Opinion ID: 2595534
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The GMA Framework

Text: ¶ 29 The legislature enacted the GMA in 1990 to coordinate the State's future growth via comprehensive land use planning. See Laws of 1990, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 17, codified at ch. 36.70A RCW. The GMA contains 13 expressly nonprioritized goals that guide local governments in the development of comprehensive plans and development regulations. RCW 36.70A.020. These goals include, inter alia, encouraging development within urban areas, reducing the conversion of undeveloped land into low-density development, retaining open space, protecting the environment, and protecting private property rights. Id. ¶ 30 These goals and their accompanying regulatory provisions create a framework that guides local jurisdictions in the development of comprehensive plans and development regulations. RCW 36.70A.3201, enacted by Laws of 1997, ch. 429, § 2; see also 17 Stoebuck & Weaver, supra, § 4.2, at 171. Within this framework, the legislature has affirmed that there is a broad range of discretion that may be exercised by counties and cities consistent with the requirements . . . and goals of [the GMA]. RCW 36.70A.3201. ¶ 31 In other words, the GMA does not prescribe a single approach to growth management. Instead, the legislature specified that the ultimate burden and responsibility for planning, harmonizing the planning goals of [the GMA], and implementing a county's or city's future rests with that community. RCW 36.70A.3201. Thus, the GMA acts exclusively through local governments and is to be construed with the requisite flexibility to allow local governments to accommodate local needs. ¶ 32 Neither the GMA nor the comprehensive plans adopted pursuant thereto directly regulate site-specific land use activities. See Timberlake Christian Fellowship v. King County, 114 Wash.App. 174, 182-83, 61 P.3d 332 (2002) (citing Ass'n of Rural Residents v. Kitsap County, 141 Wash.2d 185, 188, 4 P.3d 115 (2000); Citizens for Mount Vernon v. City of Mount Vernon, 133 Wash.2d 861, 873-74, 947 P.2d 1208 (1997)). Instead, it is local development regulations, including zoning regulations enacted pursuant to a comprehensive plan, which act as a constraint on individual landowners. RCW 36.70A.030(7); Cougar Mountain Assocs. v. King County, 111 Wash.2d 742, 757, 765 P.2d 264 (1988).