Land Use Study Commission

January 28, 1997

The Honorable Gary Locke
Legislative Building
Olympia, WA 98504

Dear Governor Locke:

It is with pleasure that I am able to submit to the Governor and the Legislature the Land Use Study Commission’s 1996 Annual Report. The Commission was established by the 1995 Legislature to examine ways to better integrate Washington’s land use and environmental laws. It was also given the charge to examine how existing land use statutes are working. In addition, Governor Lowry asked the Commission to address two issues that were the subject of 1996 legislative action pertaining to dispute resolution under the Growth Management Act.

Public Process

The Commission spent the first part of the year listening to public testimony and interest group presentations on the issues that people believed were most important for the Commission to address. From this input, the Commission identified a number of key issues. Detailed issue papers were prepared on each topic. Out of these issue papers, we developed key themes and made these the foundation for this report and its recommendations. In addition to its report, the Commission has also approved two legislative proposals to implement its recommendations. Copies of the legislation are enclosed.

Consensus Approach

The Commission’s operating procedures provide that recommendations will be based on the consensus of all of the Commission members. By statute, members of the Commission represent a wide variety of interest groups, including state, local, and tribal governments, business, labor, environmental, and neighborhood organizations. Commission members believed that only through achieving a consensus would the Commission be able to avoid the same divisions that have made it difficult for the Legislature to address these same issues.

Commission members have worked diligently to overcome their differences and to find common ground on a number of key issues. As a result, the Commission has reached a consensus on a number of important issues and is making substantive recommendations in these areas.

These recommendations are the result of many hours of work on the part of Commission members, but more importantly, reflect the input of many individuals from around the state who have taken the time and effort to attend Commission meetings and provide both written and oral commentary. It is our belief that these recommendation reflect a fair balance among different points of view.

Preserve But Clarify the GMA Framework

The Commission believes that if the Legislature enacts the these recommendations and they become law, many of the disputes that have plagued implementation of the Growth Management Act will be more easily resolved, if not eliminated.

One of the first decisions reached by the Commission was that the Growth Management Act framework should be preserved. We agreed, however, that there was also a need to address problem areas in the statute in a manner that preserves this framework. Our recommendations achieve that goal. For example, more guidance on rural lands is provided in a manner that protects the state’s interest while recognizing regional differences.

It is important to note that many of the recommendations in the report are linked together. Commission members agreed to the package as a whole, not just to individual components. If one or another of these recommendations is dropped from consideration or changed substantially, the balance achieved in the overall set of recommendations could be altered. Therefore, as you review our recommendations, we encourage you to consider the whole, and not look just at individual elements.

The Commission looks forward to working with you and your staff as you consider this report and its recommendations. We also look forward to working with you over the next year and a half as we work towards our next , and final, report.

If you have any questions about our report and recommendations or on our legislation, please feel free to call me at 206 623-1745 or Harry Reinert, our Executive Director, at 360 753-4316.

Sincerely yours,

T. Ryan Durkan
Chair

cc:

Sen. Bob McCaslin
Rep. Bill Reams
Rep. Sandra Romero
Members, Land Use Study Commission

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