Puget Sound Council of Governments

Growth Management Techniques Study
   

For the Puget Sound Council of Governments, Duncan Associates prepared a study that described a series of local, regional and state growth management techniques and evaluated their applicability to four alternative urban growth scenarios for the Puget Sound region. The study defined a contemporary growth management technique as any mechanism that constituted a systematic attempt to guide the type, rate, location, timing, quality, quantity and/or character of urban growth and development. The first part of the study presented an overview of various

techniques used around the nation. These included state efforts to influence local government to address growth in a comprehensive manner and to coordinate activities with surrounding communities and regional agencies; techniques that control the location and spatial pattern of growth for purposes of urban containment and resource preservation; techniques that contain urban sprawl and encourage compact development patterns; techniques that discourage growth from occurring at the expense of the natural and built environment; techniques that ensure that adequate public facilities are available to serve new growth; and techniques that control the amount and rate of growth. The second part of the study evaluated the effectiveness of the techniques in light of regional relevance and in the context of four alternative growth scenarios. The study concluded with an analysis of legal issues surrounding growth control techniques. While the study attempted to organize various techniques according to their purpose and effect, it also cautioned that many of them had consequences and characteristics that made precise categorization difficult.

Period:    January 1990 - March 1990               Contact:    Grace Byrne
Team:      Duncan Associates                                            Project Coordinator
               Craig Richardson, Esq.                                        206.464.6661