Washington State’s Growth Management Act: A Missing Link For Animal Services Planning
- seattleanimalwatch
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
In 2024, Seattle Animal Watch and other members of the Seattle animal welfare community advocated for the inclusion of animal services planning in the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan. Nothing came of it.
Thanks to assistance from the office of Councilmember Dan Strauss, we learned that the Seattle Department of Construction and Land Use (SDCI) would not include animal services in the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan because it was not required by the Washington State Growth Management Act.
This is a problem.
When we notified our state representatives’ offices about this omission, they had no idea such was the case. This is another example of animal welfare and animal services not getting adequate exposure at the legislative level, whether state or local.
The City of Seattle is projected to increase by almost 250,000 people in the next twenty years. People will bring their animals. Is the City of Seattle and the Seattle Animal Shelter prepared for this? Have they done any analysis? Do they have enough capacity for even the current animal population and their human families?
Let’s be clear that this is not a Seattle-only problem. This is a problem for all cities in Washington state who are planning for large population increases. They will have public demands ranging from accessible veterinary services to pet-friendly housing to emergency shelters that accept animals to off-leash areas for urban dogs.
Here are the basics.
What is the Washington State Growth Management Act?
The Growth Management Act (GMA) is a series of state statutes, first adopted in 1990, that requires fast-growing cities and counties to develop a comprehensive plan to manage their population growth. These plans must address growth for the next 20 years and are updated every 10 years.
What are the GMA’s goals?
The GMA establishes a series of 15 goals that should act as the basis of all comprehensive plans. Below is a list of those goals in no particular order. Note that animal services are not listed, although they could fall under “housing,” “open space and recreation,” and “public facilities and service.”
What are Comprehensive Plans?
The GMA establishes the comprehensive plan (e.g. the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan) as the centerpiece of local long-range planning. It should include a vision, goals, objectives, policies, and implementation actions that are intended to guide day-to-day decisions by elected officials and local government staff.
Under the GMA, the state Office of Financial Management (OFM) develops population projections for the state and each county. Once these growth projections are adopted, then the county and cities use them in their comprehensive planning processes and make sure that their plans can accommodate the projected level of growth.
There are no equivalent projections for the accompanying growth of companion animals.
Why Doesn’t the GMA Include Animal Services Planning?
It’s probably because no one has thought about it. Maybe it should. Maybe we need to ask our state legislators and let them know our thoughts. Click this link to find out who your representatives are: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder
