Boundary review boards: a legislative approach to manage growth conflicts in the urban fringe in Washington State

Abstract

Between 1960 and 1980, Washington State's rural population declined as a percentage of the state's total population, while the urban-fringe population more than tripled. The communities and residents of the urban fringe have been experiencing an increasing trend toward urban sprawl, the extension of city boundaries and the concomitant loss of agricultural land. Conflicts among cities, counties and special-purpose districts regarding growth within and outside their jurisdictions, and the disorganizing effect on land uses, were the reasons that the Washington State Legislature established boundary review boards (BRB's) as early as 1967. BRB's were created at the local government level to guide, manage and resolve conflicts concerning municipal and/or special-purpose district boundary changes. The 1967 BRB statute requires the establishment of BRB's in the densely populated counties and permits voluntary establishment in the smaller counties. Between 1967 and 1983, 17 of 39 counties in Washington State established BRB's. The regulatory powers of, and decisions by, the BRB's have raised legal disputes, resulting in 13 BRB decisions being brought to appeal before the Washington State Courts. Although 11 of these 13 decisions were upheld by the courts, it has become clear that there are weaknesses in the terminology of the BRB statute itself. Two of these 13 court cases dealt with agricultural protection issues and are analyzed in this report. A telephone survey was conducted with representatives from five city planning departments, five county planning departments, and five BRB's in Washington State to gain some information on the effectiveness of BRB decisions in resolving growth conflicts and protecting agricultural land. The results of the survey indicated that while BRB's have the authority to protect agricultural land and resolve growth conflicts in boundary-change situations, they are inconsistent in their efforts to do so.