As a member of the homebuilding community, I have heard my fair share of blanket criticisms leveled against growth and development here in Snohomish County and throughout the Puget Sound region. Before rushing to judgment on these important issues, I believe there are several key points we must all keep in mind.
First and foremost, we need to move past the argument of whether we are going to grow. We are. With a vibrant economy and high quality of life, it is little wonder why newcomers continue to be attracted to our region or why existing families continue to expand.
Recognizing this fact, and the many challenges that come with it, the Legislature wisely adopted the State Growth Management Act (GMA) more than 15 years ago, requiring local jurisdictions to plan for growth and meet a variety of goals important for our overall quality of life. It is not a perfect law, and surely we can continue to debate ways to improve it. But it is a law we must live by, and that means planning for growth. Failing to do so would be irresponsible. Sure, planning for future growth creates many difficult choices that often involve trade-offs. But in the past, the biggest mistake we have made is not planning for growth we knew was coming. Repeating that mistake would be even worse.
There is simply no getting around the fact Snohomish County needs to accommodate another 268,000 people by 2025. These growth targets are set by the state, and our communities have an obligation to act accordingly. Similarly, other growing counties, such as King and Pierce, have growth targets they must accommodate, so Snohomish County is certainly not alone.
Next, we need to recognize that if done right, there are many important benefits to be gained from the densification promoted by GMA. The most obvious benefit is environmental protection. As we achieve density in cities, this enables us to limit sprawling development and better protect the environment in our more pristine, rural areas. This is especially important given our region’s efforts to restore salmon runs, and in light of the recently formed Puget Sound Partnership’s mission to protect and restore the Sound’s health by 2020. The work being done on the ground to save salmon, orcas and protect and restore Puget Sound comes with a recognition that our region as a whole is going to grow by 1.4 million people by 2020. In order for these important efforts to succeed, we need to be thoughtful about where and how growth will occur.
Also, infrastructure improvements spurred by growth, such as state-of-the-art sewage treatment systems, go a long way toward improving water quality and help us to better protect the environment and the Sound.
Directing growth to urban areas also makes mass-transit a much more viable option, providing another benefit to growth management.
At the same time, another important GMA goal is to provide affordable housing and other social benefits. However, if GMA were suddenly replaced by a strict no-growth agenda, it would not only serve to drive growth farther away from job centers, it would raise existing home prices to unsustainable levels. This would hurt families by severely limiting options for where they can live. What is more, it would wreck our economy by forcing workers to live farther away from their jobs, worsen traffic congestion by causing longer commutes and create a major setback for the environment by promoting sprawl. In short, it would be a lose-lose proposition for our entire region’s quality of life.
The final point we need to recognize in the growth debate is that Snohomish County’s comprehensive plan is not, as some have alleged, a plan crafted by politicians and developers behind closed doors. In fact, there has long been and continues to be ample opportunities for all members of the public to express views about how growth should occur in our urban areas.
Local elected officials, the homebuilding community, environmentalists and citizens alike have the opportunity to be involved in creating a collective vision for how we should grow. If we don’t like what we see on the ground, only by providing input in the process can we work toward a better outcome.
Doug Barnes of Centex Homes is the 2007 president of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.
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