Growth Management Monitoring Programs

Contents

• Introduction
• Washington Regional or Local Government Monitoring Reports
• Monitoring Reports from Regional or Local Governments in Other States
• Monitoring Reports from Interest Groups or Nonprofit Organizations
• Land Supply Monitoring

Introduction

Cities and counties must review and update GMA comprehensive plans, development and regulations and the adequacy of urban growth areas periodically to ensure consistency with state statutes. A growth management monitoring program can help local jurisdictions track where growth is going and how well various pieces of the growth managment program are working. Information from the monitoring program can help cities and counties to fine tune plan policies and development regulations to better achieve growth management goals. The following examples of growth management monitoring programs from Washington and other states are available online:

Washington Regional or Local Government Monitoring Reports

• Puget Sound Milestones Regional Monitoring - Puget Sound Regional Council program to monitor progress toward achieving regional vision.   
• The Pulse of Growth in Clark County: Growth Management Plan Monitoring – Plan monitoring, buildable lands (supply) reports, and other annual monitoring reports, and Clark County Comprehensive Growth Management Plan Implementation 2008 Monitoring Report.
• Vancouver (WA) Comprehensive Plan Implementation 2007 Monitoring Report - Includes 2005 & 2007 Reports.
• Monitoring Growth Management Efforts in King County: 1994 - 2008 - Annual reports on land use, economics, transportation and affordable housing.  Includes link to benchmarck report archive and annual growth report archive. 
•  Snohomish County Growth Monitoring Reports, and Snohomish County Tomorrow Reports – Including Housing and Buildable Lands reports.
• Reports on Growth, City of Seattle, 2003 & 2000.
• Spokane County Comprehensive Plan – Appendix B: Performance Measurement, and Spokane County Performance Measurement Report, 2002.
• CTED Buildable Lands Program - Evaluation of adaquacy of residential, commercial and industrial land supply to meet growth needs projected in plans of six counties.  Includes links to annual reports from the counties. 

Monitoring Reports from Regional or Local Governments in Other States

• Portland Metro 2040 Perfromance Measures - Provides links to the excellent “2004 Performance Measures Report: An evaluation of 2040 growth management policies and implementation” - and to an executive summary.  Uses a number of indicators to measure performance policy by policy, Portland Metro.
• Regional Comprehensive Plan Performance Monitoring (Overview) - Includes 2008 Annual Performance Monitoring Report, and Establishing a Baseline for Performance Monitoring, 2006, San Diego Association of Governments(SANDAG).     
• A Decade of Smart Growth Management: Lancaster County (PA) Growth Tracking Report, 1993 – 2003 – Brief, well-illustrated report highlights key aspects of county growth, and Measure Up Lancaster, 2006 – Community indicators.
• Ft. Collins City Plan Monitoring, and Compass of Larimer County - Growth Management and Land Use – Tracks certain growth indicators such as new residential units and miles of road by area from 2003 – 2007.   
• Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR 2004), Broward County FL – Florida local governments are required to prepare an Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) of their adopted Comprehensive Plan every seven (7) years.
• Orange County Comprehensive Plan, Ch. 13 Monitoring Procedures.    
• Arizona Growing Smarter Oversight Council - The Oversight Council is charged with monitoring the effectiveness of its growth management statutes and with suggesting improvements, and Arizona Smart Growth Card - A tool for local government self-assessment.
• Land Use and Populations Reports, Sedona AZ – Ongoing monitoring of development, units and density to evaluate consistency with growth management goals. 
• Chula Vista (CA) Growth Management Oversight Commission – Citizen Commission monitors impacts of growth and recommends corrective action. Threshold standards (quality of life indicators) used to measure city performance at providing important city services.
• Monitoring Growth Report - Annual reports on progress toward regioanl plan vision, Regional District of Nanaimo, B.C., Canada.
• Vancouver, B.C. Livable Region Strategic Plan 2005 Annual Report.
• Vancouver, B.C. Urban Residential Growth Patterns 1982 – 2006, and Residential Development Capacity, 2006, and Regional Development Monthly Indicators.  

Monitoring Reports from Interest Groups or Nonprofit Organizations

• This report notes shortcomings of GMA from an organization that promotes growth management : Get Smart Washington: Managing Growth in the New Millennium, Futurewise, June 2000.
• The Growth Management Act (GMA) After More than 10 Years: Another Look & A Response to Criticisms, Futurewise, 2002 - This report addresses a number of criticisms that are leveled at the Growth Management Act. A Power Point summary is also available.
• Evaluation of Local Implementation of the Washington State Growth Management Act for the National Association of Realtors, Douglas R. Porter, The Growth Management Institute, March 2005 - This report notes the shortcomings of GMA (development community perspective).

Land Supply Monitoring

• Monitoring Land and Housing Markets: An Essential Tool for Smart Growth, Gerrit J. Knaap, National Center for Housing and the Environment, University of Maryland, January 2004. This article describes how communities can develop a land monitoring system to track local land and housing market information. Such information is essential to planners and policymakers in efforts to adjust and improve the practice of urban growth management.
• Land Market Monitoring for Smart Urban Growth, Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Gerrit J. Knaap, ed., 2001. 
• Land Supply and Infrastructure Capacity Monitoring for Smart Urban Growth, Gerrit J. Knaap, and Terry Moore, Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy working paper, 2000.
• Metro's Regional Land Information System: The Virtual Key to Portland’s Growth Management Success, Richard Bolen, Gerrit Knaap, and Ethan Seltzer, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy working paper, 2003.
• The Land Market Monitoring National Demonstration Project, National Center for Housing and the Environment, University of Maryland.
• Estimating Residential Development Capacity: A Guidebook for Analysis and Implementation in Maryland, Maryland Department of Planning, and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, August 2005.
• Land Market Monitoring – Relevant Publications – from National Center for Housing and the Environment, University of Maryland web site.
• Development Capacity Task Force, State of Maryland – Guidebook, models and guidelines for estimating development capacity.
• NAR Sponsors Study of Land Supply Monitoring, National Association of Realtors web page – Information about an ongoing study to develop better techniques for understanding land supply and demand. 
• Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Urban Land Supply Study, Metropolitan Council, 2001. 
• Growth Watch: Monitoring Austin's (TX) Growth & Development.
• Industrial Land Supply and Demand in the Central Puget Sound Region, Puget Sound Regional Council, February 1998, and Technical Addendum, 2000.   
• Planning for the region’s industrial land – analysis of industrial land supply in Oregon, Portland Metro.
• Demand for Commercial, Industrial and Residential Land in Sutter County (CA), 2007-2030. 
• Buildable Lands, Washington Community Trades and Economic Development Department website with information about Washington’s program and links to county programs in the Puget Sound area and in Oregon.  
• Monitoring Land Supply with Geographic Information Systems: Theory, Practice, and Parcel-Based Approaches, Anne Vernez Moudon (Editor), Michael Hubner (Editor), New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, May 2000 – Abstract and order form from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
• “Estimating and Analyzing Land Supply Development Capacity: The Case of Southeast Seattle,” Anne Vernez Moudon, May 2001 - Abstract and order form from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

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