Planning for Economic and Industrial Development

Managing Your Update

Bruce HuntPlanners Forum 2014

Growth Management Act (GMA)

What does the GMA say about economic and industrial development?

• RCW 36.70A.010 Legislative findings: Sustainable economic development is threatened by uncoordinated and unplanned growth

• RCW 36.70A.210(3) “A countywide planning policy shall at a minimum, address the following: (a) Policies to implement RCW 36.70A.110; (b) Policies for promotion of contiguous and orderly development and provision of urban services to such development;

RCW 36.70A.210(3) cont.

(c) Policies for siting public capital facilities of a countywide or statewide nature, including transportation facilities of statewide significance as defined in RCW 47.06.140;(d) Policies for countywide transportation facilities and strategies;(e) Policies that consider the need for affordable housing, such as housing for all economic segments of the population and parameters for its distribution;(f) Policies for joint county and city planning within urban growth areas;(g) Policies for countywide economic development and employment, which must include consideration of the future development of commercial and industrial facilities; and(h) An analysis of the fiscal impact.”

Growth Management Act (GMA) cont.

RCW 36.70A.110 Urban Growth Areas and Industrial developmentRCW 36.70A.365 Industrial development located outside of an Urban Growth AreaRCW 36.70A.367 Industrial land banks (multiple tenants) outside of an Urban Growth AreaRCW 36.70A.115 “Counties and cities that are required or choose to plan under RCW 36.70A.040 shall ensure that, taken collectively, adoption of and amendments to their comprehensive plans and/or development regulations provide sufficient capacity of land suitable for development within their jurisdictions to accommodate their allocated

RCW 36.70A.115 cont.

…housing and employment growth, including the accommodation of, as appropriate, the medical, governmental, educational, institutional, commercial, and industrial facilities related to such growth, as adopted in the applicable countywide planning policies and consistent with the twenty-year population forecast from the office of financial management.”

WAC 365-196-325 “To demonstrate this requirement is met, counties and cities must conduct an evaluation of land capacity sufficiency that is commonly referred to as a "land capacity analysis."

Stakeholders - Facts - Data

Who and what should be part of the conversation?• The county and its cities in regional collaboration - CwPP

• Local Public Works divisions (e.g. Engineering and Utilities)

• Special purpose districts, Ports, and Public Utility Districts (PUDs)

• Budget and Finance experts

• Citizens

• Economic Development Orgs

• Facts and good data. DOAH!!!

• Others

Industrial data

Benton County profile

Benton County profile cont.

Benton County payroll employment data

Benton County employment data

Population data

Benton County GMA population projection

Benton County yearly population estimates

Benton County housing permit data

Are you getting good results?

Industrial benchmarks and monitoring?

• Are you keeping track of population, permitting, industrial land absorption?

• Are you achieving benchmarks and consistent with your adopted goals and policies?

• Maybe your policies need work? • Incentivize policies• Attract industrial development to areas with existing

infrastructure or brownfields needing revitalization• Redevelopment can be a catalyst for more good

development

Commitment

Urban land use decisions create a commitment to provide urban services sometime during your 20-year Comprehensive Plan. Are you over-committing yourself to provide urban services

with your land use plan and population projections? What types of land use decisions don’t pan out financially? Are you in a hole and can’t stop digging? Use the right tools to make land use decisions, infrastructure

planning, and finance plans work together for sustainable economies.

Where do you want industry to occur?

That’s where you put yourInfrastructure!!!

“One of the best ways to make a future land use plan come true is to use investments in public facilities to reinforce the plan. The community should invest in new roads, sewer and water lines and other facilities where it wants growth to occur. It should refuse to make investments in areas where it does not want growth to occur.”

Eric Damian Kelly and Barbara Becker, Community Planning: An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan

Help!!!

As part of our technical assistance program, we have new guidebooks on Urban Growth Areas, Capital Facilities, Transportation, and Housing

Growth Management Services

Thank you

The Department of Commerce GMS assists local governments in Washington State with technical assistance, procedural criteria, grants, and mediation services - to implement the Growth Management Act (GMA) RCW 36.70A.190.

The new Guidebooks are published on the Commerce website: www.commerce.wa.gov

Bruce Hunt

(509) 280-3602

Bruce.hunt@commerce.wa.gov