Liberty Lake staff seeks early public input on 20-year capital facilities plan

Lisa Key, a city staff presenter on the capital facilities plan, told the Community Engagement Commission on Aug. 20 that the city is starting earlier this year to solicit public input for the 2026–27 capital facilities planning cycle and to begin work toward a 20-year capital facilities plan that will feed into the 2026 comprehensive plan update.

Key said the city will hold an initial workshop with city council on Sept. 2 and that SEPA and public hearing notices must go out by Nov. 4, with a public hearing planned for Nov. 18 and tentative adoption on Dec. 2. She said the draft uses the adopted 2025–2030 capital facilities plan as a base and incorporates the 2026–2031 Transportation Improvement Plan for the transportation section. Key explained the plan uses construction- and equipment-specific inflation indexes (Mortenson construction cost index and a Bureau of Labor Statistics producer-price index series) and currently applies an assumed 5.8% annual inflation for future construction costs and a 5.3% annual rate for equipment pricing.

The staff presentation emphasized that red text in the draft indicates additions or changed years and that notes list whether a project has secured grant funding or is pursuing grants. Key said parks and public facilities remain less finalized pending results of the parks master plan and pavement/master-planning work, and that figures for proposed city hall renovations and a library option (option 2) are included based on current estimates from BCRA.

Commissioners and staff discussed how to present the plan to the public in plain terms, with one commissioner suggesting breaking the plan into familiar categories (transportation, parks, city facilities, equipment) and another proposing that commissioners serve as spokespeople for their areas of interest. Key asked the commission to consider supplying a working group (a steering committee) and to help spread awareness and engagement through community channels such as farmer’s market booths and neighborhood social media. She said staff will circulate the presentation and asked commissioners to email feedback and candidate names for the working group.

Why it matters: the comprehensive plan update due in 2026 will rely on a 20-year capital facilities plan to anticipate infrastructure needs as Liberty Lake grows. Staff framed the effort as “early and continuous engagement” so the city can prioritize projects, identify funding options and align capacity to deliver capital projects.

Key next steps: staff will finalize draft sections as master-plan inputs (parks, pavement, sidewalks, transportation network analysis) become available this fall; commissioners agreed to place “capital facilities plan engagement” on a future CEC agenda to return recommended outreach strategies and potential working-group members.