Opinion ID: 2595343
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: gma background

Text: Before we reach the issues this case presents, some background on how the GMA was developed is necessary to shed light on the reasoning behind our decision. Land use planning in Washington has historically been a function left to local governments with the state playing a limited role. Eric S. Laschever, An Overview of Washington's Growth Management Act, 7 Pac. Rim L. & Pol'y J. 657, 658 (1998). With the passage of the GMA, the system changed to a comprehensive planning framework under which local governments are required to plan according to general mandates established by the Legislature. See RCW 36.70A. The GMA was a legislative compromise, and how it is carried out and enforced is a reflection of this compromise. As one commentator has stated: unlike [the State Environmental Policy Act of 1971 (SEPA), RCW 43.21C] and [the Shoreline Management Act of 1971, RCW 90.58], GMA was spawned by controversy, not consensus. The relative spheres of state mandate and local autonomy were the product of extremely difficult legislative compromise. Richard L. Settle, Washington's Growth Management Revolution Goes to Court, 23 Seattle U.L.Rev. 5, 34 (1999). Moreover, [b]ecause the recommendations of the Growth Strategies commission were variously embraced, rejected, and ignored by the wrangling legislature, the GMA was not the finely-honed product of a law revision commission. Both installments of the Act were riddled with politically necessary omissions, internal inconsistencies, and vague language, sometimes consciously designed to defer the final reckoning to another day and, perhaps, another forum. Id. at 8 (footnotes omitted). As a result of this legislative compromise, some growth that is contrary to the GMA was allowed in the initial years of implementing the act. Enforcement contributes to the problem of obtaining local government compliance with the GMA. The GMA is different from other land use statutes in that the enforcement mechanisms are largely absent. [1] Because the GMHBs do not have the ability to directly sanction counties for failing to comply with the GMA, compliance is more difficult to obtain. In the early years of the GMA when several counties did not comply, some incompatible growth was allowed to occur.