The Growth Management Policy Board recommended certification of the comprehensive plan updates for the cities of Mill Creek and University Place.

The board found that the plans conform to the Growth Management Act and are consistent with Destination 2030.

For more information, contact Rocky Piro at 206-464-6360, e-mail rpiro@psrc.org.

The Growth Management Policy Board was briefed on the development of the executive summary of the upcoming draft environmental impact statement for the VISION 2020 update.

The executive summary will summarize the key findings of the 400+-page environmental impact statement and will contain a summary table showing the impacts of the four growth alternatives being analyzed in the EIS. To conserve resources, PSRC will mail out the executive summary, along with a compact disk that contains the complete EIS and all supporting information.

For more information, contact Ivan Miller at 206-464-7549, e-mail imiller@psrc.org.

The Growth Management Policy Board heard a briefing on upcoming environmental justice public outreach activities related to the update of VISION 2020.

As part of the VISION 2020 update, PSRC is conducting an extensive community outreach effort to encourage public participation in planning and environmental review. An important focus is direct outreach to minority and low-income populations. PSRC will be working with consultants PRR and the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice on this outreach. Five workshops will be held in Seattle, south King County, Kitsap County, Pierce County and Snohomish County.

For more information, contact Ben Bakkenta at 206-464-5372, bbakkenta@psrc.org.

The Growth Management Policy Board discussed options for a preferred growth alternative for the VISION 2020 update.

The preferred growth alternative will be developed from the range of four broad alternatives analyzed in the environmental impact statement, potentially creating a hybrid alternative that combines the most effective growth strategies.

While the preferred growth alternative will not be selected until after release of the draft environmental impact statement and the close of the public comment period, the policy board began to explore additional options for distributing the forecasted 2040 growth of 1.6 million more people and 1.1 million more jobs to different regional geographies in each county. The regional geographies are metropolitan cities, core suburban cities, larger suburban cities, smaller suburban cities, unincorporated areas and rural areas.

Board members applied a "reasonableness test" to future growth scenarios by consulting Office of Financial Management population projections, and adopted growth targets. The work will continue at the policy board's May meeting.

The policy board also discussed the effects of future annexations of unincorporated areas on the growth strategy. Members agreed that the draft environmental impact statement should include information and a map showing potential annexation areas and associated cities. Recognizing that many of these areas are preliminary, the population of the annexation areas will remain in an "unincorporated urban growth area" category and will not be added to the cities' population totals.

For more information, contact Norman Abbott at (206) 464-7134, nabbott@psrc.org.

The Growth Management Policy Board decided to establish a longer, 60-day public comment period on the draft environmental impact statement.

Recognizing the complexity of developing a preferred growth vision, the board will allow as much time as possible for the public, interested groups, and local governments around the region to analyze the growth alternatives and the potential impacts on their community. The 60-day public comment period will begin when the draft environmental impact statement is released in mid-May.

For more information, contact Norman Abbott at (206) 464-7134, nabbott@psrc.org.