The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires local governments with common borders or related regional issues to ensure their plans are coordinated and consistent [RCW 36.70A.100]. Regional coordination and consistency are implemented primarily through county-wide planning policies [RCW 36.70A.210]. A county and the cities within it must all agree on the county-wide planning policies, which provide procedural and substantive direction to the comprehensive plans of each jurisdiction.
Additionally, the GMA defines several specific regional transportation planning requirements. Local governments must:
- coordinate level of service standards within the region,
- assess the impacts of their transportation and land use policies on the transportation systems of adjacent jurisdictions, and
- describe their other intergovernmental coordination efforts [RCW 36.70A.070(6)(a)].
Finally, the transportation elements of local comprehensive plans and county-wide planning policies related to transportation must be certified by a Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) to ensure regional consistency [RCW 47.80.023]. RTPOs are voluntary associations of local governments authorized by the GMA to coordinate transportation planning on a regional level. An RTPO’s certification of a local comprehensive plan or county-wide planning policy is based on their consistency with the RTPO’s adopted regional transportation plan as well as their general conformity with GMA requirements.
Following are links to more information about the regional coordination of planning.