City planning staff updated the City Council on a near-final draft of Lacey’s comprehensive plan at the Sept. 9 work session, summarizing public outreach, proposed edits to goals and policies, and next steps in public hearings and state review.

“ We are beginning to get towards the finish line of this really 2 year effort,” Vanessa, a planning staff member, told council as the presentation opened. Senior Planner Hans Shepherd briefed council on the Phase 3 draft and staff’s approach to incorporating community feedback.

Staff said the outreach program began in July 2024 and that phase 3 generated demographic and location-based feedback; the presentation reported about 60,000 community contacts across the city and urban growth area. Staff described 37 proposed goal or policy updates resulting from phase 3: one minor goal adjustment, three new policies, a lengthy policy that was split into two, and roughly 32 minor wording changes. Officials said staff and the planning commission had reviewed the proposed edits and that some transportation language will be amended to reflect fresh feedback from TRPC (regional planning body).

Staff highlighted several recurring themes from outreach: housing and equity (with mixed community views), environmental protection and trees, multimodal transportation and pedestrian/bicycle connectivity (including concerns on Marvin Road), small-business economic development, and climate resiliency and public health.

Council and staff discussed possible zoning map changes. Staff said they are proposing consolidation of several zoning designations and anticipate a substantial number of rezones: “This will be probably in my history the largest number of rezone that we've done as and we'll be implementing as a result of a comp plan update,” a staff member said, and staff noted roughly 50 community-initiated rezone requests were reviewed and some carried forward for recommendation.

Staff also described a planned, searchable online comp‑plan site that will host the final plan and allow users to filter goals and policies by community priorities and element. The timeline that staff presented calls for TRPC certification, planning commission public hearings and a recommendation to council, followed by submittal to the state Department of Commerce. Staff said they are targeting a transition to Phase 4 and hoped to bring code and zoning amendments forward in late 2025 and into 2026.

Why it matters: The update will guide 20 years of land‑use, transportation and policy decisions and is expected to trigger zoning‑map consolidations and substantial code updates. Staff asked the council for guidance on outstanding items (for example, language on tree preservation vs. utility corridor protection and additional transportation language requested by TRPC). No final zoning changes or ordinances were adopted at the meeting.