A Road Map to Washington’s Future | The William D. Ruckelshaus Center

Road Map to Washington’s Future Final Report

Project Overview

In 2015, Washington State legislators asked the William D. Ruckelshaus Center (Center) to describe a process for a comprehensive and collaborative look at the Growth Management Act (GMA), as it reached its 25th year. To gauge support for this effort and identify an appropriate scope, the Center conducted a pre-assessment consisting of a series of conversations with individuals from dozens of groups, organizations, and tribal, state, and local governments. Based on input from those parties, and their expressed consensus that such a process would be valuable, the Center recommended a process to: (1) articulate a vision of a desired future for Washington, and (2) examine not only the GMA, but a range of laws, institutions, and polices that provide the path to reach that desired future. The Legislature responded to the pre-assessment by allocating funds to the Center for a two-year project to create a “Road Map to Washington’s Future” (Road Map).

The budget proviso outlined a scope, schedule, and general process for the project, as well as describing the purpose: to articulate a vision of Washington’s desired future and identify additions, revisions, or clarifications to the State’s growth planning framework of laws, institutions, and policies needed to reach that future.

To understand how the framework aligns with, creates barriers to, and/or supports the desired future of the communities it is meant to serve, the Project Team traveled across the state, gathering information and hearing from ~2,500 individuals, which included nearly 400 elected officials. The collection of information throughout the state occurred through individual and group interviews, multi-sector workshops, elected official workshops, regional/statewide groups workshops, government agency workshops, Latinx workshops, an electronic questionnaire, university student and faculty research, and review of previous related studies and engagement activities.

The Project Team synthesized the wealth of information and insights collected from participants and identified common themes that help articulate a vision of Washington’s desired future and identified additions, revisions, or clarifications to the State’s growth planning framework needed to reach that future.

The Center submitted the final report to the Legislature on June 30, 2019. The report included four volumes that contain guidance to decision-makers about what people desire for the future of the state and what is needed to reach that future when it comes to growth planning. This includes six actions that could create transformational and systemic change, as well as a number of key reforms that could improve the current growth planning framework.

Updated on June 30, 2021