Washington's Growth Management Scrutinized

"Eastern Washington Republicans hope to relax the restrictions of the state's 10-year-old Growth Management Act with help from some unlikely allies: Puget Sound liberals. GOP lawmakers from east of the Cascade Mountains have long argued that the act -- which limits development outside boundaries drawn around population centers -- hurts efforts to lure employers and investment to ailing rural regions. Now, instead of simply trying to repeal the act, they are working to find the votes to amend it. And for help they are turning to affordable-housing advocates in the Seattle metropolitan area who have their own reasons for worrying about the act: Namely, that by restricting land development, it spurs real-estate prices and thereby makes it harder to develop affordable housing in metro areas."