Meetings To Focus On Growth Act Panel Wants To Hear Pluses, Minuses Of Regulations
A state House of Representatives subcommittee will be in Spokane on Thursday and Friday to discuss the Growth Management Act and wetlands regulations.
The House Government Reform and Land-Use Committee wants to hear success stories and complaints, as well as ideas for reforming regulations, said committee staff member Kathy Thompson.
The meetings are part of a series scheduled across the state.
The GMA requires counties to plan ahead for growth, and protect farms, forests and other sensitive areas.
Many people - including some committee members - think those requirements and other regulations aimed at preserving wetlands are overbearing.
Some of the committee hearings are held in places where opposition is strongest. On Wednesday, for instance, the committee will meet in Ellensburg, where Kittitas County may face state sanctions for dragging its feet on the GMA.
A July hearing is scheduled for eastern King County, possibly in a part of the county that threatens to secede over regulations they feel are dictated by Seattle residents.
Others may be held in the southwestern and northwestern corners of the state, and in Moses Lake, home of the committee’s only Eastern Washington member, Republican Rep. Joyce Mulliken.
Two hearings are scheduled in Olympia, after the next legislative session begins. Otherwise, none is scheduled in the Puget Sound cities where GMA enjoys its strongest support.
Various legislators introduced bills last session to weaken or revoke the GMA. The only one that survived called for relatively minor changes.
The Spokane Homebuilders Association will use the Spokane hearing to pitch “wetlands mitigation,” said association spokeswoman Suzanne Knapp. That proposal would allow development of land with wetlands of marginal value if the developer helped create wetlands elsewhere, Knapp said.
The homebuilders association also plans to take committee members on a tour of local wetlands, she said.
Thursday’s hearing on the GMA is scheduled from 10:45 a.m. to noon in the Spokane Convention Center’s Yakima Ballroom.
Friday’s hearing on wetlands is scheduled from 10:45 a.m. to noon, in the Doubletree Inn, 322 N. Spokane Falls Court.
, DataTimes