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REGIONAL BENCHMARKS FOR THURSTON COUNTY
Tracking Growth Management Policy Implementation
2003 Edition |
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The third edition of TRPC's Regional Benchmarks Report stems from an effort to monitor the region's progress toward meeting the goals of the state Growth Management Act (GMA). This is accomplished by comparing actual trends in selected indicators against 24 benchmarks established in several overarching growth management areas:
- Buildable Lands
- Growth
- Transportation
- Economy
- Environment, and
- Housing Affordability.
The Regional Benchmarks Report has an important role to play in determining whether implementation of the Growth Management Act is occurring and achieving the desired results. Good information regarding the results of the policies in adopted comprehensive plans in the county is crucial. By tracking indicators at the regional level, local governments are provided with a regional perspective of what's happening, leading to improved regional coordination regarding growth management planning.
In addition, the GMA and the subsequent 1997 "buildable lands" monitoring and evaluation amendment to GMA, require that the cities and county report to the state on progress made in implementing the Act. The first Buildable Lands Report was completed in September 2002 and is incorporated as a separate chapter (Chapter II) in the 2003 edition of the Regional Benchmarks Report. In order to allow for consistency with our region's already established GMA monitoring program, three benchmarks were developed as the reporting mechanism for meeting the legislative buildable lands requirements. The technical documentation for the buildable lands work is included as an appendix to the report.
It's important to note that the Regional Benchmarks Report is an attempt to measure the results of already adopted policies. In other words, whether those policies are promoting a trend that the community wishes to continue to support is not the subject of the report. Rather, it is hoped that the data in the report will be helpful to policymakers and the community at large in answering such questions as trends are monitored over time.
The last edition of the Regional Benchmarks Report, published in 2000, was recognized for excellence in planning implementation when it received an Honor Award from the American Planning Association and the Planning Association of Washington. The 2003 report has carried forward the same format as the 2000 report. As before, a particular effort has been made to try and make the information in the Benchmarks Report accessible to a wide variety of readers. A standard 2-page format for each benchmark allows readers to easily review key data trends. For those who are interested in more detail, a wide variety of supporting data tables are provided as well.
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