Land use issues continue to strike the Legislature’s fancy

With the recent prominence of the discussion about land use, the 2024 session didn’t disappoint in terms of substantive proposals. Regarding proposals that passed, the Legislature cleaned up the mess that was the implementation of the Wildland Urban Interface Code by limiting the elements that the state would adopt and sending the wildfire risk map back to the drawing board so it can be redesigned to function as it was intended.

The Legislature also created new means for cities to swap land in and out of urban growth areas and provided an additional six months for the jurisdictions in the 2025 GMA update cycle to complete their comprehensive plans.

In terms of state mandated “innovation”—put in quotes because these innovations are allowed by many cities already—we saw a mixed bag. The bill (that became the unexpected media darling of the year) to require cities to allow neighborhood cafes passed the House but did not advance in the Senate because of concerns about scope and unintended consequences. On the other hand, the state did mandate that cities authorize a handful of creative parking techniques to try to provide lower-cost options.

The most controversial land use proposal of the session was undoubtedly the bill to have the state provide greater oversight of, and in some cases take over, permitting authority for certain emergency shelter and housing projects. This proposal to change state law emerged from frustrations about the actions of a few cities. We are encouraged that the Senate decided that the bill needed more work before advancing it. AWC supports the requirement for all cities to do their part to plan for and accommodate sufficient shelter and emergency services—and believes that can still be done with local community engagement.