WAC 365-195-340   Siting essential public facilities.  (1) Requirements. Each comprehensive plan shall include a process for identifying and siting essential public facilities.

     (a) Essential public facilities include those facilities that are typically difficult to site, such as airports, state education facilities, state and local correctional facilities, state or regional transportation facilities, solid waste handling facilities, and in-patient facilities including substance abuse facilities, mental health facilities, and group homes.

     (b) The office of financial management shall maintain a list of those essential state public facilities that are required or likely to be built within the next six years. Facilities may be added to this list at any time.

     (c) No local comprehensive plan may preclude the siting of essential public facilities.

     (2) Recommendations for meeting requirements. Each comprehensive plan should include a process for siting essential public facilities. Where such facilities are of a county-wide or statewide nature this process should conform to the applicable county-wide planning policy.

     (a) Identifying facilities.

     (i) In the identification of essential public facilities, the broadest view should be taken of what constitutes a public facility, involving the full range of services to the public provided by government, substantially funded by government, contracted for by government, or provided by private entities subject to public service obligations.

     (ii) The comprehensive plans should contain local criteria for the identification of essential public facilities, focusing on the public need for the services involved. There are three sources from which local lists of essential public facilities should be drawn:

     (A) The state list. This is the list of essential state public facilities that are required or likely to be built within the next six years maintained by the office of financial management.

     (B) The county-wide list. This is a list of essential public facilities of a county-wide or regional nature, made part of or pursuant to the county-wide planning policies adopted by counties in consultation with cities.

     (C) The city or county list. This is a list of locally essential facilities, adopted by each planning jurisdiction. It is irrelevant to this listing that a facility may be funded by or operated by the state or another public or private entity other than the planning jurisdiction. The critical concern is that the facility be needed locally.

     (iii) Not all essential public facilities are always difficult to site. Conversely, sometimes essential public facilities of a type usually easy to site will present siting difficulties. The initial step in the siting process should be a determination as a threshold matter of whether the essential public facility in question presents siting difficulties.

     (A) If the facility does not present siting difficulties, it should be relegated to the normal siting process otherwise applicable to a facility of its type.

     (B) If the facility does present siting difficulties, it should be subjected to the siting process called for below.

     (b) Siting process.

     (i) The comprehensive plan should describe the components of a siting process for essential public facilities which are difficult to site to be implemented on a case-by-case basis through development regulations.

     (ii) The process should provide for a cooperative interjurisdictional approach to siting of essential public facilities of a county-wide, regional, or statewide nature, consistent with county-wide planning policies.

     (iii) Agreements among jurisdictions should be sought to mitigate any disproportionate financial burden which may fall on the jurisdiction which becomes the site of a facility of a statewide, regional, or county-wide nature.

     (iv) Where essential public facilities may be provided by special districts, the plans under which those districts operate must be consistent with the comprehensive plan of the city or county. Cities and counties should adopt provisions for consultation to ensure that such districts exercise their powers in a way that does not conflict with the relevant comprehensive plan.

     (v) The siting process should take into consideration the need for county-wide, regional, or statewide uniformity in connection with the kind of facility under review.

     (vi) The siting process should include criteria which address the issues which make essential public facilities difficult to site, and involve a public participation component. Consideration should be given to the extent to which design conditions can be used to make a facility compatible with its surroundings, and to adoption of provisions for amenities or incentives for neighborhoods or jurisdictions in which facilities are sited.

     (c) No preclusion. While it is clear that essential public facilities of a county-wide or statewide nature will not be sited within the jurisdictional boundaries of every jurisdiction planning under the act, no comprehensive plan may directly or indirectly preclude the siting of essential public facilities. Provision therefore should be made to establish a general use category which will provide for the siting of such facilities, should the occasion arise.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 36.70A.190 (4)(b). 92-23-065, § 365-195-340, filed 11/17/92, effective 12/18/92.]