Volume 5 deals with the process of land use regulation—the development and administration of those rules that guide and control the decisions on where and how development may occur, what considerations are material, and by what processes those decisions should be made. For the most part Volume 5 looks at regulatory processes—such as those set out under the Growth Management Act (GMA), Shoreline Management Act (SMA), and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) at the programmatic level—as well as the considerations that apply to communities and regulatory agencies wrestling with what the rules ought to be.

Because jurisdictions are now facing 20- and 40-year updates in GMA regulations and shoreline master programs, respectively, and because climate change, Puget Sound recovery, and salmon recovery are now driving much of the environmental agenda, the challenges of the next 20 years will likely be equal to or greater than those dealt with in the past 20 years. Volume 5 attempts to outline how future growth problems may be addressed as well as regulation under current law.