During this legislative session, you may have heard from Futurewise about rural Detached Accessory Dwelling Units (DADUs) and the need to defeat bills that would allow rural DADUs to be built without being counted towards the growth targets that are set by the state Growth Management Act.
These bills, SB 6029 and HB 2126, as written, would have affected water resources, stormwater runoff, forest fire protection, transportation infrastructure and other rural services. While these bills were intended to address rural housing affordability challenges, the specifics of the policy would have replaced lower cost homes with more expensive ones.
“These bills were a top priority this year for the builders and realtors associations representing the companies who would have built and sold these new homes,” said Alex Brennan. “They pushed hard on these bills, and Futurewise with their coalition of rural community groups, environmentalists and farmers, diverted a lot of our energy to stopping this poorly thought-out policy from becoming law.” Brennan is the Executive Director of Futurewise. “Our legislative short session this year was just 2 months long. Such a time-constrained process is not conducive to resolving complex policy disagreements.”
Over the coming year, outside of the pressure of session, Futurewise leaders hope to bring together a coalition of opponents to these bills with the advocates for them and legislative leaders, to find a path forward. “We hope this dialogue can be a broader conversation about rural housing needs, forest fire management, and fiscal responsibility for rural infrastructure and services,” said Brennan. “Together we can develop strategies that meet the needs of rural communities and protect the environment.”
Transit-Oriented Development (HB 2160) & Rent Stabilization Die in Senate
Although Futurewise advocates were successful in getting two important bills out of the House in this session, they were not able to pass them out of the Senate. Their priority bills regarding Transit-Oriented Development (HB 2160) and Rent Stabilization (HB 2114) failed to pass out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee before the session ended. These remain priorities for next year.
Next Up: Pierce County Comprehensive Plan Update
Now with the legislative session ending on March 7, it is time to shift focus to Pierce County’s Comprehensive Plan, which is up for its five-year review. The county planning department has created an Environmental Impact Statement with plans for our future. It is time for us to present our vision of the future to the County Council.