilities and services exist or can
be provided efficiently and cost-effectively will ensure vibrant,
economically viable communities. Directing growth to communities where
people can live close to where they work or have access to
transportation choices will also advance state goals regarding climate
change by reducing vehicle miles traveled and by reducing fuel
consumption and emissions that contribute to climate change. Directing
growth to these communities will further help avoid the impacts of
storm water runoff to Puget Sound by avoiding impervious surfaces
associated with development in watershed uplands;
(c) A transfer of development rights marketplace is particularly
appropriate for conserving agricultural and forest land of long-term
commercial significance. Transferring the development rights from
these lands of statewide importance to cities will help achieve a
specific goal of the growth management act by keeping them in farming
and forestry, thereby helping ensure these remain viable industries in
counties experiencing population growth. Transferring growth from
agricultural and forest land of long-term commercial significance will
also reduce costs to the counties that otherwise would be responsible
for the provision of infrastructure and services for development on
these lands, which are generally further from existing infrastructure
and services; and
(d) The state and its residents benefit from investment in public
infrastructure that is associated with urban growth facilitated by the
transfer of development from agricultural and forest lands of long-term
commercial significance. These activities advance multiple state
growth management goals and benefit the state and local economies. It
is in the public interest to enable local governments to finance such
infrastructure investments and to incentivize development right
transfers in the central Puget Sound through this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 201
(1) "Eligible county" means any county that borders Puget Sound,
that has a population of six hundred thousand or more, and that has an
established program for transfer of development rights.
(2) "Employment" means total employment in a county or city, as
applicable, estimated by the office of financial management.
(3) "Exchange rate" means an increment of development beyond what
base zoning allows that is assigned to a development right by a
sponsoring city for use in a receiving area.
(4) "Local infrastructure project area" means the geographic area
identified by a sponsoring city under section 601 of this act.
(5) "Local infrastructure project financing" means the use of
property taxes distributed to the sponsoring city to pay or finance
public improvement costs within the local infrastructure project area
in accordance with section 701 of this act.
(6) "Population" means the population of a city or county, as
applicable, estimated by the office of financial management.
(7) "Public improvements" means:
(a) Infrastructure improvements within the local infrastructure
project area that include:
(i) Street, road, bridge, and rail construction and maintenance;
(ii) Water and sewer system construction and improvements;
(iii) Sidewalks, streetlights, landscaping, and streetscaping;
(iv) Parking, terminal, and dock facilities;
(v) Park and ride facilities of a transit authority and other
facilities that support transit-oriented development;
(vi) Park facilities, recreational areas, bicycle paths, and
environmental remediation;
(vii) Storm water and drainage management systems;
(viii) Electric, gas, fiber, and other utility infrastructures; and
(b) Expenditures for facilities and improvements that support
affordable housing as defined in RCW 43.185A.010;
(c) Providing maintenance and security for common or public areas
in the local infrastructure project area; or
(d) Historic preservation activities authorized under RCW
35.21.395.
Public improvements do not include the acquisition by a sponsoring
city of transferable development rights.
(8) "Receiving areas," for purposes of this act, are those
designated lands within local infrastructure project areas in which
transferable development rights from sending areas may be used.
(9) "Receiving city" means any incorporated city with population
plus employment equal to twenty-two thousand five hundred or greater
within an eligible county.
(10) "Receiving city allocated share" means the total number of
transferable development rights from agricultural and forest land of
long-term commercial significance and rural zoned lands designated
under section 303 of this act within the eligible counties allocated to
a receiving city under section 305 (1) and (2) of this act.
(11)(a) "Regular property taxes" means regular property taxes
imposed by taxing districts, as defined in this section. For the
purposes of this definition, regular property taxes imposed by counties
include regular property taxes subject to the limitation in RCW
84.52.043(1)(b), including any increase permitted under RCW
84.52.043(1), regular property taxes imposed by cities include regular
property taxes subject to the limitation in RCW 84.52.043(1)(d), and
regular property taxes imposed by port districts include regular
property taxes imposed under RCW 53.36.020 for general port purposes
and exclude any levy for the payment of the principal of and interest
of general bonded indebtedness of the port.
(b) "Regular property taxes" do not include: (i) Excess property
tax levies; (ii) property taxes that are specifically excluded through
an interlocal agreement between the sponsoring city and a taxing
district; and (iii) regular property taxes authorized by RCW 84.55.050
that are limited to a specific purpose.
(12) "Sending areas" means those lands within an eligible county
that meet conservation criteria as described in sections 301 and 303 of
this act.
(13) "Sponsoring city" means a receiving city that accepts all or
a portion of its receiving city allocated share, adopts a plan for
development of infrastructure within one or more proposed local
infrastructure project areas in accordance with section 401 of this
act, and creates one or more local infrastructure project areas, as
specified in section 305(4) of this act.
(14) "Sponsoring city allocated share" means the total number of
transferable development rights a sponsoring city agrees to accept,
under section 305(4) of this act, from agricultural and forest land of
long-term commercial significance and rural zoned lands designated
under section 303 of this act within the eligible counties, plus the
total number of transferable development rights transferred to the
sponsoring city from another receiving city under section 305(5) of
this act.
(15) "Sponsoring city specified portion" means the portion of a
sponsoring city allocated share which may be used within one or more
local infrastructure project areas, as set forth in the sponsoring
city's plan for development of infrastructure under section 401 of this
act.
(16) "Taxing district" means a city, a county, or a port district.
(17) "Transfer of development rights" includes methods for
protecting land from development by voluntarily removing the
development rights from a sending area and transferring them to one or
more receiving areas for the purpose of increasing development density
or intensity.
(18) "Transferable development rights" means a right to develop one
or more residential units in a sending area that can be sold and
transferred.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 301
NEW SECTION. Sec. 302
(a) Base zoning in effect as of January 1, 2011; or
(b) An allocation other than base zoning as reflected by an
eligible county's transfer of development rights program or an
interlocal agreement with a receiving city in effect as of January 1,
2011.
(2) The number of transferable development rights includes the
development rights from agricultural and forest lands of long-term
commercial significance that have been previously issued under the
eligible county's program for transfer of development rights, but that
have not as yet been utilized to increase density or intensity in a
development as of January 1, 2011.
(3) The number of transferable development rights does not include
development rights from agricultural and forest lands of long-term
commercial significance that have previously been removed or
extinguished, such as through an existing conservation easement, except
when consistent with subsection (2) of this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 303
(2) An eligible county may designate rural zoned lands as available
for transfer to receiving cities under this chapter only if, and at
such time as, fifty percent or more of the total acreage of land
classified as agricultural and forest land of long-term commercial
significance in the county, as of January 1, 2011, has been protected
through either a permanent conservation easement, ownership in fee by
the county for land protection or conservation purposes, or ownership
in fee by a nongovernmental land conservation organization.
(3) To be designated as available for transfer to receiving cities
under this chapter, rural zoned lands must either:
(a) Be identified by the county as top conservation priorities
because they:
(i) Provide ecological effectiveness in achieving water resource
inventory area goals;
(ii) Provide contiguous habitat protection, are adjacent to already
protected habitat areas, or improve ecological function;
(iii) Are of sufficient size and location in the landscape to yield
strategic growth management benefits;
(iv) Provide improved access for regional recreational opportunity;
(v) Prevent forest fragmentation or are appropriate for forest
management;
(vi) Provide flood protection or reduce flood risk; or
(vii) Have other attributes that meet natural resource preservation
program priorities; or
(b) Be identified by the state or in regional conservation plans as
highly important to the water quality of Puget Sound.
(4) The portion of rural zoned lands in an eligible county
designated as sending areas for conservation under the eligible
county's program for transfer of development rights available for
transfer to receiving cities under this chapter must not exceed one
thousand five hundred development rights.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 304
NEW SECTION. Sec. 305
(2) The Puget Sound regional council must report to each receiving
city its receiving city allocated share on or before March 1, 2012.
(3) The Puget Sound regional council must report each receiving
city allocated share to the department of commerce on or before March
1, 2012.
(4) A receiving city may become a sponsoring city by accepting all
or a portion of its receiving city allocated share, adopting a plan in
accordance with section 401 of this act, and creating one or more local
infrastructure project areas to pay or finance costs of public
improvements.
(5) A receiving city may, by interlocal agreement, transfer all or
a portion of its receiving city allocated share to another sponsoring
city. The transferred portion of the receiving city allocated share
must be included in the other sponsoring city allocated share.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 401
(2) The plan must be developed in consultation with the taxing
district where the local infrastructure project area to be created is
located, be consistent with any transfer of development rights policies
or development regulations adopted by the sponsoring city under section
402 of this act, specify the public improvements to be financed using
local infrastructure project financing under section 601 of this act,
estimate the number of any transferable development rights that will be
used within the local infrastructure project area or areas and estimate
the cost of the public improvements.
(3) A plan adopted under this section may be revised from time to
time by the sponsoring city, in consultation with the county and port
district where the local infrastructure project area or areas are
located, to increase the sponsoring city specified portion.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 402
(a) Adopt transfer of development rights policies or implement
development regulations as required by subsection (2) of this section;
or
(b) Make a finding that the sponsoring city will:
(i) Receive its sponsoring city specified portion within one or
more local infrastructure project areas; or
(ii) Purchase its sponsoring city specified portion should the
sponsoring city not be able to receive its sponsoring city specified
portion within one or more local infrastructure project areas such that
purchased development rights can be held in reserve by the sponsoring
city and used in future development.
(2) Any adoption of transfer of development rights policies or
implementation of development regulations must:
(a) Comply with chapter 36.70A RCW;
(b) Designate a receiving area or areas;
(c) Adopt incentives consistent with subsection (4) of this section
for developers purchasing transferable development rights;
(d) Establish an exchange rate consistent with subsection (5) of
this section; and
(e) Require that the sale of a transferable development right from
agricultural or forest land of long-term commercial significance or
designated rural zoned lands under section 303 of this act be evidenced
by its permanent removal from the sending site, such as through a
conservation easement on the sending site.
(3) Any adoption of transfer of development rights policies or
implementation of development regulations must not be based upon a
downzone within one or more receiving areas solely to create a market
for the transferable development rights.
(4) Developer incentives should be designed to:
(a) Achieve the densities or intensities reasonably likely to
result from absorption of the sponsoring city specified portion
identified in the plan under section 401 of this act;
(b) Include streamlined permitting strategies such as by-right
permitting; and
(c) Include streamlined environmental review strategies such as
development and substantial environmental review of a subarea plan for
a receiving area that benefits projects that use transferable
development rights, with adoption as appropriate under RCW 43.21C.420
of optional elements of their comprehensive plan and optional
development regulations that apply within the receiving area, adoption
as appropriate of a categorical exemption for infill under RCW
43.21C.229 for a receiving area, and adoption as appropriate of a
planned action under RCW 43.21C.031 for the receiving area.
(5) Each sponsoring city may determine, at its option, what
developer incentives to adopt within its jurisdiction.
(6) Exchange rates should be designed to:
(a) Create a marketplace in which transferable development rights
are priced at a level at which sending site landowners are willing to
sell and developers are willing to buy transferable development rights;
(b) Achieve the densities or intensities anticipated by the plan
adopted under section 401 of this act;
(c) Provide for translation to commodities in addition to
residential density, such as building height, commercial floor area,
parking ratio, impervious surface, parkland and open space, setbacks,
and floor area ratio; and
(d) Allow for appropriate exemptions from other land use or
building requirements.
(7) A sponsoring city must designate all agricultural and forest
land of long-term commercial significance and designated rural zoned
lands under section 303 of this act within the eligible counties as
available sending areas.
(8) A sponsoring city, in accordance with its existing
comprehensive planning and development regulation authority under
chapter 36.70A RCW, and in accordance with RCW 36.70A.080, may elect to
adopt an optional comprehensive plan element and optional development
regulations that apply within one or more local infrastructure project
areas under this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 403
NEW SECTION. Sec. 501
NEW SECTION. Sec. 601
(a) Provide notice to the county assessor, county treasurer, and
each taxing district within the proposed local infrastructure project
area of the sponsoring city's intent to create one or more local
infrastructure project areas. Notice must be provided in writing to
the county assessor, county treasurer, and chief executive officer of
the taxing district at least one hundred eighty days in advance of the
public hearing as required by (b) of this subsection;
(b) Hold a public hearing on the proposed formation of the local
infrastructure project area.
(2) To create one or more local infrastructure project areas, a
sponsoring city must adopt an ordinance or resolution that:
(a) Describes the proposed public improvements, identified in the
plan under section 401 of this act, to be financed in each local
infrastructure project area; and
(b) Describes the boundaries of each local infrastructure project
area, subject to the limitations in section 602 of this act.
(3) The sponsoring city must deliver a certified copy of the
adopted ordinance or resolution to the county assessor, county
treasurer, and chief executive officer of the taxing district within
which the local infrastructure project area is located.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 602
(1) A local infrastructure project area is limited to contiguous
tracts, lots, pieces, or parcels of land without the creation of
islands of territory not included in the local infrastructure project
area;
(2) The public improvements to be financed with local
infrastructure project financing must be located in the local
infrastructure project area and must, in the determination of the
sponsoring city, further the intent of this act;
(3) Local infrastructure project areas created by a sponsoring city
may not comprise an area containing more than twenty-five percent of
the total assessed value of taxable property within the sponsoring city
at the time the local infrastructure project areas are created;
(4) The boundaries of each local infrastructure project area may
not overlap and may not be changed during the time period that local
infrastructure project financing is used within the local
infrastructure project area, as provided under this chapter; and
(5) All local infrastructure project areas created by the
sponsoring city must comprise, in the aggregate, an area that the
sponsoring city determines (a) is sufficient to use the sponsoring city
specified portion, unless the sponsoring city satisfies its sponsoring
city allocated share under section 402(1)(b)(ii) of this act, and (b)
is no larger than reasonably necessary to use the sponsoring city
specified portion in projected future developments.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 603
(2) Subject to constitutional and statutory limitations on the levy
rate that can be imposed by a taxing district, a taxing district may
set its regular property tax levy to include all or a portion of the
remaining twenty-five percent of the additional dollar amount
determined under RCW 84.55.010(2). All or a portion of this amount is
to be distributed to the taxing district under section 701(1)(b) of
this act and may be used by the taxing district for any purpose of the
taxing district.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 701
(a) The sponsoring city must receive seventy-five percent of the
additional dollar amount determined under RCW 84.55.010(2), to the
extent the sponsoring city has included this amount in its levy.
(b) Each taxing district must receive the remainder of the
additional dollar amount determined under RCW 84.55.010(2), up to the
additional dollar amount the taxing district has included in its levy.
(2)(a) Distributions under subsection (1) of this section must
cease on the date that is the earlier of:
(i) The date when local infrastructure project financing is no
longer used for costs of the public improvements as certified by the
sponsoring city to the county treasurer; or
(ii) The final termination date as determined under this subsection
(2).
(b) The final termination date is determined as follows:
(i) Except as provided otherwise in this subsection (2)(b), if the
sponsoring city certifies to the county treasurer that the local
property tax threshold level 1 is met, the final termination date is
ten years after the date of the first distribution under subsection (1)
of this section;
(ii) If the sponsoring city certifies to the county treasurer that
the local property tax threshold level 2 is met at least six months
prior to the final termination date under subsection (b)(i) of this
subsection (2), the final termination date is fifteen years after the
date of the first distribution under subsection (1) of this section;
(iii) If the sponsoring city certifies to the county treasurer that
the local property tax threshold level 3 is met at least six months
prior to the final termination date under subsection (b)(ii) of this
subsection (2), the final termination date is twenty years after the
date of the first distribution under subsection (1) of this section;
(iv) If the sponsoring city certifies to the county treasurer that
the local property tax threshold level 4 is met at least six months
prior to the final termination date under subsection (b)(iii) of this
subsection (2), the final termination date is twenty-five years after
the date of the first distribution under subsection (1) of this
section.
(3) For purposes of this section:
(a) The "local property tax threshold level 1" is met when the
sponsoring city has either:
(i) Issued building permits for development within the local
infrastructure project area that, on an aggregate basis, uses at least
twenty-five percent of the sponsoring city specified portion; or
(ii) Acquired transferable development rights equal to at least
twenty-five percent of the sponsoring city specified portion for use in
the local infrastructure project area or for extinguishment.
(b) The "local property tax threshold level 2" is met when the
sponsoring city has either:
(i) Issued building permits for development within the local
infrastructure project area that, on an aggregate basis, uses at least
fifty percent of the sponsoring city specified portion; or
(ii) Acquired transferable development rights equal to at least
fifty percent of the sponsoring city specified portion for use in the
local infrastructure project area or for extinguishment.
(c) The "local property tax threshold level 3" is met when the
sponsoring city has either:
(i) Issued building permits for development within the local
infrastructure project area that, on an aggregate basis, uses at least
seventy-five percent of the sponsoring city specified portion; or
(ii) Acquired transferable development rights equal to at least
seventy-five percent of the sponsoring city specified portion for use
in the local infrastructure project area or for extinguishment.
(d) The "local property tax threshold level 4" is met when the
sponsoring city has either:
(i) Issued building permits for development within the local
infrastructure project area that, on an aggregate basis, uses at least
one hundred percent of the sponsoring city specified portion; or
(ii) Acquired transferable development rights equal to at least one
hundred percent of the sponsoring city specified portion for use in the
local infrastructure project area or for extinguishment.
Sec. 702 RCW 84.55.010 and 2006 c 184 s 1 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) Except as provided in this chapter, the levy for a taxing
district in any year ((shall)) must be set so that the regular property
taxes payable in the following year ((shall)) do not exceed the limit
factor multiplied by the amount of regular property taxes lawfully
levied for such district in the highest of the three most recent years
in which such taxes were levied for such district adjusted to exclude
any additional dollar amount that was included in such levy pursuant to
section 603 of this act, plus an additional dollar amount calculated by
multiplying the increase in assessed value in that district resulting
from new construction, increases in assessed value due to construction
of electric generation wind turbine facilities classified as personal
property, improvements to property, and any increase in the assessed
value of state-assessed property by the regular property tax levy rate
of that district for the preceding year.
(2)(a) For taxing districts as defined in section 201 of this act,
an additional dollar amount must be added to the dollar amount
determined under subsection (1) of this section for each levy year in
which distributions may be made under section 701(1) of this act. This
additional dollar amount must equal:
(i) The increase in assessed value within any local infrastructure
project area, as defined in section 201 of this act, since the assessed
valuation placed on the tax rolls in the calendar year preceding the
date on which the sponsoring city certifies to the county treasurer
under section 701 of this act that the local property tax threshold
level 1 is met, that has not been taken into account under subsection
(1) of this section,
(ii) Multiplied by the sponsoring city ratio,
(iii) Multiplied by the regular property tax levy rate of that
taxing district for the preceding year.
(b) For the purposes of this subsection, "sponsoring city ratio"
means the ratio of the sponsoring city specified portion to the
sponsoring city allocated share, each as defined in section 201 of this
act.
Sec. 703 RCW 84.55.120 and 2006 c 184 s 6 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) A taxing district, other than the state, that collects regular
levies ((shall)) must hold a public hearing on revenue sources for the
district's following year's current expense budget. The hearing must
include consideration of possible increases in property tax revenues
and ((shall)) must be held prior to the time the taxing district levies
the taxes or makes the request to have the taxes levied. The county
legislative authority, or the taxing district's governing body if the
district is a city, town, or other type of district, ((shall)) must
hold the hearing. For purposes of this section, "current expense
budget" means that budget which is primarily funded by taxes and
charges and reflects the provision of ongoing services. It does not
mean the capital, enterprise, or special assessment budgets of cities,
towns, counties, or special purpose districts.
(2) If the taxing district is otherwise required to hold a public
hearing on its proposed regular tax levy, a single public hearing may
be held on this matter.
(3) No increase in property tax revenue, other than that resulting
from the addition of new construction, increases in assessed value due
to construction of electric generation wind turbine facilities
classified as personal property, ((and)) improvements to property, any
increase in assessed value within any local infrastructure project
area, as defined in section 201 of this act, and any increase in the
value of state-assessed property, may be authorized by a taxing
district, other than the state, except by adoption of a separate
ordinance or resolution, pursuant to notice, specifically authorizing
the increase in terms of both dollars and percentage. The ordinance or
resolution may cover a period of up to two years, but the ordinance
shall specifically state for each year the dollar increase and
percentage change in the levy from the previous year.
Sec. 801 RCW 36.70A.080 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 17 s 8 are each
amended to read as follows:
(1) A comprehensive plan may include additional elements, items, or
studies dealing with other subjects relating to the physical
development within its jurisdiction, including, but not limited to:
(a) Conservation;
(b) Solar energy; and
(c) Recreation.
(2) A comprehensive plan may include, where appropriate, subarea
plans, each of which is consistent with the comprehensive plan.
(3)(a) Cities that qualify as a receiving city may adopt a
comprehensive plan element and associated development regulations that
apply within receiving areas under chapter 39.--- RCW (the new chapter
created in section 903 of this act).
(b) For purposes of this subsection, the terms "receiving city" and
"receiving area" have the same meanings as provided in section 201 of
this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 901
NEW SECTION. Sec. 902 If any provision of this act or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
persons or circumstances is not affected.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 903 Sections 101 through 701 of this act
constitute a new chapter in Title