Washington State has failed to live up to several of its own growth management goals, while imposing costly mandates on local counties and cities that bog down the planning process with complex and frequently conflicting regulations.

State has imposed expensive comprehensive planning expenses on local jurisdictions and squarely on the shoulders of property owners who attempt to navigate their layers of multiple land-use requirements. Complaints and concerns raised by planners and citizens fell on deaf ears two years ago when planners said the permitting system was breaking down under the weight of overlapping regulations.

Washington is one of few states to have several sets of land use/environmental requirements (Shoreline Management Act, the State Environmental Policy Act, the Growth Management Act, and the Watershed Management Act). With multiple sets of regulations comes an increased potential for conflict, adding new layers of time, expense and confusion to an already lengthy and expensive process.

As we, at the local level, have tried to decode Growth Management terms, like “best available science,” meet update requirements, and work to scrape together dwindling resources to pay for expensive planning processes and legal challenges, the State continues to set priorities and make major funding decisions without clear consideration for these mandated local plans and without imposing the same level of consideration on themselves. In addition to comprehensive planning, Washington State also requires local governments to adopt a 6-year capital improvement plan, but has no equivalent requirement. In all fairness, the State should walk its talk.

Whether or not the Growth Management Act is wholly responsible, our planning process presents formidable barriers to balanced growth, which should include protection of the environment, economic development and affordable housing. We need planning tools that provide flexibility and allow us to be responsive to the needs of prospective employers.

The lack of these mechanisms in state Growth Management is everyone’s burden because we each share a larger portion of tax burden when would-be employers slip through our fingers.