Comment
The public comment period on the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement begins Monday, July 16, 2007 and ends Friday, September 7, 2007. This exceeds the requirements of the Washington Administrative Code 197-11-455 (6), which requires at least 30 days. As authorized by WAC 197-11-455 (7), as stated PSRC's Public Involvement Plan for VISION 2040, and at the request of the boards, the agency is extending the required period in order to encourage additional comments.

To request a copy of the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement on CD, contact the Information Center, info@psrc.org, 206-464-7532.

Print copies are available for review in the Information Center and in major libraries in King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.

Background
Following the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the Regional Council's Growth Management Policy Board used four tools to develop the Preferred Growth Alternative:
(1) the findings in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement,
(2) input received during a public review and comment period,
(3) staff analysis on a potential Preferred Growth Alternative, which included input from a technical advisory group made up of local jurisdiction staff, and
(4) application of the evaluation criteria for selecting a Preferred Growth Alternative that was published in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Based on these four tools, the Board made a recommendation to PSRC's Executive Board to release the Preferred Growth Alternative for full analysis in a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The Executive Board took this action in March 2007.

State Environmental Policy Act
PSRC issued a Determination of Significance for the VISION 2020 update in October 2003, pursuant to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) under Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 43.21C.030 (2)( c) . The Determination of significance initiated an expanded scoping process and an extensive public outreach effort that lasted until March 2004. The outreach report established the scope of the VISION 2020 update environmental review. The Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement is being prepared in accordance with the State Environmental Policy Act, Revised Code of Washington 43.21C, and the adopted procedures for Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement preparation under Washington Administrative Code 197-11-620. As indicated in 197-11-620, the Supplemental Draft does not repeat the analysis of actions, alternatives, or impacts that are already contained in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The VISION 2020 update is considered a non-project action. The State Environmental Policy Act defines non-project actions as governmental actions involving decisions on policies, plans, or programs that contain standards controlling use or modifications of the environment or that will govern a series of connected actions. This includes, but is not limited to, the adoption or amendment of comprehensive plans, transportation plans, ordinances, rules and regulations (WAC 197-11-704). The analysis of the Preferred Growth Alternative considers the likely environmental consequences that may occur following the adoption of VISION 2040. Given the long range nature and regional scale of VISION 2040, the analysis is conducted at a regional scale that considers major geographic features, typical current environmental conditions, and broad geographies such as counties or classes of cities, rather than site-specific analysis.