BHC Consultants’ Planning group has been serving Washington communities since 1990, a period that spans the life of the Growth Management Act (GMA). During this time, BHC has provided guidance and technical assistance to the State, from initial growth management planning to the present work of updating plans and development codes, preparing sub-area and neighborhood plans, integrating SEPA and GMA, and helping to infuse critical areas ordinances and shoreline master programs with “best available science.” We have assisted more than 60 Washington jurisdictions in GMA planning. BHC’s Planning portfolio includes:

 

Comprehensive Plans, under the Growth Management Act, are powerful local government legislative blueprints for the next 20 years. They result from public processes and actions taken by elected officials to define visions, create goals and policies, set implementation priorities, and produce solutions to long-term issues. A Comprehensive Plan provides a sense of direction, a broad overview of where a community stands and, more importantly, where it should be heading. The Growth Management Act requires cities' Comprehensive Plans to include elements for land use, housing, transportation, utilities, and capital facilities. In addition, economic development, parks, and open space elements are encouraged. The GMA also requires counties' plans to contain rural elements, and to designate long-term commercially viable natural resource lands for agriculture, forestry, and minerals.

 

Sub-Area plans are similar to Comprehensive Plans in that they define goals, objectives, and policies for a smaller or more detailed area of planning. Sub-Area plans (also known as neighborhood or community plans) allow the policies and implementation strategies to be much more focused on localized land use (zoning) regulations, local public investment, urban design, and environmental impact mitigation. In addition, Sub-Area plans are much more conducive to "hands-on" work with community stakeholders.

 

Development Codes are municipal regulations that contain substantive development rules and procedural steps for the application, review and approval processes associated with land development, such as subdivisions and planned developments. They also establish procedures for departures from strict application of the codes. Development codes can simplify the development approval process by combining and expediting project reviews with environmental reviews and other decisive actions.

 

Critical Areas Ordinances are regulations that promote public health and general welfare; further the public interest of conserving public lands; and assure the long-term conservation of natural resources. Critical Areas Ordinances designate and classify local wetlands, streams, habitat areas, aquifer recharge areas, and geologically hazardous areas. They also regulate development activity in or near these areas.

 

Shoreline Master Programs, as required by the Shoreline Management Act, are intended to protect the state’s shorelines (streams, lakes, and marine waters) and provide for management and protection of the shoreline resources through planning for reasonable and appropriate use. SMPs are similar to comprehensive plans and development codes in that they include goals, policies, and standards for development along shorelines of the state. In addition, SMPs require specific attention to restoration of habitats and public access to the shorelines.

 

Programmatic SEPA Reviews are environmental reviews of non-project actions, such as the adoption of plans and regulations. This level of review is more general than the site-specific environmental review required to ensure that projects do not create significant localized environmental impacts.