Liberty Lake reviews state-required climate resiliency goals for 2046 comprehensive plan

Liberty Lake — City staff and a contracted consultant presented draft climate resiliency goals and policies on Aug. 5 as part of the city’s update to its 2046 comprehensive plan required under a 2023 Washington state law. The workshop focused on wildfire, heat, changing precipitation, stormwater and long-term water-supply risks and outlined next steps for integrating the resiliency subelement into the broader plan.

The draft resiliency subelement, prepared with consultant Parametrics, is meant to meet Department of Commerce requirements that comprehensive plans identify natural-hazard risks influenced by climate change, protect natural areas that foster resilience, and strengthen community resilience in social, economic and built environments. John Phillips of Parametrics presented the risk assessment, vulnerability analysis and draft goals and policies during the meeting.

Why it matters: The subelement will become part of the city’s 2046 comprehensive plan and guides future land-use, infrastructure and emergency-preparedness choices. City leaders and residents said they view the section as a foundation for future capital planning, interagency coordination and community outreach — all of which can drive long-term costs and operations.

Parametrics summarized the city’s primary climate risks as wildfire and wildfire smoke, higher temperatures, and changes in precipitation patterns that can stress stormwater systems and regional water supplies. Phillips described the vulnerability approach as combining exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity — for example, older residents and people with chronic respiratory conditions are more sensitive to wildfire smoke.

“Some of those vulnerable populations include retirement-age adults, school-age children, lower income individuals and families, folks who live alone, and, of course, folks with chronic diseases,” Phillips said, explaining why the city should factor social vulnerability into planning.

The consultant described the methods used to rate probability: the team reviewed climate projections on roughly a 70-year horizon and used thresholds developed from regional climate studies to assign “high,” “moderate” or “low” probability to hazards. Phillips said that where the draft labels a risk “high,” the projection often shows a 50 percent-or-higher increase in probability over current conditions; he cited a working threshold of roughly a 17 percent chance over a 70-year period as a marker used in the analysis.

On snowpack and water supplies, Phillips told the council the underlying regional climate studies used in the analysis project large declines in snowpack over the long term and cited figures the consultant team used — including an example projection of up to a roughly 90 percent decline in spring snowpack in parts of the region by the end of the century. He said those changes could influence aquifer recharge and regional water availability and that the team coordinated with Spokane-area water partners in drafting the policies.

Council members asked about what the city can enforce versus what requires partners. Council member Dunne raised Avista’s public-safety power-shutoff work and asked how utility measures fit into the plan. Lisa (planning staff) said the city engaged Avista and intends to pursue partnership-based actions such as facilitating backup power for critical facilities and coordinating on evacuation planning.

“Partnerships are required,” Lisa said. “Where you see ‘educate’ or ‘partner’ or ‘encourage’ in the policies, that recognizes some responses are outside our sole control.”

Council members and staff discussed evacuation and transportation resiliency repeatedly. Several council members urged linking land-use choices to evacuation routes and protecting critical corridors. Phillips and staff said the next phase will layer a transportation network analysis and emergency-planning work onto the draft goals so the comprehensive plan can identify priority routes and local “hubs” for heat- and smoke-relief.

Public comment on the item included Tom Sohlberg, who spoke during the meeting’s public-comment period and identified himself as a member of the planning commission and the city’s Climate Policy Advisory Team. Sohlberg said commissioners, the advisory team and the consultant spent more than a year developing the recommendations and urged the council to support the drafted policies while offering constructive feedback.

“Tonight, the council approved moving forward with the state-mandated climate policy that sets the stage for costly, damaging, and ineffective laws,” Sohlberg said during public comment, expressing concern about the plan’s scope and transparency in parts of the public discussion. (That comment was Sohlberg’s characterization of the council’s action; the workshop itself did not include a formal council vote on adoption.)

Council members pressed staff on cost and implementation. Council member Kennedy asked whether the team could estimate total implementation costs; staff and the consultant responded that costs vary widely by action and that many policies are designed as long-term, multiagency steps rather than single local capital projects. Phillips and Lisa said the draft intentionally separates higher-level goals from implementation strategies so the city can prioritize measurable actions in a shorter, five-year implementation plan and seek state or federal grants for specific projects.

Lisa told the council the grant used to hire consultants does not fund implementation of the policies. “The grant that funded development of this subelement is not intended to pay for construction or capital projects,” she said; staff will pursue other grant opportunities for projects that fit the adopted goals.

Council members and citizens also discussed property-level actions. Staff and the consultant indicated the plan will include outreach items — for example, promoting Firewise practices and guidance for homeowners on defensible space and landscaping — and said the city plans to work with community partners to provide trainings and materials for residents.

Next steps laid out in the presentation: staff will refine goals and policies based on the workshop feedback, coordinate with regional partners (including Spokane Valley Fire Department, Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District and utilities), and then integrate the resiliency subelement into the draft comprehensive plan for a later public-review cycle. Staff said an implementation strategy and a five-year check-in will follow adoption so the council can set measurable, time-bound priorities in subsequent budget and strategic-planning cycles.

No formal adoption vote occurred during the workshop; staff presented the draft for council input and signaled plans to transmit the draft for Department of Commerce review as required. The city’s comp-plan webpage and a climate resiliency story map contain the draft risk assessment and additional data cited by the consultant for council members and the public.

The workshop closed with council members asking staff to bring more detail on potential costs, grant opportunities and specific, measurable actions that could be undertaken in the next five years. Staff said they would return with an integrated implementation schedule and continued coordination with regional partners for emergency planning and water-resource management.

—ENDS—