WAC 365-195-010   Background.  Through the Growth Management Act, the legislature provided a new framework for land use planning and the regulation of development in Washington state in response to challenges posed to the quality of life by rapid growth. Major features of this framework include:

     (1) A requirement that counties with specified populations and rates of growth and the cities within them adopt comprehensive plans and development regulations under the act. Other counties can choose to be covered by this requirement, thereby including the cities they contain.

     (2) A set of common goals to guide the development of comprehensive plans and development regulations.

     (3) The concept that the process should be a "bottom up" effort, involving early and continuous public participation, with the central locus of decision-making at the local level.

     (4) Requirements for the locally developed plans to be consistent internally, consistent with county-wide planning policies and consistent with the plans of other counties and cities where there are common borders or related regional issues.

     (5) A requirement that development regulations adopted to implement the comprehensive plans be consistent with such plans.

     (6) The principle that development and the providing of public facilities and services needed to support development should occur concurrently.

     (7) A determination that planning and plan implementation actions should address difficult issues that have resisted resolution in the past, such as:

     (a) The timely financing of needed infrastructure;

     (b) Providing adequate and affordable housing for all economic segments of the population;

     (c) Concentrating growth in urban areas, provided with adequate urban services;

     (d) The siting of essential public facilities;

     (e) The designation and conservation of agricultural, forest, and mineral resource lands;

     (f) The designation and protection of environmentally critical areas.

     (8) An intention that economic development be encouraged and fostered within the planning and regulatory scheme established for managing growth.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 36.70A.190 (4)(b). 92-23-065, § 365-195-010, filed 11/17/92, effective 12/18/92.]