(1) A county may authorize the siting in a rural area of a school that serves students from an urban area, even where otherwise prohibited by a multicounty planning policy, under the following circumstances:

(a) The county has a population of more than eight hundred forty thousand but fewer than one million five hundred thousand and abuts at least six other counties;

(b) The county must have adopted in its comprehensive plan a policy concerning the siting of schools in rural areas;

(c) Any impacts associated with the siting of such a school are mitigated as required by the state environmental policy act, chapter 43.21C RCW; and

(d) The county must be a participant in a multicounty planning policy as described in RCW 36.70A.210.

(2) A multicounty planning policy in which any county referenced in subsection (1) of this section is a participant must be amended, at its next regularly scheduled update, to include a policy that addresses the siting of schools in rural areas of all counties subject to the multicounty planning policy.

(3) A school sited under this section may not collect or impose the impact fees described in RCW 82.02.050.

(4) This section expires June 30, 2031.