The Land Use Study Commission has determined that a consolidated land use code should lead to efficiencies in administration of land use laws and effectiveness in environmental protection. The Legislature has also made extensive suggestions on how the consolidate land use code impact project review. The Commission's Enabling Statute provides that the Commission shall:

(3) Draft a consolidated land use procedure, following these guidelines:

(a) Conduct land use planning through the comprehensive planning process under chapter 36.70A RCW rather than through review of individual projects;

(b) Involve diverse sectors of the public in the planning process. Early and informal environmental analysis should be incorporated into planning and decision making;

(c) Recognize that different questions need to be answered and different levels of detail applied at each planning phase, from the initial development of plan concepts or plan elements to implementation programs;

(d) Integrate and combine to the fullest extent possible the processes, analysis, and documents currently required under chapters 36.70A and 43.21C RCW, so that subsequent plan decisions and subsequent implementation will incorporate measures to promote the environmental, economic, and other goals and to mitigate undesirable or unintended adverse impacts on a community's quality of life;

(e) Focus environmental review and the level of detail needed for different stages of plan and project decisions on the environmental considerations most relevant to that stage of the process;

(f) Avoid duplicating review that has occurred for plan decisions when specific projects are proposed;

(g) Use environmental review on projects to: (i) Review and document consistency with comprehensive plans and development regulations; (ii) provide prompt and coordinated review by agencies, tribes, and the public on compliance with applicable environmental laws and plans, including mitigation for site specific project impacts that have not been considered and addressed at the plan or development regulation level; and (iii) ensure accountability by local government to applicants and the public for requiring and implementing mitigation measures;

(h) Maintain or improve the quality of environmental analysis both for plan and for project decisions, while integrating these analyses with improved state and local planning and permitting processes;

(i) Examine existing land use and environmental permits for necessity and utility. To the extent possible, existing permits should be combined into fewer permits, assuring that the values and principles intended to be protected by those permits remain protected; and

(j) Consolidate local government appeal processes to allow a single appeal of permits at local government levels, a single state level administrative appeal, and a final judicial appeal.

Environmental analysis is one of the critical components of the project review process under the current project review process. The Project Review Advisory Committee shall consider how to better integrate environmental analysis into the project review process and assure that environmental analysis conducted during planning is relied upon to the extent justified in the project review process.

The Legislature has adopted a number of different statutes authorizing state and local governments to regulate different types of activities. In addition, the Legislature has also provided a variety of process requirements to assure that state agencies and local governments review projects in a timely manner that is consistent with state policy and fair to the applicant and the public. The Project Review Advisory Committee shall consider the more general process that applies to project review generally as well as ways to reduce the number of different processes and permits that are necessary.