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Planning commission hears land-capacity analysis, staff reports $162,500 in planning grants
Summary
City planning staff reported delivery of draft grant deliverables and $162,500 in grant awards, and presented a land-capacity analysis showing Medical Lake can accommodate roughly 293 new housing units (about 744 people) — more than the county's 20-year allocation of 244 people.
Medical Lake planning staff told the Planning Commission on July 26 that the city submitted required deliverables for two planning grants and received $162,500 in awards, and presented a land-capacity analysis concluding the city has room for roughly 293 additional housing units, which the staff estimated translates to about 744 people.
City planning staff member Sunny Weathers said the city "delivered on time all of our climate resilience deliverables" and that "we received the money this week," identifying a $100,000 award for climate resilience work and a $62,500 periodic-update grant, plus an additional $62,500 that will be disbursed over the next two years as part of the periodic update program.
The land-capacity analysis, also presented by staff, follows county methodology and removed public land and built-out parcels before analyzing vacant, partially utilized and underutilized parcels for realistic capacity. "After applying the county's market factor of 30 percent," staff said, the final calculation produced capacity for an estimated 293 housing units, which the presenter multiplied by the state Office of Financial Management household-size figure (2.54) to estimate 744 people. The county's population-allocation process, staff said, gave Medical Lake an expected 20-year growth allocation of 244 people.
Staff emphasized that institutional population counts and past anomalies in state counting affected the county allocation. The presenter said state-owned land comprises a large portion of city acreage and that the state reported no plans in its current five-year program to add institutional capacity.
Commissioners discussed water and sewer capacity: staff said sewer capacity was adequate for projected growth and that water supply was "pretty tight" historically but that available water rights and an existing intertie with Spokane were used during the Grama fire response. Commissioners asked follow-up questions about the intertie and about next steps for the comprehensive-plan periodic update; staff said the city will continue public outreach and review for urban growth-area (UGA) adjustments, including potential UGA reductions north of Fox Hollow and study of land between the city and Silver Lake for infrastructure support.
No formal commission action was taken on the analysis; the presentation item was for information and to inform upcoming comprehensive-plan work.
The commission also agreed to continue public outreach and to bring survey and public-input results into the next phases of the periodic update work.
