Transportation planning is an important function of the Council. Through long-range planning efforts, millions of dollars in project funding have been directed into our communities.

Grays Harbor Council of Governments carries out a wide array of responsibilities in its role as part of the SW Washington Regional Transportation Planning Organization. Those functions help to ensure a comprehensive, coordinated, and continuing approach to transportation planning across Grays Harbor and with adjacent regions. Transportation coordination administered by GHCOG include: State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), Surface Transportation Program (STP), transit planning, regional mobility, freight, rail, and with adjacent regions and ensure that all state and federal planning requirements have been met.

The Transportation Planning Page describes the transportation planning, coordination and funding administered by GHCOG.

Community development is a major goal for most of GHCOG members, and the region as a whole has significant community development needs. The Grays Harbor economy is transitioning from its traditional natural resource-based industries to a service and tourist-based economy, as the area attracts increasing numbers of retirees and vacationers.

GHCOG provides resources to help communities identify and attain their goals. We offer a wide range of services to address these goals including: grant and loan research and writing assistance, community consensus building, research and collecting community demographic data, and house a library of local and regional plans and research materials. Examples of projects the GHCOG can assist with include downtown revitalization, regional development, community development needs analyses, and infrastructure plan development.

Examples of recent and ongoing projects include:

• Boating Facilities Program grant writing, mapping, and presentation proposal assistance, Port of Grays Harbor 28th Street Landing

GIS (geographic information systems) is an important tool used in regional and local planning that provides a means to analyze and display complex land use and demographic data.

The GHCOG GIS Program provides geographic mapping support and services to our members, using local, state, and federal data sets. GIS staff create custom mapping projects that fulfill individual members’ needs and therefore, products will vary.

Please click here for the Data Map Page to view maps that are available online.

GHCOG provides planning capabilities to assist individual communities and to address regional problems; it serves as a regional coordinating body; and provides the planning framework within which physical and social plans can be developed.

GHCOG planning projects range from specific city plans to regional efforts. GHCOG staff consult with member agencies on a variety of public issues, including: comprehensive planning, capital facilities planning, recreation planning, economic development, transit and transportation planning. Staff has experience facilitating a broad range of public processes, whether it is visioning, Council policy retreats, public surveys, or public meetings.

Examples of recent and ongoing projects include:

• Ocean Shores Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Plan
• Ocean Shores Comprehensive Capital Facilities Plan