Every month, more than 300 new residents move to Thurston County. You can see the impact: rooftops rising, traffic thickening and housing costs climbing. When I took office as a Thurston County commissioner, I understood that growth would define our era — but how we respond to it will define our future.
Growth is inevitable. Sprawl is not.
Thurston County is one of Washington’s fastest-growing counties in Washington state. That brings opportunity and immense responsibility. If we don’t plan carefully, we risk paving over the very things that make this region special: open spaces, working farms, a sense of community and affordability. That’s why I believe in intentional, community-driven growth, the purposeful growth that builds a better tomorrow without erasing what we love about today.
Washington’s Growth Management Act (GMA) gives us the tools to do this. The Growth Management Act (GMA) is a series of state statutes, first adopted in 1990, that requires fast-growing cities and counties to develop a comprehensive plan to manage their population growth. GMA requires Thurston County, along with 27 of the 36 Washington counties, to plan thoughtfully by creating Urban Growth Areas (UGAs), zones in the unincorporated county adjacent to city limits specifically designated for future city-zoned development. These areas can access urban infrastructure like water, sewer, roads, and zoning that allows higher density. Areas outside of UGAs are almost completely restricted from connecting to city infrastructure. Outside UGAs, in rural unincorporated zones, development is intentionally limited to preserve farmland, forestland, and rural character.
But many UGAs were drawn decades ago and no longer align with current needs or infrastructure capabilities. Some mapped-in lands aren’t suitable for sewer or water lines, are environmentally sensitive or simply don’t make sense for urban-style growth.
That’s why the Legislature recently authorized a process called a UGA “swap,” where parcels can be removed from the UGA and replaced by another equal-sized area better suited for development.
One current UGA swap proposal under discussion sits on the southern edge of Tumwater, a concept that underscores the importance of this tool. It includes plans for over 180 units of middle-market housing, local-serving commercial space and a new YMCA site. This site also has intentional plans of honoring Indigenous history along the Cowlitz Trading Trail. The development intends on serving urban residents of Tumwater and the residents of Tenino, Union and Rainer by establishing a commercial and community hub in the southeast corner of the City of Tumwater’s UGA.
I’m not here to campaign for it but rather highlight the planning principles at work. Suppose land is swapped into the UGA that’s contiguous with existing city boundaries, allowing developers to connect to existing infrastructure (roads, sewer, water) without relying on additional public funding. Simply restricting growth doesn’t prevent it, it just displaces it to areas without the infrastructure to support it, leading to traffic, inefficiency, higher home costs and environmental strain. That is what happens when growth is pushed where systems aren’t ready. Instead, concentrating development inside a proper UGA ensures efficiency and keeps the public’s investment aligned with growth.
This kind of planning is exactly what the GMA is designed to encourage. It ensures that development is not just permitted, but purposeful. UGAs are limited by design, intended to concentrate urban-level density in areas where infrastructure, services, and sustainability align. That’s why it’s critical to make the best possible use of the land inside them. The UGA swap tool helps adjust the map when it no longer reflects reality, trading less suitable land for sites that can actually deliver on the GMA’s goals: smart, environmentally conscious, community-oriented growth.
