This document presents Snohomish County’s long-range capital facilities plan (CFP). The CFP is a required element of the comprehensive plan under the Growth Management Act (GMA) chapter 36.70A RCW. This updated CFP incorporates more current inventory information and forecasts of future facility needs as part of the overall 2015 update of the comprehensive plan. This capital facilities plan addresses all categories of public facilities provided directly by Snohomish County, including parks, surface water management, solid waste disposal, general government, and law and justice facilities. Roads and other surface transportation facilities are summarized but covered in more detail in the separate Transportation Element (TE). The disposition of parks is similarly summarized in this CFP but covered in more detail in the Parks and Recreation Element (PRE). This document also consolidates summary information from a variety of sources regarding important capital facilities provided by other public agencies.

The form and content of this plan element reflects the guidance contained in the Final Decision and Order issued on February 9, 2000, by the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board in the case of McVittie, et al v. Snohomish County (case #99-3-0016c). That decision, while finding that the 1999 – 2004 Capital Plan Detail met the basic requirements of the GMA, did indicate areas where the plan could be improved. Several changes were made in the 2000 update to incorporate those GMHB suggestions which are retained in this update. This update, like the last major update adopted in 2005, includes current information regarding existing facility inventories and existing deficiencies for selected capital facilities that are addressed, in part, through impact fee collection programs.

This CFP, like its predecessors, is the product of a collaboration of various county departments including the Executive Office, Budget and Finance, Public Works, Planning and Development Services, Parks and Recreation, and Facilities Management. Other county operating departments and agencies involved in capital facilities operations and maintenance, as well as other public facility providers, including cities and special districts also contributed substantially to the preparation of this document.

The Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) should be an integral part of a local jurisdiction’s comprehensive plan prepared under the directives of the Growth Management Act (GMA). It must support and be consistent with the land use element and with other required elements of the GMA comprehensive plan. The broad purposes of Snohomish County’s CFP within this GMA context can be summarized as follows:

Other documents that supplement this CFP as part of the overall capital facilities element include the "Capital Facilities" and "Utilities" chapters of the General Policy Plan (GPP), the Countywide Utilities Inventory Report, the 6-year Capital Improvements Program (or, CIP - updated annually as part of the county budget), the Park and Recreation Plan, and the school CFPs (adopted biennially in support of the school impact fee program). The Parks and Recreation Plan is replaced by the Parks and Recreation Element (PRE).

The CFP assists the county in prioritizing capital facility projects and/or capital improvements that compete for limited resources and extend beyond one single budget year. It also embodies county choices about levels of service to be provided for its residents in balancing need and/or "demand" versus probable future revenues. The CFP supports other comprehensive plan elements and helps ensure consistency between the development and growth envisioned by the future land use map and the policies of the comprehensive plan and the many plans of other public agencies for capital improvements within the planning area, including:

This CFP draws information from the plans of many county and non-county agencies that meet a variety of statutory requirements. These plans are also prepared and developed over a variety of timeframes.

Many of these external functional plans are adopted and amended on planning intervals that do not match the county’s periodic comprehensive plan updates required by the GMA. The annual CIP, through its "Statement of Assessment," should regularly evaluate the effectiveness of these external functional plans in maintaining or improving levels of service.

The County’s comprehensive plan establishes the vision for development and growth as depicted on the future land use map. Non-county agencies use this vision to develop external functional plans for providing capital facilities necessary to support the county’s planned future development. The county reviews external functional plans to verify they are based on county-adopted growth targets and service areas, thereby meeting requirements under the GMA for the provision of public services and facilities for projected growth. The CFP in Section II identifies the external functional plans of non-county agencies reviewed by the county for consistency with the county’s comprehensive plan.

External functional plans may be amended or revised by non-county agencies on planning intervals that do not coincide with the county’s planning intervals under the GMA. When these external functional plan amendments or revisions are consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, such amendments or revisions merely implement the county’s comprehensive plan and do not constitute or require a change to the county’s comprehensive plan.

Conversely, any amendment or revision to an external functional plan that is not consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, particularly the county’s adopted growth targets and service areas, shall not be approved by the county unless such amendment is consolidated with an update of the county’s comprehensive plan. This type of plan inconsistency requires concurrent review of the external functional plan and the county’s comprehensive plan to determine whether such amendment would adversely impact the county’s determination that the area affected would be served by adequate public facilities.

The CFP components should support the adopted land use plan, should utilize the same or compatible population growth and distribution projections, and should share the same planning horizon (now 2035) to achieve consistency. The population base for projecting future facility needs in this CFP is the same as that used in projecting future land-use needs: the State Office of Financial Management (OFM) population forecast. The spatial distribution of population growth (tabulated in Appendix D of the GPP) is contained in the adopted growth targets for cities and UGAs and is reflected in the Future Land-Use Map and in the "locations and capacities of planned public facilities" contained in the CIP. A common base for projecting land and capital facilities needs is particularly important for regional facilities that serve much or the entire county and are the principal types of capital facilities provided by the county. Some of the capital facility studies that provide the foundation for this CFP have planning horizons that go beyond the year 2035. Some of these studies project needs in 5-year intervals that do not precisely match the 2035 planning horizon of GMA. However, most of the studies project facility needs at least to the year 2035. The following table summarizes information on how future facility needs are determined to be adequate over at least a twenty year time frame. Information for this chart was derived and/or summarized from information submitted by non-county agencies and county departments that participated in the CFP development process.

This CFP addresses minimum planning requirements that are necessary to support development under the GMA. Adoption of the CFP does not preclude or restrict capital improvement projects that are not specifically identified in the CFP when such projects do not materially impair the county’s ability to achieve the minimum planning goals set forth in the CFP. Capital improvement projects not identified in the CFP will be considered to exceed minimum planning requirements and will not replace planned capital improvement projects except when done so by legislative action. Examples of such capital improvement projects are facilities or amenities that are identified as mitigation for site-specific developments and funding or undertaking of the mitigation is a condition of development approval.

This plan has been reorganized from the 2005 update to better reflect the significance of capital facilities identified as "necessary to support development." This introductory section includes a discussion of GMA Goal 12 and the resultant identification of capital facilities necessary to support development. This update contains all of the required components of a capital facilities plan element of a GMA comprehensive plan. Specifically, RCW 36.70A.070(3) requires that the CFP element contain:

The following table summarizes where each item is found in this CFP for facilities that are necessary to support development.

Each section contains a subsection that addresses the existing inventories, a forecast of future needs and levels of service (only for capital facilities identified as "necessary to support development").

Section I addresses county facilities necessary to support both urban and rural development. It separates county facilities from those of other public agencies and presents updated inventory information and a forecast of future needs for those facilities through the 20-year planning horizon.

Section II addresses facilities of external agencies necessary to support both urban and rural development. It also presents updated inventory information and a forecast of future needs for the relevant capital facilities.

Section III addresses other county facilities that serve regional needs but are not necessary to support development." It presents updated inventory information and a forecast of future needs for the relevant capital facilities.

Section IV summarizes the county’s Hazard Mitigation Plan; the use of long and short-term strategies to reduce or alleviate the loss of life, personal injury, and property damage that can result from a natural or man-made disaster. It involves planning policy development, programs and projects that can mitigate the impact of hazards and natural disasters.

Section V outlines the basic framework for the county’s 6-year capital improvement program (CIP). The county CIP includes the proposed locations and capacities of planned county capital facilities, a required 6-year financing plan for these facilities and a statement of assessment that concludes whether or not probable funding and existing regulations satisfy GMA Goal 12.

This section also includes a discussion of the county’s process of reassessing the comprehensive plan, including the land use element, if probable funding for necessary facilities falls short of meeting forecasted needs under 36.70A.070(3)(e).

Appendix A contains a detailed information matrix on existing inventories for the following capital facilities: General Government/Law and Justice, Airport/Paine Field Electric Power and Solid Waste. Only these facilities could be readily identified by data in tabular format. The GMA gives local jurisdictions discretion to include and evaluate capital facilities that they believe are significant elements of their infrastructure. The current locations (spatial distribution) of the capital facilities are located in Appendix B. Appendix C is a summary of the North Snohomish County Coordinated Water System Plan. Appendix D is the executive summary of the county’s current Hazard Mitigation Plan.