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Lake Forest Park wins $500,000 state grant to add climate element to comprehensive plan
Summary
The committee was briefed on a $500,000 Washington State Climate Commitment Act award to fund a climate element for the city's comprehensive plan, the consultant leading the work and an accelerated public outreach schedule with a survey and three targeted focus groups.
Nani, a committee member, said the city was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Washington State Climate Commitment Act to create a climate element for the comprehensive plan and hired Cascadia Consulting Group to help complete the work.
The funding will support a climate policy advisory process that aims to fold greenhouse-gas reduction goals and resilience measures into the city's long-range plan. "The city got awarded a half million dollar grant to complete this climate element for the comprehensive plan," Nani said during the meeting.
The grant-backed project is intended to produce a standalone climate element and policy changes across the comprehensive plan. Committee members were told Cascadia Consulting Group has completed a policy audit, a climate-impact summary memorandum and preliminary analyses including vehicle-miles-traveled and a travel-market assessment to understand local trip patterns.
Why it matters: the climate element is the city's mechanism for setting 10-to-20-year growth, transportation and emissions priorities. The committee emphasized that the product should both reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and improve local resilience to climate hazards.
Committee members described the outreach plan: a community survey (committee members said the survey was live and emphasized an April 10 deadline), three targeted focus groups (including youth outreach likely via the Interact club), and open-house events. The consultant also plans a larger report that will include vehicle-miles-traveled data, trip-length and trip-purpose information to inform transportation-related policies.
Members noted initial findings showing emissions reductions tied to increasing electric-vehicle use and aircraft efficiency, while stressing local policy must focus on changes the city can influence.
Nani and Sarah (committee members) said they represent the Climate Action Committee on the advisory team working with Cascadia. The team expects the consultant's materials to be finalized and returned to the city and committees on a compressed timeline, with the committee's portion of the process aimed to be completed by June.
Next steps identified at the meeting: promote the survey to residents, participate in planned focus groups, and review Cascadia's draft reports when released. Committee members also discussed how the climate element should link to community projects such as the planned climate hub and local community-science mapping proposals.
Committee members encouraged colleagues to share the city project webpage and survey link widely so the consultant can capture local priorities before the report is finalized.
