Shelton council reviews draft comprehensive plan update, hears projections and timeline for adoption

Shelton City Council held a joint study session Aug. 12 to review a draft update to the city's comprehensive plan and heard an overview from consultant Kirsten Peterson of SCJ Alliance and city staff about population forecasts, state requirements and next steps toward adoption.

Peterson said the comprehensive plan is a 20-year blueprint for growth and that the draft packs updates required by state law, expanded economic-development analysis and merged material on the urban growth area into the land-use chapter. "A comprehensive plan is really a 20 year plan for growth," Peterson said while introducing the draft and the outreach the steering committee conducted.

The draft builds on work with Mason County and a subcontracted demographic analysis by FCS Group. The materials presented show a Shelton population of about 10,044 in 2022 and a planning-horizon estimate near 12,009 for 2044; staff and consultants reported a projected increase of roughly 7,401 residents in Shelton and its urban growth area over the next 20 years and an estimated need for about 2,872 housing units to accommodate that growth. Shelton and its UGA are projected to take about 41 percent of new countywide growth under the scenarios the city and county used.

Co…