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| What is Expedited Review?
Local governments may request expedited review when they are providing to CTED notice of intent to adopt development regulations under 36.70A.106. RCW 36.70A.106 (3)b, provides CTED with authority to grant expedited review by state agencies of certain development regulations or development regulation amendments under the Growth Management Act (GMA). Expedited review, if granted, allows for jurisdictions to adopt minor development regulations amendments in a shorter time period than 60 days.
What Expedited Review is Used For
Expedited review is intended for amendments to development regulations in cases where state agencies will not comment on the proposal and where, without expedited review, the state agency review process would needlessly delay the jurisdictions adoption schedule. Comprehensive plan amendments are not eligible for expedited review.
Some kinds of development regulations are almost certain to impact various state agencies and are therefore not good candidates for expedited review. Critical areas ordinances, concurrency ordinances or ordinances regulating essential public facilities are examples of development regulations will usually require the normal 60-day review period.
Notification of state agencies under the GMA is designed to provide state agencies with an opportunity to participate in the public participation process for local plans and regulations as interested parties and agencies with expertise. This notification is most useful early in the public participation process. Jurisdictions are encouraged to notify state agencies under 36.70A.106 as soon as a draft proposal is available. This allows for early comments by the state agencies and an early opportunity for coordination between state agencies and local government. An on-going dialogue when proposals are still in conceptual stages can also be very helpful when working with complex issues.
Expedited review should not be used as a substitute for timely notification of state agencies or as a reason to shorten an adequate public participation process. If the public participation plan on the proposed ordinance will take longer than 60-days, it is best to use the normal 60-day review process. Expedited review is useful in those unusual circumstances where a jurisdiction must use a short timeline for adoption of minor code amendments.
How to request Expedited Review
CTED’s web site contains a form to be used for requesting expedited review.
Once you have determined that it is appropriate to request expedited review for a proposal, fill out the form and attach it to an e-mail, along with a draft of the proposed development regulation amendment. Requests must be in the form of an electronic submittal and must be accompanied by a draft, a completed application showing the proposed adoption timeline.
If you are planning to request expedited review for a package of ordinances that your legislative body will take a separate action on, please consider filing a separate request for each. If the request is made on a package, state agencies must either approve or deny the request on the entire package. Sending them separately may allow some items to go forward even if expedited review must be denied one of the individual ordinances.
Once CTED receives a request for expedited review, CTED will forward the request to interested state agencies. State agencies will have ten working days to review the materials and respond to CTED. At the end of the ten-day period, CTED will notify jurisdictions either:
No state agency will be commenting and expedited review is granted. The jurisdiction may adopt the amendments at any time; or
A state agency is interested in commenting and who the contact person with the state agency is. Expedited review is declined and the jurisdiction will then follow the normal 60-day review process. In this case, the 60-day period begins on the date the request for expedited review was received, not on the date expedited review was denied.
Principles Governing Expedited Review
Link to Principles of Expedited Review Information Sheet
Expedited Review Request Form
Request for Expedited Review of Development Regulations Form
Expedited Review Instructions
In March 2004, the Washington State Legislature passed SHB 2781, which provides CTED with authority to grant expedited review by state agencies of certain development regulations or development regulation amendments under the Growth Management Act (GMA). Expedited review, if granted, allows for jurisdictions to adopt minor development regulations amendments in a shorter time period than 60 days. Local governments may request expedited review when they are providing to CTED notice of intent to adopt development regulations under 36.70A.106.
To avoid confusion and ensure prompt review by state agencies, please attach a brief cover letter identifying that the draft is being forwarded in accordance with RCW 36.70A106. Click here for an example of a cover letter.
Who to Contact About Expedited Review
To submit a Request, e-mail a draft of the proposal and the completed form to Review Team.
For more information, or if you have questions, contact:
David Andersen, Planning Review Team Manager
CTED Growth Management Services
(360) 725-3052
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