skip navigation
MRSC logo

Have a Research Question?

Ask MRSC

Have a Research Question?

Ask MRSC
About Our Blog Our Authors
Share this:


MRSC Insight Blog


Posts for Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

An architectural model of a dense area of town

2023 Planning Legislation Impacting Local Governments

September 11, 2023  by  Jill Dvorkin
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Annexation ,  Design ,  Housing ,  New Legislation and Regulations

Common themes among these six new planning-related bills include streamlining local project review, decreasing the planning burden on smaller communities, incentivizing annexations, and increasing housing supply throughout the state.

Read more

Several small images suggesting environmental and pollution prevention laws against the word 2023

New Legislation Related to Climate and the Natural Environment

July 27, 2023  by  Lisa Pool
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Climate Change ,  Environmental Policy and Management ,  New Legislation and Regulations

In 2023, state legislators passed several bills addressing environmental concerns, including new climate elements for comprehensive planning, making impact fee revenue available for new bike and pedestrian facilities, and an optional permit process for clean energy projects. 

Read more

A montage of port, truck and public transit

Unpopular but Necessary: What Exactly Is an Essential Public Facility?

January 30, 2023  by  Oskar Rey
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Court Decisions and AGO Opinions

What is an essential public facility under the Growth Management Act? An airport? A transit system? A homeless shelter? What facilities can be defined as essential for the public is at the heart of a recent Washington Court of Appeals case.

Read more

Equitable Community Engagement in Comprehensive Plan Updates

Equitable Community Engagement in Comprehensive Plan Updates

September 21, 2022  by  Rosie Cullen
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Inclusive Communities

Many local governments are updating their comprehensive plans, and in doing so, some are looking at how to develop intentional strategies that actively engage underrepresented communities in order to build a more equitable plan update in the process. 

Read more

2022 Growth Management Act-Related Bills

2022 Growth Management Act-Related Bills

June 30, 2022  by  Lisa Pool
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Environmental Policy and Management ,  Housing ,  Rural Uses ,  New Legislation and Regulations

New legislation related to the Growth Management Act (GMA) will expand tribal participation, limit appeals for actions to increase housing supply, change periodic update timelines, provide additional options for limited areas of more intense rural development (LAMIRDs), and more.

Read more

Capital Facilities Planning: If There’s No Math, You’re Not Doing It Right

Capital Facilities Planning: If There’s No Math, You’re Not Doing It Right

February 10, 2022  by  Ryan Walters
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

Guest author Ryan Walters suggests that capital facilities planning is as much about building new facilities as it is about accounting for the substantial expense of maintaining that infrastructure in the future.

Read more

State Seeks Input on Its Vehicle Miles Traveled Reduction Strategy

State Seeks Input on Its Vehicle Miles Traveled Reduction Strategy

January 27, 2022  by  Celeste Gilman
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Climate Change

The State of Washington is seeking input from local governments across the state as it works to establish reduction targets for local vehicle miles traveled and other proposed programs in order to meet key climate action targets.
 

Read more

What Is a 15-Minute City? (And Why You Should Care)

What Is a 15-Minute City? (And Why You Should Care)

October 25, 2021  by  Steve Butler
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management ,  Cycling and Walking

What types of amenities and services can you get to within 15 minutes of leaving your front door? The 15-Minute City concept encourages the development of walkable neighborhoods where a variety of services are within easy reach. 

Read more

The Importance of Population Forecasts for your Comprehensive Plan

The Importance of Population Forecasts for your Comprehensive Plan

January 26, 2016  by  William Simpson
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

Selecting a population forecast is a critical step for communities beginning the review and update of their comprehensive plan. This post provides some answers to common questions for those beginning the update process.

Read more

What’s Next for Planning in Washington?

What’s Next for Planning in Washington?

November 6, 2015  by  Jill Sterrett
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

2015 marked the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Growth Management Act. So let's look ahead to see what's next. What are the emerging issues that urban planning can address?

Read more

GMA at 25: Looking Back, Looking Forward

GMA at 25: Looking Back, Looking Forward

December 12, 2014  by  Joseph W. Tovar
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

The year 2015 will be the 25th anniversary of the adoption of Washington State's Growth Management Act (GMA). GMA may be the most important and least understood of state laws from the perspective of today's state, county and city elected officials. Few of them were in office in the 1980's, and therefore understandably lack first-hand knowledge of the serious problems that prompted the 1990 legislature to pass the Act. A 2013 survey of city elected officials revealed that almost none of them had ever received training on the what, why, and how of land use policy-making, much less the GMA.

Read more

From Vision to Reality: Implementing your Comprehensive Plan

October 31, 2013  by  Joseph W. Tovar
Category:  Guest Author ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

Cities and counties planning under the Growth Management Act (GMA) are required to periodically update both their comprehensive plans and development regulations (codes). King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, and their 77 cities, are required to update their plans and codes by June of 2015, while other local governments in the state ...

Read more

Third Promise of GMA Revisited: the New Urban Growth Area Guidebook

August 1, 2013  by  Pat Dugan
Category:  Planning Advisor ,  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

Too often, GMA Capital Facility Plans have been prepared as an afterthought, rather than as an integral part of the planning process. A particularly critical weakness of many Capital Facility Plans (CFP) has been the failure to demonstrate that designated Urban Growth Areas...

Read more

bigstock-panoramic-view-on-town-on-the-27218447.jpg

It Takes a Community (and Some Smart Investing) to Create the Shining City on a Hill

January 16, 2013  by  Sue Enger
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

To become that shining city (or county) on a hill, or to make that "Best-Places-to-Live" list, communities must successfully implement a vision. This...

Read more

infill190.png

Infill Development in My Back Yard? Strategies for Winning Infill Development Support

June 26, 2012  by  Sue Enger
Category:  Comprehensive Planning-Growth Management

Infill development, by definition, brings change that nearby residents may view with suspicion. But a number of communities have developed exemplary programs to win support for infill development that respects neighborhood character and adds to the community.

Read more

LOAD MORE