Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research | BILL ANALYSIS |
Environment & Energy Committee |
HB 2342
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. |
Brief Description: Aligning the timing of comprehensive plan updates required by the growth management act with the timing of shoreline master program updates required by the shoreline management act.
Sponsors: Representatives Fitzgibbon, Leavitt, Tharinger, Walen, Doglio, Pollet and Appleton.
Brief Summary of Bill |
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Hearing Date: 1/23/20
Staff: Robert Hatfield (786-7117).
Background:
Growth Management Act.
The Growth Management Act (GMA) is the comprehensive land-use planning framework for counties and cities in Washington. Originally enacted in 1990 and 1991, the GMA establishes land use designation and environmental protection requirements for all Washington counties and cities.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 the 28 counties, and the cities within those counties, that are obligated to satisfy all planning requirements of the GMA. These jurisdictions are sometimes said to be "fully planning" under 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 subject to review and revision requirements prescribed in the GMA. In developing their comprehensive plans, counties and cities must consider various goals set forth in statute. These goals include:
Urban Growth: Encourage development in urban areas where adequate public facilities and services exist or can be provided in an efficient manner.
Housing: Encourage the availability of affordable housing to all economic segments of the population of Washington, promote a variety of residential densities and housing types, and encourage preservation of existing housing stock.
Public Facilities and Services: Ensure that those public facilities and services necessary to support development are adequate to serve the development at the time the development is available for occupancy and use without decreasing current service levels below locally established minimum standards.
Growth Management Act - Comprehensive Plan Updates.
Counties and cities are required to review and, if needed, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations every eight years. Counties, and the cities within them, are grouped into four different year classes for purposes of when the obligation to review and revise their comprehensive plans commences. King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties are required to review and revise their comprehensive plans no later than June 30, 2015, and every eight years thereafter. Ten other counties - Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom - are required to review and revise their comprehensive plans no later than June 30, 2016, and every eight years thereafter. The remaining counties are divided into the 2017 and 2018 year classes for comprehensive plan review and revision.
Shoreline Management Program.
The Shoreline Management Act (SMA) involves a cooperative regulatory approach between local governments and the state. The Department of Ecology (Ecology) and local governments are authorized to adopt necessary and appropriate rules for implementing the provisions of the SMA. At the local level, SMA regulations are developed in local shoreline master programs (master programs). All counties and cities with shorelines of the state are required to adopt master programs that regulate land-use activities in shoreline areas of the state.
A master program, or a segment thereof, becomes effective when approved by Ecology. In accordance with a schedule established in the SMA, counties and cities must develop or amend master programs every eight years. As with comprehensive plan updates under the GMA, counties and cities are grouped into four different year classes - 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, and every eight years thereafter - for purposes of their shoreline master program update schedule.
Summary of Bill:
Growth Management Act - Comprehensive Plan Updates.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if needed, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations by June 30, 2024, and every ten years thereafter: King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if needed, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations by June 30, 2025, and every ten years thereafter: Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if needed, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations by June 30, 2026, and every ten years thereafter: Benton, Chelan, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Kittitas, Skamania, Spokane, Walla Walla, and Yakima.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if needed, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations by June 30, 2027, and every ten years thereafter: Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman.
No later than five years after each of the deadlines for the review and possible revision of comprehensive plans and development regulations, counties and cities must take additional action to review and, if needed, revise the following specific elements of their comprehensive plans and development regulations to ensure that they comply with the requirements of the Growth Management Act:
the housing element of the comprehensive plan; and
the protection of critical areas in order to incorporate the best available science regarding the protection of critical areas.
The Department of Commerce must adopt rules to specify additional elements, if any, of comprehensive plans and development regulations that must be updated at the five-year mark.
Updates to comprehensive plans and development regulations at the five-year mark are subject to appeal to the Growth Management Hearings Board.
Shoreline Management Act - Shoreline Master Program Updates.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if necessary, revise their shoreline master programs by June 30, 2029, and every ten years thereafter: King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if necessary, revise their shoreline master programs by June 30, 2030, and every ten years thereafter: Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if necessary, revise their shoreline master programs by June 30, 2031, and every ten years thereafter: Benton, Chelan, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Kittitas, Skamania, Spokane, Walla Walla, and Yakima.
The following counties, and the cities within them, are required to review and, if necessary, revise their shoreline master programs by June 30, 2032, and every ten years thereafter: Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on January 15, 2020.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed, except that Section 2 of the bill, related to updates under the Shoreline Management Act, takes effect July 1, 2022.