Government – and, yes, politics – play a critical role in what, where and when housing fits into our county and state. Washington established guidance called the Growth Management Act (GMA) that requires updates that could affect land-development policies for the next 20 years.
The aim is to ensure counties and their cities are accommodating population growth, including the need for more housing. The GMA mandates that local policies also guide decisions on transportation, capital facilities and the natural environment.
King County must complete updates to its comprehensive plan at least every 10 years, with the next deadline of June 30, 2024, before changes are enacted at the end of that year. By that point, King and many of the state’s 38 other counties must report anticipated growth figures for population and employment and establish an action plan to address their needs for the next two decades.
It’s a consequential time for our region, working to improve upon our current shortage of housing, particularly the dearth of affordable homes. Locally, the process requires cooperation among the Metropolitan King County Council, Seattle City Council and Sound Cities Association (comprised of the county’s 38 cities outside of Seattle) while using GMA and the comprehensive plan as their North Star.
King County Council is already acting, including reviewing a scope of work that will help inform decisions on environmental impacts across public transit, sewers, parks & trails and other aspects of living sustainably in our region. Seattle, along with county officials in Snohomish and Pierce, have critical votes next year.
King County is said to be using four pillars to evolve its policy update. They include:
• Centering social equity and health outcomes
• Integrating regional policy and legislative changes
• Implementing the Regional Growth Strategy, which pushes our region to be more sustainable, and
• Providing clear, actionable direction for comprehensive plan updates
One related county proposal unveiled in May will seek a voter-approved tax to reinvest in the environment by conserving an additional 65,000 acres of trails, river corridors, farmland, forest and urban green space. King County has helped to protect more than 100,000 acres of natural land so far.
The Urban Growth Capacity Report (a 448-page read!) concluded in 2021 that urban King County has the capacity for more than 400,000 housing units and 600,000 additional workers and that these figures are sufficient to accommodate the remainder of the 2035 housing and employment growth targets for the 40 jurisdictions in the county (which includes unincorporated portions).
For the overarching plans to protect our environment while accommodating the years of anticipated population growth, local policies must dramatically improve or, otherwise, continue to fall short of our housing and infrastructure needs. The region’s housing supply crisis is worsening, prices continue to rise disproportionately on consumer goods and services, and avenues to improve new construction are hindered by governmental and economic obstacles.
The growth of Redmond, Woodinville and Carnation, for example, would benefit from new mandates for greater water and sewer connections to residential areas instead of relying on on-site wells and septic systems that can have serious health impacts on residents and the environment. Improving drainage systems to reduce flood risks, widening roads and adding more traffic signals would also improve health and safety in these suburban/rural communities.
Growth projections have failed to accurately predict in-migration population trends for several years – some might say for decades. Making matters worse is the apparent reluctance of some locally elected officials to take actions that would increase density in their municipalities, with many legislators opposing proposals in 2022 to help boost the housing supply.
As one real estate policy insider recently wrote, “comprehensive land use planning under GMA remains a largely desktop exercise that is significantly disconnected from the realities of growth on the ground.”
Industry wonks say many influencers – politicians, building developers, real estate investors – have forgotten the ideals of the GMA. In addition to helping save our environment for all to enjoy, laws should also aggressively address our affordable housing crisis by building more density into urban areas.
To meet the growing demand, we need all forms of new housing – Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), condominiums, townhomes, as well as single-family homes – and at more affordable prices. City planners must work harder to reduce developer expenses to build – through tax credits and other incentives – as we attempt to grow more vertically than horizontally.
Essentially, we must work with the developable land we have. There are practical steps urban areas can take to help address this crisis.
Reasonable measures include rezoning areas to increase density as well as converting commercial and industrial zoned lots to residential, welcoming more participation from the community in early planning stages, streamlining the permitting process for dwellings including ADUs, and lowering building fees while increasing development incentives. Cities should also take a closer look at the land that they own – particularly where it is close to transit hubs – and consider rezoning them for residential use.
These measures can be added during the review of comprehensive plans under consideration today. If not now, when?
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This story was updated June 27, 2022 to correct Growth Management Act timelines in the first and third paragraphs to reflect recent changes in the law.