This audit would review a community s policies and regulations comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, transportation plans, environmental policies, water and sewer plans, capital improvement programs, permit regulations, and other related documents and evaluate the extent to which they promote the goals of the community, accommodate growth, encourage or discourage responsible development, and are consistent with one another. If done properly, Washington comes close to requiring its communities planning under the GMA to perform the tasks associated with a smart growth audit. RCW 36.70.130 requires counties to fully review and evaluate their development regulations, comprehensive plans, and critical areas ordinances and their effectiveness in achieving goals and accommodating growth. Success is hard to document yet, however, according to Holly Gadbaw at the Office of Community Development. She believes our focus needs to be on building infrastructure to meet existing needs first and then developing adequate infrastructure for new growth.
Infrastructure lays the framework.
Investing in infrastructure helps accommodate and facilitate quality growth to benefit the whole community. In fact, providing the infrastructure can attract new business, that in turn drives the economic engine that funds many of the services the community wants, WAR says. And the nature of infrastructure is changing with changing technology. Advanced telecommunications infrastructure, like fiber optic cable, which allows high-speed connections for voice, data, and internet communication, has risen to the top of the list in recent years. Many smaller communities in Washington believe this development has the potential to jump-start their rural economic development programs.