"Proposal" means a proposed action. A proposal includes both actions and regulatory decisions of agencies as well as any actions proposed by applicants. A proposal exists at that stage in the development of an action when an agency is presented with an application, or has a goal and is actively preparing to make a decision on one or more alternative means of accomplishing that goal, and the environmental effects can be meaningfully evaluated. (See WAC 197-11-055 and 197-11-060(3).) A proposal may therefore be a particular or preferred course of action or several alternatives. For this reason, these rules use the phrase "alternatives including the proposed action." The term "proposal" may therefore include "other reasonable courses of action," if there is no preferred alternative and if it is appropriate to do so in the particular context.