King County Comprehensive Plan:
Proposing a change - the amendment process

• The amendment process 
• Annual vs. Four-Year Cycle 
• Docket - How to propose a change 
• Site-specific amendment 

The King County Comprehensive Plan (KCCP) guides how future development will occur in the county. The process for proposing a change to the Plan, as well as key dates for submitting a docket or a site-specific amendment application, is explained below.

What is the Comprehensive Plan amendment process?

The Comprehensive Plan Amendment Process allows individuals, groups and County departments to propose changes to the KCCP. It provides a way to address changing conditions and new considerations in how growth occurs throughout King County.

What makes the Annual and the Four-Year Cycle processes different?

Annual amendment: Small, routine, or technical changes considered

The Annual Amendment process addresses technical updates and makes revisions that do not require substantive policy changes, such as applications that

• propose corrections to a technical error within the Plan
• propose changes that do not require a substantive policy change or alter the Urban Growth Area boundary
• propose a 4-to-1 project, pursuant to KCC 20.12.458.

Four-Year Cycle amendment: Major changes considered, complete review of the Plan

The Four-Year Cycle process is a major update of the Plan, in which a complete review is undertaken. The third four-year cycle amendment process was completed October 6, 2008, with the King County Council's adoption of the 2008 update to the Plan.   The previous four-year cycle amendment occurred September 27, 2004, with the adoption of the 2004 update.  The next major update of the King County Comprehensive Plan will occur in 2012.

How can I propose a change?

Docket

The way to propose a change to the King County Comprehensive Plan, separate from the annual or four-year cycle amendment public comment processes, is to submit a docket form.

A docket is maintained by King County to allow citizens to document requested changes to the King County Comprehensive Plan, land use designations, or development regulations.

The docket form gives you a way to tell the County about policies, land use designations, zoning or other components of the Plan that you would like changed.

Docket forms can be submitted anytime, but must be submitted by June 30 of the preceding year in order to be considered in the next appropriate amendment.

There is no fee for submitting a docket form. Please refer to docketing process for instructions, including the online docket form option.

Site-specific amendment application

If the docket requires a change in a land use designation, those who submitted the docket will be referred to the second step, which is the process for obtaining a site-specific land use amendment.

A site-specific amendment application requires a filing fee (currently $1,500) and review by the King County Hearing Examiner.

Each request is considered separately. The Hearing Examiner then batches all recommendations and sends them to the King County Council by January 15 of each year for consideration during the annual Comprehensive Plan amendment process.

There is no deadline for submittal of site-specific land use amendments, however, to be considered during the following year's amendment process, submitting the request by June 1 is recommended.

Property owners seeking site-specific changes to the Comprehensive Plan must:

1. Submit a docket and receive a reply from King County which will provide an evaluation of the request.
2. Following receipt of your docket reply from King County, submit a land use pre-application meeting request form, available in PDF* (101KB) or fill-in MS Word* (87KB) format, to the Department of Development and Environmental Services. Staff will schedule a meeting with the owner to discuss the proposed changes.
3. Following the pre-application meeting, applicants who wish to continue with their proposal must then submit an official Site-Specific Amendment Application Form, available in PDF* (197KB) or fill-in MS Word* (236KB) format, and pay a $1,500 fee.
4. Within 120 days after the application is determined to be complete, the County prepares a recommendation on the proposal and sets a hearing date. Property owners within a 500 foot radius of the property and others who have requested information regarding the application receive notice of the hearing date.
5. The Hearing Examiner conducts a hearing and prepares a report that includes recommendations for all land use amendments proposed that year.
6. On January 15, the Examiner's report is sent to the King County Council. These amendments are then considered in conjunction with the Executive's recommendations, which the Council receives March 1.

Potential zoning will be applied on an approved Comprehensive Plan amendment unless a rezone application is submitted at the same time as the original amendment application. Go to rezones for more information.

For more information about proposing a change to the KCCP, please see the contact information for the King County Comprehensive Plan.

*Note: To view PDFs, free software from Adobe is required. Fill-in Word documents require Microsoft software. For assistance and fill-in instructions, see helpful hints.

To request this information in alternate formats for people with disabilities, call 206-296-6600 or TTY Relay: 711.