wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2388 > Original Bill
The following categories of clean energy facilities and nonproject activities that reduce environmental impacts are determined to constitute distributed energy priorities:
Solar energy generation and accompanying energy storage and electricity transmission and distribution, including vehicle charging equipment, when such facilities are located:
Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of electrical transmission facilities or electric utility infrastructure sites;
Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of a state highway or city or county road;
On structures over or enclosing irrigation canals, drainage ditches, and irrigation, agricultural, livestock supply, stormwater, or wastewater reservoirs or similar impoundments of state waters that do not host salmon or steelhead trout runs;
On elevated structures over parking lots;
On lands within a transportation facility, including but not limited to airports and railroad facilities, or restricted from other developments by transportation facility operations;
On closed or capped portions of landfills;
On reclaimed or former surface mine lands or contaminated sites that have been remediated under chapter 70A.305 RCW or the federal comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.) in a manner that includes an asphalt or soil cap;
As an agrivoltaic facility;
ix. As a pivot corner facility; and
On existing structures;
Wind energy generation that is not a utility-scale wind energy facility as defined in RCW 70A.550.010, and accompanying energy storage and transmission and distribution equipment, including vehicle charging equipment;
Energy storage, when such facilities are located:
Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of electrical transmission facilities or electric utility infrastructure sites;
Within the easement, right-of-way, or existing footprint of a state highway or city or county road;
On lands within a transportation facility, including but not limited to airports and railroad facilities, or restricted from other developments by transportation facility operations;
On closed or capped portions of landfills;
On reclaimed or former surface mine lands;
On contaminated sites that have been remediated under chapter 70A.305 RCW or the federal comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.) in a manner that includes an asphalt or soil cap; and
On or in existing structures;
Microgrids. For purposes of this section, "microgrids" are a group of interconnected loads, energy generation, and other distributed energy resources that act as a single controllable entity with respect to the electric grid. A microgrid can operate both autonomously from and synchronous with the central electric grid;
Programs that reduce electric demand, manage the level or timing of electricity consumption, or provide electricity storage, renewable or nonemitting electric energy, capacity, or ancillary services to an electric utility and that are located on the distribution system, any subsystem of the distribution system, or behind the customer meter, including conservation and energy efficiency; and
Programs that reduce energy demand, manage the level or timing of energy consumption, or provide thermal energy storage.
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The department must review and, when appropriate, periodically recommend to the legislature additional types of distributed energy priorities for inclusion on the list under subsection (1) of this section.
The identification of distributed energy priorities in subsection (1) of this section applies to the maximum extent practical under state and federal law, but does not include any development sites or activities prohibited under other state or federal laws.
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For purposes of this section, "agrivoltaic facility" means a ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy system that is designed to be operated coincident with continued productive agricultural use of the land.
Eligible agricultural products and uses include any combination of:
Crop production;
Grazing;
Animal husbandry; and
Apiaries with pollinator habitat that have been designed and installed to enable the agricultural producer the flexibility to change what products are produced, raised, or grown at any point throughout the life of the facility.
An agrivoltaic facility must not permanently or significantly degrade the agricultural or ecological productivity of the land after the cessation of the operation of the facility or involve the sale of a water right associated with the land.
An agrivoltaic facility must be constructed, installed, and operated to achieve integrated and simultaneous production of both solar energy and marketable agricultural products by an agricultural producer:
On land beneath or between rows of solar panels, or both; and
As soon as agronomically feasible and optimal for the agricultural producer after the commercial solar operation date, and continuing until facility decommissioning.
Solar panel arrays must be designed and installed in a manner that supports the continuation of a viable farm operation for the life of the array, and must consider, as appropriate, the availability of light, water infrastructure for crops or animals, and panel height and spacing relative to farm machinery needs.
For purposes of this section, "pivot corner facility" means a ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy system on noncultivated land immediately adjacent to and outside of a center-pivot irrigated cropland area but within the same agricultural field. A pivot corner facility is designed to be operated coincident with continued productive agricultural use of irrigated agricultural land adjacent to the pivot corner facility. A pivot corner facility must not involve the sale of a water right associated with the land.
A county or a city may use a variety of innovative zoning techniques in areas designated as agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance under RCW 36.70A.170. The innovative zoning techniques should be designed to conserve agricultural lands and encourage the agricultural economy. Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, a county or city should encourage nonagricultural uses to be limited to lands with poor soils or otherwise not suitable for agricultural purposes.
Innovative zoning techniques a county or city may consider include, but are not limited to:
Agricultural zoning, which limits the density of development and restricts or prohibits nonfarm uses of agricultural land and may allow accessory uses, including nonagricultural accessory uses and activities, that support, promote, or sustain agricultural operations and production, as provided in subsection (3) of this section;
Cluster zoning, which allows new development on one portion of the land, leaving the remainder in agricultural or open space uses;
Large lot zoning, which establishes as a minimum lot size the amount of land necessary to achieve a successful farming practice;
Quarter/quarter zoning, which permits one residential dwelling on a one-acre minimum lot for each one-sixteenth of a section of land; and
Sliding scale zoning, which allows the number of lots for single-family residential purposes with a minimum lot size of one acre to increase inversely as the size of the total acreage increases.
Accessory uses allowed under subsection (2)(a) of this section shall comply with the following:
Accessory uses shall be located, designed, and operated so as to not interfere with, and to support the continuation of, the overall agricultural use of the property and neighboring properties, and shall comply with the requirements of this chapter;
Accessory uses may include:
Agricultural accessory uses and activities, including but not limited to the storage, distribution, and marketing of regional agricultural products from one or more producers, agriculturally related experiences, or the production, marketing, and distribution of value-added agricultural products, including support services that facilitate these activities;
Nonagricultural accessory uses and activities as long as they are consistent with the size, scale, and intensity of the existing agricultural use of the property and the existing buildings on the site. Nonagricultural accessory uses and activities, including new buildings, parking, or supportive uses, shall not be located outside the general area already developed for buildings and residential uses and shall not otherwise convert more than one acre of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses; and
Solar energy production facilities including agrivoltaic facilities, solar pivot corner facilities as described in RCW 43.21F.100, and other facilities that place solar panels in agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance under RCW 36.70A.170 in a manner that does not meet the description of agrivoltaic facilities or pivot corner facilities in RCW 43.21F.100, but that meets the standards established under (b)(i) or (ii) of this subsection; and
Counties and cities have the authority to limit or exclude accessory uses otherwise authorized in this subsection (3) in areas designated as agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance.
This section shall not be interpreted to limit agricultural production on designated agricultural lands.
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Each county that is required or chooses to plan under RCW 36.70A.040, and each city within such county, shall adopt development regulations on or before September 1, 1991, to assure the conservation of agricultural, forest, and mineral resource lands designated under RCW 36.70A.170. Regulations adopted under this subsection may not prohibit uses legally existing on any parcel prior to their adoption and shall remain in effect until the county or city adopts development regulations pursuant to RCW 36.70A.040. Such regulations shall assure that the use of lands adjacent to agricultural, forest, or mineral resource lands shall not interfere with the continued use, in the accustomed manner and in accordance with best management practices, of these designated lands for the production of food, agricultural products, or timber, or for the extraction of minerals. As of the effective date of this section, agrivoltaic facilities and pivot corner facilities, as described in RCW 43.21F.100, are determined to assure conservation of agricultural lands designated under RCW 36.70A.170 and not to interfere with the continued use, in the accustomed manner and in accordance with best management practices, of designated agricultural resource lands for the production of food and agricultural products. County regulations adopted under this section must be revised to be consistent with this determination on or before July 1, 2029. Any county located to the west of the crest of the Cascade mountains that has both a population of at least four hundred thousand and a border that touches another state, and any city in such county, may adopt development regulations to assure that agriculture, forest, and mineral resource lands adjacent to short line railroads may be developed for freight rail dependent uses.
Counties and cities shall require that all plats, short plats, development permits, and building permits issued for development activities on, or within five hundred feet of, lands designated as agricultural lands, forestlands, or mineral resource lands, contain a notice that the subject property is within or near designated agricultural lands, forestlands, or mineral resource lands on which a variety of commercial activities may occur that are not compatible with residential development for certain periods of limited duration. The notice for mineral resource lands shall also inform that an application might be made for mining-related activities, including mining, extraction, washing, crushing, stockpiling, blasting, transporting, and recycling of minerals.
Each county that adopts a resolution of partial planning under RCW 36.70A.040(2)(b), and each city within such county, shall adopt development regulations within one year after the adoption of the resolution of partial planning to assure the conservation of agricultural, forest, and mineral resource lands designated under RCW 36.70A.170. Regulations adopted under this subsection (1)(c) must comply with the requirements governing regulations adopted under (a) of this subsection.
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A county that adopts a resolution of partial planning under RCW 36.70A.040(2)(b) and that is not in compliance with the planning requirements of this section, RCW 36.70A.040(4), 36.70A.070(5), 36.70A.170, and 36.70A.172 at the time the resolution is adopted must, by January 30, 2017, apply for a determination of compliance from the department finding that the county's development regulations, including development regulations adopted to protect critical areas, and comprehensive plans are in compliance with the requirements of this section, RCW 36.70A.040(4), 36.70A.070(5), 36.70A.170, and 36.70A.172. The department must approve or deny the application for a determination of compliance within one hundred twenty days of its receipt or by June 30, 2017, whichever date is earlier.
If the department denies an application under (d)(i) of this subsection, the county and each city within is obligated to comply with all requirements of this chapter and the resolution for partial planning adopted under RCW 36.70A.040(2)(b) is no longer in effect.
A petition for review of a determination of compliance under (d)(i) of this subsection may only be appealed to the growth management hearings board within 60 days of the issuance of the decision by the department.
In the event of a filing of a petition in accordance with (d)(iii) of this subsection, the county and the department must equally share the costs incurred by the department for defending an approval of determination of compliance that is before the growth management hearings board.
The department may implement this subsection (1)(d) by adopting rules related to determinations of compliance. The rules may address, but are not limited to: The requirements for applications for a determination of compliance; charging of costs under (d)(iv) of this subsection; procedures for processing applications; criteria for the evaluation of applications; issuance and notice of department decisions; and applicable timelines.
Any county that borders both the Cascade mountains and another country and has a population of less than fifty thousand people, and any city in such county, may adopt development regulations to assure that agriculture, forest, and mineral resource lands adjacent to short line railroads may be developed for freight rail dependent uses.
Each county and city shall adopt development regulations that protect critical areas that are required to be designated under RCW 36.70A.170. For counties and cities that are required or choose to plan under RCW 36.70A.040, such development regulations shall be adopted on or before September 1, 1991. For the remainder of the counties and cities, such development regulations shall be adopted on or before March 1, 1992.
Such counties and cities shall review these designations and development regulations when adopting their comprehensive plans under RCW 36.70A.040 and implementing development regulations under RCW 36.70A.120 and may alter such designations and development regulations to ensure consistency.
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A city with a population fewer than 25,000 may adopt the county's critical areas regulations by reference to satisfy the requirements under this section to designate and protect critical areas; provided, that the county's critical areas regulations are not subject to any outstanding administrative or judicial appeals at the time of the city's adoption. Nothing in this subsection prohibits a city from adopting its own critical areas regulations.
The city legislative action adopting the county regulations by reference must incorporate future amendments to the critical areas policies and development regulations of the county.
A city that adopts the county's critical areas regulations by reference is not required to take legislative action to review and update development regulations protecting critical areas under RCW 36.70A.130.
If grant funding is available for a local jurisdiction's periodic comprehensive planning updates as required in RCW 36.70A.070, and a city has adopted by reference the county's critical areas regulations as allowed in (a) through (c) of this subsection, the county in which the city is located shall be entitled to the portion of the city's grant funding that would otherwise have been utilized for updating the city's critical areas regulations. The department is authorized to determine what portion of the available grant funding the city would have received for the critical areas regulations update the county is entitled to receive.
Forestland and agricultural land located within urban growth areas shall not be designated by a county or city as forestland or agricultural land of long-term commercial significance under RCW 36.70A.170 unless the city or county has enacted a program authorizing transfer or purchase of development rights.
If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.