Chehalis City staff on June 30 led a two-hour workshop to brief the mayor and council on the periodic comprehensive plan update the city must adopt this year under state law.

The draft plan covers required elements — land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, utilities — and optional chapters such as parks and historic preservation. Kirsten (planning staff) told the council the update is a 20-year guide that “gives the community the opportunity to ... talk about what kind of growth they wanna see and where.”

Why it matters: State law places Chehalis on a mandated update schedule this cycle; the city must complete the process by the end of 2025. The council’s direction now will shape mandatory next steps: the Planning Commission review, revision, submission to the Washington State Department of Commerce for a 60-day review, a SEPA (environmental) review, a Planning Commission hearing, then council hearing(s) and two readings before final adoption.

Staff summarized the sequence and timing. “After you take a look ... we submit this to commerce for a 60 day review, then it goes out for SEPA,” staff said, adding the typical path then returns to Planning Commission for a hearing before the council holds its readings. Staff noted the target for final adoption is in the October–November timeframe.

The draft includes both narrative background and data-driven inventories for each chapter. Kirsten said staff compiled utility and capital-facilities data to estimate future needs and to test whether the city has the land capacity to meet the state’s population allocations. She described the update as a working draft: changes are expected as the Planning Commission, Commerce, SEPA and public hearings produce feedback.

Several council members and attendees pressed staff about the plan’s tone and how strongly it should reflect local priorities versus state mandates. One council member said the draft’s description of state oversight was “poppycock” and questioned the document’s claim that the Growth Management Act reduces infrastructure costs. Kirsten replied that the council can change the language to emphasize local priorities while still meeting statutory requirements.

Staff also reminded council that development regulations (zoning code and critical areas ordinance) are developed in conjunction with the comprehensive plan but follow a separate process and separate timeline. Kristen (planning staff) said the city is already working on critical-areas updates and that related development-code work will come later.

Next steps and public engagement: staff said Planning Commission review of individual plan elements is complete, the department will circulate a change summary to the council, and public hearings will follow Commerce and SEPA review. Staff noted that public attendance at Planning Commission workshops has been limited to date and encouraged broader outreach for the formal hearings.

The workshop closed with staff offering to make the edits requested by the council and to circulate revised materials before the formal review steps. With no further comments, the mayor adjourned the special meeting.