Land use & planning bills, non-housing edition

It was a quietly productive year in the land use arena, partly because the most impactful proposal, HB 1181, was buttoned up last year but the House ran out of time to pass it on the final day of session. The Legislature got it across the finish line this year. The law creates new requirements for cities to plan for climate change resiliency and, for the most urban areas of the state, to take actions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. AWC was pleased to see that the Legislature followed through with significant planning funding grants and resources for cities to undertake this work and ensure a good outcome with the new responsibilities.

The other three bills that passed were all part of the surprisingly successful Growth Management Act (GMA) Roadmap process. After several iterations of GMA reform workgroups that did not generate actionable recommendations, several recommendations passed this year that came out of the Collaborative Roadmap Phase III work. SB 5374 and SB 5457 are particularly helpful for our smaller cities, allowing cities under 25,000 to adopt county critical area ordinances by reference rather than generating their own, and allowing the smallest cities to opt out of the periodic update, under certain conditions. Finally, HB 1544 synched up the Shoreline Management Act to the new 10-year periodic update cycle of GMA comprehensive planning. It also has the special status as the rare bill that was not amended a single time in its trip through the gauntlet (AKA the Legislature).