Tumwater reviews draft climate element, highlights state targets and local health disparities

City staff presented the Tumwater City Council with a draft update to the comprehensive plan’s climate element during the July 22 work session, outlining state requirements for greenhouse gas reduction and resilience planning and summarizing public feedback and a Climate Policy Advisory Team prioritization. Alyssa, city planning staff, led the presentation.

The draft addresses two state-required subelements. "We need to have overall greenhouse gas emissions, generated by land use and transportation, lowered to be consistent with Washington state statewide target of net 0 emissions by 2050," Alyssa said, describing the greenhouse gas emissions reduction subelement. She added that the plan must reduce per-capita vehicle miles traveled "without exporting that outside of our jurisdiction boundaries" and prioritize reductions that benefit overburdened communities.

The resilience subelement must "address natural hazards created or aggravated by climate change, including sea level rise, landslides, flooding, drought, heat, smoke, wildfire," Alyssa said, and must identify and protect natural areas and community systems to foster climate resilience.

Why it matters: the draft ties climate mitigation goals to local public-health and environmental-justice concerns. Using the Washington Health Disparities Index, staff told the council Tumwater ranks 8 out of 10 for diesel exhaust PM2.5 exposure (a likely effect of I‑5 bisecting the city), has a higher adult asthma rate in parts of Thurston County relative to the state average and ranks 10 out of 10 for proximity to a Superfund site. Alyssa said one western Tumwater census tract ranks high on disability, cancer deaths, cardiovascular deaths and premature mortality. "We do have health concerns related to air quality that we do need to work on and will have productive co‑benefits from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled," she said.

Staff described community outreach used to develop the draft: an in‑person open house, an online open house with the same materials and questions, tabling at the Tumwater Library and at Mountain View Church food‑bank satellite locations, presentations to community organizations, and a public comment period. Staff recorded comments in a public register that notes whether feedback was incorporated and includes staff responses; some requests could not be incorporated because they conflicted with state requirements, the presentation said.

The Climate Policy Advisory Team (CPAT), formed per Department of Commerce guidance and notable for including community members rather than only staff, helped develop a prioritization schema for the draft implementation actions in Appendix A. Alyssa said the draft lists more than 200 actions — many in the resilience subelement — and CPAT prioritized actions into categories including "highest impact climate actions," "easy wins," "future proofing for everyone," short‑term equity actions ("everyday concerns") and longer‑term measures ("building longevity"). She noted an updated version that reflects final CPAT priority icons would be posted around July 25.

Council members thanked staff and asked about file availability; staff said the updated draft is posted to the city’s file sharing and that staff are available for individual follow‑up meetings. No formal council action or vote occurred on the element during the work session; staff sought feedback and outlined next steps for public comment and final edits.

Next steps: staff will continue to refine Appendix A priority markings and accept public comment as the draft moves toward adoption processes required to satisfy state climate planning requirements.