Washington Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, is continuing her multi-year push to make the Growth Management Act (GMA) more flexible to alleviate a housing shortage and help counties avoid costly litigation.
Short said Spokane County’s decision this week to spend about $200,000 on a consultant to update its GMA plan in a way that wards off challenges is another example of the need to change “rigid” rules.
“Basically, anyone with a postage stamp has standing to appeal any decision that is made, and that litigation is a sure thing every time a local government tries to change the boundaries on areas where growth can occur,” she said.
Short, the Senate Minority Leader, has two bills in play during the 2022 session that she hopes will help rural counties within her 7th legislative district and beyond.
“We have to find a way to balance resource protection with economic development needs,” she said.
Her district encompasses the city of Deer Park in northern Spokane County and neighboring Stevens County, as well as Ferry, Okanogan and part of Pend Oreille counties.
Even though the city of Spokane Valley is not in her district, Short said that the council’s stated legislative goal to advocate for “proposals that honor local democracy and enhance the city’s role in the (GMA) planning process” reflects the voice of almost every government entity on the east side of the Cascade Crest.
“We have a serious housing crisis in this state, and I think it’s become very clear that nothing can really be done about it if we don’t have enough buildable land,” she said.
The Washington Legislature adopted the GMA in 1990 to prevent “urban sprawl” by requiring county governments to plan where development would occur over a 20-year period. Short said the language in the GMA allows for flexibility in decision-making, but the reality has been that rules serve as a “stranglehold” on cities and counties.
“The GMA was intended to be a planning guide that got counties thinking about how they wanted to approach growth, but it’s become a regulatory document,” she said.
For example, Short said the city of Cheney in Spokane County anticipated that population growth would occur in one area of the city but that didn’t happen; instead, demand for developable land came from another corner. Once a boundary has been drawn on the GMA map, she said it is almost impossible to amend it.
In Stevens County, litigation is underway over an attempt by government leaders to redevelop a section of the Loon Lake community to accommodate more housing and economic development.
“The GMA allows for redevelopment of some rural areas, but the catch is that everything has to remain exactly as it was in the early 1990s – you can’t take an existing structure and replace or expand it to be something else,” said Short.
Short failed to get her Senate Bill 5275 passed in the House last year, but she is optimistic about the measure’s potential for success in 2022. The Senate approved the bill this week and sent it to the House for consideration.
The bill could aid in situations like the Loon Lake litigation because it allows for the modernization of rural lands smaller than urban growth areas, which are located on the fringes of cities.
Short met with leaders of Futurewise, a Seattle-based environmental group involved in most GMA challenges, before bringing SB 5275 forward again.
She said Democrats, who control both chambers of the legislature, often work closely with Futurewise. She wanted to find areas of common ground to help the bill succeed. As a result of those conversations, she narrowed the scope more than she wanted, but she said the bill has a greater chance of getting adopted.
“The east side counties still feel that it will help – and it is a first step,” she said.
Also still alive in the 60-day session is Senate Bill 5593, which was introduced by Short to help Cheney and Spokane County.
The county has dealt with many challenges to its growth plan by Futurewise and a conglomeration of neighborhood groups.
They claim the county changed population projections in some areas to benefit developers and failed to notify the public about these changes. Those accusations were upheld by the Growth Management Hearings Board and state appeals court.
Spokane County argued that it had complied with complicated land-use rules, and all population revisions were backed by public testimony and city input.
SB 5593 allows jurisdictions that haven’t met their population targets in one location to adjust their buildable land base in another, said Short.
She said the change couldn’t expand the urban growth boundary. If one area grows, another must shrink accordingly.
Futurewise has objected to some of the bill language, which passed out of the Senate Housing and Local Government Committee but has yet to make it to the floor, said Short.
“We will have to see if we can find areas of agreement,” she said.
Short said the GMA is often used as a “political tool.” In Ferry County, conservationists are pushing for greater protection of forested areas and don’t want to see development occur. Every decision to accommodate growth in the remote county is subsequently challenged, Short said.
She supports a proposal that would help counties by limiting people who can appeal a GMA decision to those directly affected. However, she does not see this measure moving forward with Futurewise strongly opposed.
On the flip side, Short and other GOP leaders strongly oppose House Bill 1099, which is advancing and seeks to add climate change as an element of the GMA, even proposing a per-mile tax on vehicles.
“The GMA in a working form is not realistic and I’m going to keep pushing for balance,” said Short.
