Livable Snohomish County Coalition

Snohomish County and its cities must plan for the future growth under Washington State’s Growth Management Act (GMA) called long-range planning or comprehensive planning. The goals and codes of the GMA and information concerning Growth Management Hearings Board appeals can be found at http://www.gmhb.wa.gov/gma/index.html.

Snohomish County and cities must update their comprehensive plans every 10 years. The county and cities must also work to ensure their development regulations implement the comprehensive plan policies and Future Land Use Map (FLUM). In 2005, Snohomish County updated their comprehensive plan which was a lengthy public process that spanned 4 years and include input from Snohomish County Tomorrow, stakeholders, and public hearings. The current county comprehensive plan plans for growth through 2025. In 2011; Snohomish County will begin their second update to their comprehensive plan. In addition to 10 year comp plan updates, the county and cities can entertain public and private land use and development regulation proposals once a year, and this process is called Docketing.

To view the County’s comprehensive plan, click on http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/PDS/Divisions/LR_Planning/Projects_Programs/Comprehensive_Plan/. To view cities’ comprehensive plans, visit their cities’ websites (you can google the city if you do not know the website address).

Development regulations are the implementing tools to put land use planning in place. Development regulations include such things as Critical Areas regulations, Shoreline Master Management Plans, zoning, subdivision and zoning regulations, grading and clearing, forest practices, farming practices, landscaping, parking, design standards, transportation rules. Snohomish County development regulations are listed in their Unified Development Code (UDC) and can be found at http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/County_Services/county_code.htm. The county also is currently updating the UDC and that information can be found at http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/PDS/Divisions/Code_Development/UDC/.