Liberty Lake council approves GHG subelement as working draft for state review

The Liberty Lake City Council voted to approve the greenhouse gas (GHG) subelement of the city's comprehensive plan as a working draft for submission to the Washington State Department of Commerce, with instructions for staff to add a table of the plan's emissions projections and an estimate for the cost of more frequent measurement.

The GHG subelement is a mandated portion of the comprehensive plan update required by state planning law and funded by a state grant. City planning staff said approving the draft for Commerce review keeps the city eligible for grant reimbursement and could secure Commerce support that would help defend the city against legal challenges to the element.

City planning staff member Lisa summarized the draft's purpose and process, saying the draft is intended "for planning purposes to allow us to submit it to Commerce for early review and hopefully preapproval." She told council members the inventory and methodology use a prescribed approach and that the city has received $245,000 in grant funds to date toward the climate planning effort. Lisa and a consultant, Beth, said the inventory is the most resource-intensive part of the study and must be repeated under Commerce guidance to measure progress.

Public commentators urged the council to approve the draft and to resist misinformation circulating on social media. Lynn Atkins, a Liberty Lake resident, said the draft "does not force any citizen into driving electric cars, giving up their existing appliances, or to stop eating meat," and described the GHG element as "a goal, not a mandate." Several other residents, including Kim Schmidt and Shelly Smith, also urged cautious, thorough planning while supporting adoption of the subelement as a working draft.

During deliberations councilmembers asked whether the draft included incremental targets, how frequently the city would measure progress and what costs might follow from any implementation steps. Lisa and consultant Beth said the document uses 2022 as the baseline and noted the requirement to reassess emissions in five years; they also offered to add the numeric projection data in tabular form and to provide an estimate of the cost to perform more frequent inventory updates if council wanted it. Mayor Pro Tem Cargill said she would vote against approving the draft without clearer cost estimates for implementation.

After discussion the council approved the working draft for submission to the Department of Commerce, with staff directed to add the requested emissions table and a cost estimate for more frequent measurement before submission. The council recorded the motion as approved by a tally reported in the meeting (yes: 5; no: 2). The staff presentation and the council's direction make clear that the vote authorized only the draft's submittal for state review; further policy decisions and any program funding would require later council action.

Council members and staff said submitting the draft to Commerce early should allow the city to receive formal feedback from the state agency and reduce the risk that the state would impose mandatory code changes on the city later. Lisa said Commerce preapproval also would provide the city a defense against potential legal challenges to the subelement.

The council's action does not itself adopt any new local requirements or force residents to change behavior; staff and the consultant repeatedly described the draft as a set of goals and policies that would underpin later implementation planning and possible future ordinances or budgets. The council directed staff in follow-up to: finalize the tabular emissions projections, provide an estimate of the cost to perform inventories more frequently than every five years, submit the subelement package to Commerce for review (target date staff identified: August 15), and return to the council with Commerce feedback and recommended edits as part of the comprehensive plan process.

The vote advances Liberty Lake's required comprehensive-plan work while keeping the door open for future, more detailed budget and program decisions by the council.