Council reviews Commerce-requested edits to comprehensive plan; racial-disparate-impact language draws objection

Senior Planner Farnsworth briefed the council on proposed amendments to Buckley's comprehensive plan requested by the Washington State Department of Commerce and the Puget Sound Regional Council to meet checklist compliance.

Farnsworth said the requested changes are relatively minor and mostly "checking some boxes that they like to see in these plans," explaining the Department of Commerce had submitted comments and the city did not receive an appeal within the deadline. He recommended adopting the small edits "rather than fighting that fight," saying it would be cleaner to come into compliance now.

That recommendation prompted a sharp response from Councilmember Smith, who said she had seen no community complaints of racial exclusion and objected to the wording. "This is bending the knee to the progressive agenda. And I'll be a no vote on this update to the comprehensive plan," Smith said. Farnsworth and the city administrator replied that Commerce's checklist flagged a potential risk area based on AMI (area median income) metrics and that the city's main identified risk was the mobile-home park, which the Department of Commerce singled out as at risk of displacement.

Staff said the edits chiefly reference an appendix (Exhibit B) documenting historic policies elsewhere in Washington and the plan's acknowledgement of risk; they described the changes as administrative steps to secure compliance with state checklist requirements and avoid repeated back-and-forth with the Department of Commerce on future amendments.

Council did not adopt the amendments at the study session; staff will proceed through the formal amendment and public-notice process. The planner noted the changes could be revisited in future amendments if state checklist requirements change.