Next Steps

The Transportation Permit Efficiency and Accountability Committee (TPEAC) helped to frame and develop a model approach for more effective environmental decision-making on a watershed scale. Many efforts are underway across the state to realize the benefits of integrating watershed, landscape, and jurisdictional planning with project-based permitting, mitigation, and environmental decision-making. Innovation, creativity, and multi-stakeholder collaboration are occurring at all levels. Transportation project teams are working with resource and regulatory agency staff to align natural and cultural resource protection with transportation project review and permitting.

TPEAC and its subcommittees have approached the concept of integrated and aligning planning and permitting from many different directions, and at many different levels. The Planning Subcommittee, Watershed-Based Mitigation Subcommittee, and Local Government Task Force are among the key groups that worked to advance this overall approach. For this reason, as well the fact that there are many broad and diverse stakeholders, issues, and next step opportunities (spanning from early planning on through project permitting and decision-making), the task of defining discrete next steps for this TPEAC approach area is not simple.

TPEAC believes the Governor's Office of Regulatory Assistance (ORA) and the Governor’s Regulatory Improvement Program are uniquely positioned to offer continuing leadership and the attention necessary to further advance integration of planning and decision-making on watershed, landscape, and jurisdictional scales. TPEAC also recognizes that in Washington State, no entity or authority has sole responsibility for integrating and aligning all planning, design, and decision-making.  Likewise, no entity has sole responsibility for sustaining a healthy environment.  This is evidenced by the array of different planning processes occurring in Washington's watersheds (see Table 1 below).  Collective and individual agency efforts on several fronts are suggested.

TPEAC therefore offers the following for further consideration:

• Continue to Refine and Advance Efforts Stemming from the TPEAC Experience:

  Examples include:

• Local pilots for watershed mitigation (e.g., build on TPEAC supported efforts in Walla Walla, Whatcom, and Lewis counties;
• Linking planning and NEPA (e.g., develop cumulative effects guidance for NEPA, and coordinate with the Puget Sound Regional Council’s SEPA analysis of the Vision 2020 update);
• Tribal transportation planning and NEPA consultation (e.g., see next steps on Developing and Improving Tribal Consultation Procedures); and
• Policies and initiatives in the agencies oriented toward alternative and advance mitigation.

• Important Near-Term Next Steps to Pursue:

• ORA can offer a significant point of leadership to facilitate and focus the energy necessary to continue to advance more coherent, integrated, and effective approaches to planning, design, and decision-making. ORA should consider:
  • Continuing to identify and promote best practices and spotlight success stories (e.g., early interaction between project managers and permitting staff to identify, avoid, and minimize impacts, use of local plans and local knowledge to identify potential mitigation solutions, etc.);
  • Convening and developing common understanding to assist multi-agency efforts; and
  • Improving coordination and communication among key groups.
• The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) should continue to work with WSDOT transportation planners, metropolitan and regional planning entities to use information developed in TPEAC as they begin to implement SAFETEA-LU requirements.
• WSDOT and the resource agencies should revise the Signatory Agency Committee to be compliant with SAFETEA-LU 6002 and incorporate opportunities to planning linkages in this interagency process.
• WSDOT should clarify how to identify environmental issues in transportation plans (per TPEAC's Planning Subcommittee Draft Report), and add guidance to planning and environmental procedures manual.

• Unfinished Business (i.e., Areas for Further Consideration):

The Planning Subcommittee Draft report suggests five possible actions, as well as dozens more issues that they were not able to analyze in sufficient detail to make final recommendations. This report is a valuable resource for future individual agency and collaborative efforts. A few example recommendations include:

• Develop statewide or regional environmental plans;
• Involve resource agencies in land use and transportation planning.
• Consider SEPA non-project analysis for planning level
• Improve analysis of cumulative effects – what level of detail or methods might work at a planning level or regional level?

History/Background Information

As mentioned, TPEAC and its subcommittees approached the concept of integrating and aligning planning and permitting from many different directions, and at many different scales. This was done largely through the efforts and activities of TPEAC’s Planning Subcommittee, Watershed Subcommittee, and Local Government Task Force as follows:

• TPEAC’s Planning Subcommittee undertook an effort to review the transportation planning process and make recommendations on environmental information and processes that would promote early issue identification in the planning phase and in preparation for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), and permitting, mitigation, and decision-making.
  • Why isn’t it easy to integrate planning and permitting? -- Under the Growth Management Act, local governments determine strategies to address population growth, land use and protection of the environment. WSDOT works with local governments and metropolitan and rural planning entities to set long-range plans. The legislature approves project lists. Transportation projects support GMA and help implement local and statewide plans – but the environmental review of those projects is the primary venue for consideration of environmental impacts, ESA compliance etc.
  • The Subcommittee’s vision was to: “Coordinate transportation planning with environmental and land use planning processes at all levels of government so that transportation projects avoid, minimize, or otherwise mitigate impacts on the environment in order to reduce conflict and project delay, and help to ensure that subsequent permitting decisions are made in a more coordinated, streamlined manner.”
  • The Subcommittee produced a final draft report summarizing planning issues and their effect on transportation schedules and suggesting possible actions, and identifying the following problem statement: “It is traditionally at the project level that the natural resource agencies raise issues, concerns and questions regarding cumulative and secondary impacts, indirect effects, modal choice and range of alternatives. These issues and concerns are required to be addressed under NEPA and ESA but are often difficult to address at the project level because they relate to decisions and work that are more effectively done during the earlier planning stages of transportation development.”
  • Because transportation planning is so integrally linked with land use planning and vice versa, numerous state and local stakeholders need to ultimately be involved in the formation of solutions to the problem. [Note: The work led by the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) and the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) to integrate watershed planning into permitting decisions is an example of a promising direction stemming from the TPEAC experience that can serve as a foundation for further action and efforts.]
• The Watershed Mitigation Subcommittee included efforts designed to help integrate TPEAC products with the watershed and land use planning tools currently being developed by local governments. See Implementing Watershed-Based Mitigation Tools and Strategies for relevant next steps looking forward.
• The Local Government Task Force was convened in 2003 to identify issues facing WSDOT when interacting with local governments. The Task Force's Final Report to TPEAC found that WSDOT interaction with local planning offices (early and often) is key to timely project delivery.

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Ongoing/Related Efforts

Many efforts and improvement activities are occurring at different points along the continuum of early-planning through project permitting and decision-making. Recognizing the challenge of fully capturing and enumerating all such activities, the following are presented instead as illustrative examples of activities relevant to the larger improvement direction of integrated and aligning planning and permitting to achieve better outcomes and more efficient permitting:

• Linking Planning and NEPA for Transportation (Long-Range Planning Scale):
  • Workshop for Linking Planning and NEPA (August 3-6, 2004) -- This workshop was hosted by FHWA as part of a federal initiative. Taking the TPEAC Planning Subcommittee work as the launching point, this workshop began with a day-long executive session; and then a three-day manager and staff level brainstorm session to craft an action plan and various proposals to improve the links. Updated information, state’s progress reports will soon be posted on FHWA’s website.
  • SAFETEA-LU -- State DOTs and federal highway and transit officials must implement the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (see SAFETEA-LU). The law (signed August 2005) includes a number of significant changes that will affect how transportation agencies carry out environmental reviews for their projects (see http://environment.transportation.org/global/new_on_website.aspx).
  • Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy -- Comprehensive plans for wildlife conservation that states have submitted to federal wildlife officials are an ideal source to help transportation planners comply with new mandates of federal transportation law (see http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/cwcs).
  • Tribal TTPOs -- In 2005, WSDOT provided funds to assist tribes in Washington State to form Tribal Transportation Planning Organizations and improve their abilities to get projects into the statewide planning process (see http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/tribal/).
  • Growth Management and Environmental Permitting Website – Through TPEAC, WSDOT contracted with CTED to develop a website for transportation planners and environmental staff. The site clarifies confusing elements of GMA and its relationship to transportation project environmental analysis, and includes recommendations for ways WSDOT can use locally generated information to assist with NEPA and ESA compliance and permitting applications.
• Watershed Models and Tools to Help Align Environmental Information for Better Outcomes (Short-Range Planning Scale): Over the last several years many promising directions related to short range planning and land use decisions have been identified by various agencies and groups. A few examples listed below illustrate: (1) the breadth of interest associated with moving the planning, permitting, mitigation, and decision-making system toward a watershed or landscape-based model; and (2) serve as a foundation for an effective mitigation approach furthering the Governor’s goals for regulatory improvement:
  • Washington State Association of Counties and Association of Washington Cities -- In response to TPEAC, the AWC and WSAC have initiated:
    • development of a “road map” for local pilots for watershed mitigation;
    • establishment of a model for better integration and alignment of permitting and planning (e.g., as was demonstrated through TPEAC field trip to SR 12, Walla Walla); and
    • development of a prototype website to make it easier for permitters to find potential mitigation projects that might meet permitting and watershed planning objectives [Note: During TPEAC several permit process and mitigation screening tools were developed as prototypes. Clark County and the City of Vancouver and Lewis County and Cities of Chehalis and Centralia have been identified as sites for testing operating versions of these systems. The screening tools will utilize GIS systems to integrate data from watershed, salmon restoration, land use, and other plans. One of the objectives of the demonstration is to make it easier to identify mitigation sites that meet regulatory requirements and at the same time implement watershed and salmon restoration plans. Another objective is to build a database of information about potential mitigation sites by retaining site assessments performed for individual projects in a single system where they can be accessed for use by others seeking potential mitigation projects.]
  • Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Optimization Report -- Click here to access -- http://epermitting.org/Portals/_JarpaResourceCenter/Documents/MO%20Report%20041505.doc. [Note: This effort has evolved and matured along with Ecology as part of an ORA-driven interest in alternative mitigation as a regulatory improvement option.
  • Washington Department of Ecology’s Leadership Plan and Action Plan (***link soon coming****) to develop a more effective approach to habitat mitigation by advancing and building on previous mitigation reforms to achieve greater environmental protection and more efficient permitting, e.g.,
    • Wetlands banking through WSDOT and as part of Ecology's pilot banking program;
    • Alternative stormwater flow management. Des Moines Creek Basin Plan provides an example of a multi-jurisdictional plan that used basin-specific analysis to develop a cost-saving strategy for managing stormwater and stream flows protective of fish and water quality (see http://dnr.metrokc.gov/dnrp/press/2005/0616DesMoinesCreek.htm).
       

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