Concurrency or Required as a Condition of Project Approval GMA provides that a CFP must explicitly state which public facilities are determined to be necessary for development and each of the facilities so designated must be either subject to concurrency or required as a condition of project approval. Transportation facilities are the only facilities required to have a concurrency mechanism, although a local government may choose to adopt a concurrency mechanism for other facilities.27 Concurrency means that adequate capital facilities meeting the minimum LOS standards will be in place for development before the impacts of that development would take place. For example, a new subdivision would require adequate water and sewer services, as well as adequate roads to serve the new residents. Under concurrency, those facilities must be in place when the residents move in. (Under Washington's GMA, transportation facilities and/or strategies are considered concurrent if they are available within six years of the impacts of development.) The impacts of development are usually equated with occupancy and use of the development (RCW 36.70A.020). When a development is proposed, the County compares the public facilities available for the new development to the required minimum LOS standards. For example, is the present capacity of the water system sufficient to handle the new demand? Is the capacity of the waste water treatment facility sufficient to handle the increased waste? If both answers are "yes," the applicant passes the concurrency "test." If the answer is "no,” the applicant fails the concurrency "test" and development regulations would require that the development be approved subject to conditions requiring the development to provide the capital facilities meeting the minimum LOS standard. The County may make the "testing" process relatively simple by using annual certifications of the capacity of some facilities (i.e., water supply, sewage treatment). As a result, each applicant will be approved on the basis of annual capacity certifications for some facilities, and case-by-case review of other facilities (i.e., streets and roads). The concurrency provisions for transportation facilities are found in Chapter 10 (Transportation Element). As provided in Section 6.5 (Capital Facilities Plan: Goals and Policies), domestic water systems and sanitary sewer systems will be subject to conditions of project approval rather than to concurrency.
