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 subject to review and revision requirements prescribed in the GMA. When developing their comprehensive plans, counties and cities must consider various goals set forth in statute.

Comprehensive Plan Updates. Counties and cities are required to review and, if necessary, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations every ten years.

The ten-year review and revision deadlines are staggered for different counties. King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, and the cities within those counties, deadline was December 31, 2024. Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom counties, and the cities within those counties, have a deadline of December 31, 2025. Benton, Chelan, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Kittitas, Skamania, Spokane, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties, and the cities within those counties, have a deadline of June 30, 2026. Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties, and the cities within those counties, have a deadline of June 30, 2027.

In 2022 and 2024 the Legislature temporarily amended the deadline to review and, if necessary, revise the comprehensive plans of King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, and the cities within those counties, and Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom counties, and the cities within those counties. These counties are required to review and revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations no later than December 31, 2024, and December 31, 2025, respectively. Following the 2024 and 2025 review cycles, these counties return to the regularly scheduled ten-year review dates.

The requirement that counties and cities review and, if necessary, revise their comprehensive plans and development regulations every ten years based on the staggered deadlines for different counties is changed to be either ten years from the previous adoption date or the staggered deadlines.

PRO: This bill gives counties an option if it takes them a long time to update their comprehensive plan, to be able to update their plan ten years from the date of adoption. This bill would give jurisdictions more time rather than having them come up against the deadline right away.

CON:  If a jurisdiction is slow at updating or its comprehensive plan has been under an appeal, they may want additional time but they would have another ten years before meeting their GMA requirements. Allowing counties to extend their compliance deadline would cause issues for cities meeting their deadlines to update their comprehensive plan. 

OTHER: King County, Pierce County, and Snohomish County have a transit corridor to fill and they need to plan for manufacturing sites. Cities and counties do not get enough money to keep their operations going.

PRO: Senator Shelly Short, Prime Sponsor.