MBA of Pierce County Government Affairs Program

One of the major benefits of belonging to the Master Builders Association of Pierce County is its very active Government Affairs Program.  Two full-time MBA staff work with the governments of Pierce County and the 23 cities within the county on land use, zoning, regulatory and other issues that affect homebuilding.  Two standing member committees develop legislative policy for the association and provide an opportunity to meet regularly with staff from jurisdictions in Pierce County.

MBA's Mission is to "promote the interests of the home building industry through membership involvement, legislative action, networking and education while maintaining the highest ethical standards." 

The Government Affairs Program is geared to uphold this mission on a daily basis.  The Legislative Strategy Committee provides members with information on upcoming permitting, land use, and development issues and is a forum for members to bring items of interest to the industry for consideration.  The Legal Defense Fund provides financial support for challenges of government actions that may violate the Growth Management Act or land use law, or infringe on private property rights.

Recent accomplishments of the Government Affairs program include:

• Changes successfully made to the Pierce County "Directions for Protecting and Restoring Habitat" regulatory package, which rewrote the County's critical area and development regulations.  MBA members and staff dedicated literally thousands of hours over a period of three years to make the package more reasonable and less onerous on land owners.
•   MBA's successful challenge of the zoning included in the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Communities Plan.  The Growth Management Hearings Board agreed with MBA that the low density zoning mandated by the citizen-driven plan did not comply with the Growth Management Act, and it established a statewide minimum urban density of 4 dwelling units per acre.

For more information, please contact Tiffany Speir, Government Affairs Director at tspeir@mbapierce.com or 272-2112 ext. 105.