Without the use of a GIS, efforts to estimate urban growth capacities are inexact and speculative.

As part of regional growth management planning, prescribed by the King County Growth Management Planning Council's Land Capacity Task Force, the City of SeaTac is required to estimate its capacity for generating new housing units and jobs for a 20-year horizon.

With the use of a GIS and relational database, urban growth capacities can be estimated and summarized by applying planning rules on a per-parcel basis.

The City of SeaTac has used a parcel-based, GIS-analytical approach for generating estimates of new housing units and employment potential for a 20-year horizon.

Overview Task Force Methods