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| Plan and Development Regulation Review | | Growth Management Services Main Page
60-day Notice Requirement
Overview
Local governments are required to notify the Department of Commerce (Commerce) when considering changes to their land use plans and the regulations that implement these plans. Notification allows Commerce, and other state agencies, to participate in the public involvement process and provide comment on proposed amendments. This notification is required under RCW 36.70A.106 of the Growth Management Act (GMA).
Written notice must be sent 60 days prior to adoption of any permanent amendments to a comprehensive plan or development regulation. Commerce is the coordinator of state agency comments under the GMA.
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What is 60-day review?
RCW 36.70A.106(1) and (3)(a) require that jurisdictions provide Commerce with notice of their intent to adopt comprehensive plan and development regulation amendments, 60 days prior to adoption.
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What is adequate notice?
Because this is a statutory and procedural requirement, notice should be submitted in writing (electronic or paper). We highly recommend that you clearly indicate in your submittal that you intend to initiate 60-day notice.
Notice must be sufficient should include a copy of the proposed amendment text with a cover letter or cover sheet briefly explaining the materials submitted.Notice of a comprehensive plan or development regulation amendment must be timely and sufficient. Commerce must be fully apprised and fully aware of the substance of any proposed amendment. City or county notice must describe what it is proposing to do.
Timely: Notice is submitted at least 60 days prior to final local adoption. For information about expedited review requests for minor code amendments, click here.
Sufficient: Notice includes:
1. A complete textual copy of the amendment(s), clearly identifying the plan or code provision(s) proposed for amendment. All relevant citations and existing text should be included. For example: An amendment in underline/strike-through format showing existing text, deleted text, and new change;
2. A cover sheet or cover letter with a brief summary of the changes and contact information should also be included. This helps quickly identify what has been submitted, and assists with processing and review for more complex amendments; and
3. Other relevant materials, such as maps, draft ordinance, staff report, adoption schedules and agendas, and SEPA documentation are encouraged to be submitted if available, and if they assist with a greater understanding of the proposed amendments.
Several documents, when submitted alone, or without the above sufficient materials, do not represent adequate 60-day notice for review, because they fail to provide sufficient materials for Commerce and other state reviewers to review and provide comment:
A letter announcing 60-day notice for a proposed amendment without any supplemental materials showing the proposed text changes or details.
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What is the proper method to submit materials?
E-mail or standard mail is acceptable.
Commerce encourages electronic submittal of both proposed and adopted comprehensive plan and development regulation amendments by e-mail. However, paper copies continue to be accepted through standard mail. A jurisdiction does not need to submit both electronic and paper copies for the same material.
If submitting an electronic copy by e-mail, please send the documents as attachments rather than a link to the local jurisdiction website. The Commerce Internet firewall security may prevent very large attachments from being received. If a submittal is too large to e-mail, please copy it to a CD-ROM and mail it.
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Is a cover letter required?
Commerce requests that a local jurisdiction submits either of the following with its amendment materials:
(1) A Commerce provided cover sheet (see form below); OR
(2) A brief cover letter (see template below).
A standard cover letter or a Commerce cover sheet, briefly summarizing the amendment and related contact information and adoption timelines, greatly assists Commerce staff with processing your submittal in an efficient manner.
(1) Commerce cover sheet:
Please select an appropriate cover sheet form below to accompany your submittal:
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If you wish to request expedited review for an amendment, click here for more information.
(2) Cover letter template:
To whom should notification be sent?
If sending notice by e-mail, please submit materials to: reviewteam@commerce.wa.gov. Commerce will coordinate notification with other state agencies electronically;
OR
If notice is submitted through U.S. mail, or other standard carriers, a single complete copy of all materials should be mailed to each state agency reviewer. Please use the "List of State Agencies Reviewing Comprehensive Plans" or the "List of State Agencies Reviewing Development Regulations", depending on the amendment type. Instructions are also located on these lists.
Comprehensive Plan amendent review contact list:
Development Regulations amendment review contact list:
When mailing draft proposals to Commerce, please send two (2) copies:
Department of Commerce
Growth Management Services
Attn: Review Team
PO Box 42525
906 Columbia St. SW
Olympia, WA 98504-2525
When does the 60-day notice period begin?
Upon receipt of adequate notice by Commerce Growth Management Services.
Electronic documents are automatically date stamped upon receipt by e-mail.
Mailed documents are date stamped upon receipt by the Growth Management Service reception desk.
Commerce staff will enter all materials into its database and will transmit to a jurisdiction a acknowledgement letter confirming receipt. Please keep this letter for your files; it is proof that you met the requirement to provide 60-day notice to Commerce prior to final adoption.
For more information, contact your regional Growth Management planner or Dave Andersen, Planning and Review Team Manager at (360) 725-3052.
When can Expedited Review be requested?
RCW 36.70A.106(b) provides Commerce with authority to grant expedited review by state agencies of certain development regulations or development regulation amendments under the Growth Management Act (GMA).
Expedited review, if granted, allows jurisdictions to adopt minor development regulation amendments in a shorter time period than 60 days.
How is Expedited Review requested?
Local governments may request expedited review when they are providing Commerce notice of intent to adopt development regulations under RCW 36.70A.106.
Expedited review requests must be submitted by e-mail and should include the proposed amendment text and a copy of the Expedited Review Request Form noted below. Please refer to the following instructions for more information.
What should be submitted to Commerce after final adoption of an amendment?
Under RCW 36.70A.106(2), cities and counties are required to submit a complete and accurate copy of the comprehensive plan or development regulation, or amendments, within 10 days of adoption.
Please see above for general instructions on submitting materials to Commerce.
Commerce requests a signed, dated copy of the adopting ordinance or resolution, which demonstrates legislative action was completed. Jurisdictions should also submit a copy of the comprehensive plan or development regulation amendment adopted.
Commerce accepts a scanned copy of the ordinance by e-mail, or send a final copy by mail. One copy of the final, signed materials is sufficient if mailed.
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