Washington state is one the most pristine, unique and beautiful regions in the nation, if not the world. The region is also one of the fastest growing in the United States. AWB strives to bring practical solutions to not only protect our economy, but also our environment.
Land Use and the Growth Management Act
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The goals and requirements of the Growth Management Act (GMA) form the basis of local land use planning and regulation in Washington State. After 15 years of experience under the GMA, however, many critical questions remain as open now as they did upon the law’s landmark enactment.
Specifically, problems continue to exist with the application of Best Available Science in protecting critical areas, which have been highlighted with recent decisions of the Growth Management Hearings Boards. This issue was brought to a head in 2006 with Initiative 933 which did not gain voter approval.
As a result of these and other issues, AWB proposed a five piece land use agenda for the 2007 legislative session. This agenda included legislation addressing problems with transportation concurrency and impact fees under the GMA; improving the GMA’s Industrial Land Banks statute; addressing the conflict between overreaching Critical Area Ordinances and agricultural lands; requiring 
local jurisdictions to provide for adequate residential, commercial and industrial buildable lands; and requiring additional notice requirements by government when its power of eminent domain is exercised. AWB saw two of its five priorities become law including the Industrial Land Banks bill and a greater notice requirement for eminent domain proceedings. AWB preferred an agricultural land exemption from new Critical Area Ordinances but supported the 2 ½ year stay which will allow continued negotiations in search of an equitable solution, Ultimately, much work remains to be done to return to the intent of the GMA – to manage growth, not prevent it.
Water Resources
Adequate and reliable water resources are an essential component of a vibrant economy and an adequate housing supply. Our water resources system includes individual water right holders using water for commerce, and public water systems that supply water for domestic, industrial and commercial uses. Through its water resource policies, the state has an opportunity to design collaborative local programs that respect private rights, preserve economic growth and protect the environment. An example of one such collaborative approach is the effort to replace deep well irrigation from the declining Odessa Aquifer with surface water from the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project.
Washington’s water policies are based primarily on the prior appropriation doctrine and a significant body of case law. Under our prior appropriation system, a water right is established and maintained when a particular quantity of water is put to beneficial use. This so-called “use it or lose it” principle is now complicating the ability of individual water right holders to conserve water for a variety of uses while maintaining an ownership right to the conserved quantity.
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Current approaches to public water systems’ water rights are threatening economic growth in Washington. A substantial portion of our state’s economic growth and development occurs in areas supplied by public water systems. In order to achieve healthy economic growth and adequate housing supply, public water systems must have certainty about their water rights in order to obtain the financing required to build and maintain infrastructure, and the flexibility to use water where growth is planned, particularly where mandated by provisions of our state’s Growth Management Act (GMA). The orderly growth of our economy depends on the ability to move water to where it is needed.
For futher information:
Legislative Objectives
