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County public comments split on new UGA land‑swap tool; proponents and critics disagree on legal effect
Summary
Supporters and critics of a recent state allowance for Urban Growth Area (UGA) land swaps presented conflicting views during public comment at a Thurston County commissioners meeting.
Public comment at the Thurston County meeting included sharply different interpretations of a state law allowing limited swaps of land within Urban Growth Areas (UGAs).
John O’Callaghan, a Tenino city councilmember who said he chairs the Thurston Regional Planning Council’s (TRPC) UGA subcommittee, urged the board to support use of the land‑swap tool. O’Callaghan said the swap allows jurisdictions to exchange unusable or constrained land inside a UGA for other land that can be developed, and that the change “gives us a tool that we can use to possibly do what the state is expecting us to do” on housing. He said his subcommittee unanimously recommended moving the swap forward.
Rhonda Larson Kramer, who identified herself as a resident of Olympia, contested that account. Kramer said the land‑swap law explicitly forbids swaps that would increase a UGA’s development capacity; she said the Growth Management Act requires UGAs to include open space and that buildable lands reports determine UGA size. “You cannot use the UGA swap to increase the development capacity of the UGA,” Kramer said, and she urged the board to rely on the buildable‑lands process and statutory limits when considering swaps.
Commissioners did not take formal action on the UGA swap at the Feb. 4 meeting during the public‑comment period. The meeting record shows both perspectives were presented to the board; the county did not announce a policy change or directive in response to these comments.
