Anacortes planning commission recommends council adopt updated comprehensive plan, future land use changes

The Anacortes Planning Commission voted Sept. 24 to recommend that the City Council adopt the periodic update to the comprehensive plan, including revisions to Volume 2 (background data and analysis) and eight proposed future land use map amendments, with staff-recommended edits and an added glossary. The motion passed on a 5–0 vote and will be forwarded to the council for consideration.

Why it matters: The periodic comprehensive plan update (2025–2045) contains the policy and background framework the city will use to guide land use, housing, transportation and public facilities for the next 20 years. Volume 2 provides the data, inventories and analysis that support the plan’s goals and policies; changes to the future land use map (FLUM) set expectations for how specific parcels may be rezoned or developed in the future, and therefore shape possible projects, public investments and permitting outcomes.

Planning staff led the presentation. Libby Grage, planning manager with the Planning, Community and Economic Development department, told commissioners that Volume 2 had been updated primarily to refresh data and figures, to add required Growth Management Act (GMA) context and to ensure statutory compliance. “The draft plan has two volumes, volume 1 and volume 2,” Grage said as she summarized the background-element updates and the staff recommendation to open a continued public hearing and take testimony.

Transportation analysis and multimodal requirements were highlighted by…