Climate Change Planning - Responding to the GMA's New Requirements

Session 7D | Friday | 9:30 – 10:45 AM (PT)

About the Session

What is climate change in the context of Washington State? Do you address climate change in your jurisdiction? How and to what extent? This session will provide an overview of the new Growth Management Act climate element requirements, and the tools available now to help with the work ahead.

About the Moderator

Gary Lynn Idleburg

WA State Department of Commerce

Gary Idleburg joined Commerce on June 1, 2016, as a new technical specialist on climate change for Growth Management Services. He was previously a senior planner at Snohomish County (16 yrs.) specializing in capital facilities planning and impact fees. Previously, Gary had done environmental planning work with Sverdrup Civil Inc. in Bellevue, WA, EPA Region 10 and the Department of Ecology. Gary has a bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI and, a master's degree in City Planning from Boston University- Boston, MA.

About the Speakers

Sarah Fox, AICP

WA State Department of Commerce

Sarah Fox is the Climate Program Manager for the Growth Management Services unit at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Sarah is leading the development of planning guidance for counties and cities to address climate change. Sarah has an expertise in policy development, current development review, and long-range planning that she gained from 18 years as a local agency planner. She earned a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and is a certified planner (AICP). She is currently serving as a Council Member for the City of Vancouver and is a U.S. Army veteran.

Michael Burnham

WA State Department of Commerce

Michael Burnham (MURP, Portland State University and MSJ, Northwestern University) is the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Climate Resilience Lead. Michael’s prior planning work includes contributing to the Olympia-based Thurston Regional Planning Council’s award-winning climate and sustainability plans and Intercity Transit’s net-zero emissions and bus rapid-transit initiatives. Michael previously worked as a journalist in the Pacific Northwest and Washington, D.C., where his reporting about energy and environmental policy and economics was published by Greenwire, The New York Times, Scientific American, and other media and won awards from the National Press Club and Society of Environmental Journalists.

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