City staff outlines summer schedule for comprehensive-plan engagement, targeted town halls

Lisa Key, Community Development Department staff, told the Community Engagement Commission on May 21 that city planners are shifting into the public phase of the comprehensive-plan update and have a multi-month schedule of virtual and in-person outreach.

Key said the council and staff must balance state-mandated changes with locally shaped policy, and that the city received a legislative extension that moves the comprehensive-plan deadline to Dec. 31, 2026, while noting the housing-code work did not receive an extension.

The session laid out a calendar of engagement activities. Key said the city will run a sign-code virtual open house and visual-preferencing survey in the first two weeks of June, with planning-commission public hearings expected in August and a city-council review in September. Transportation staff will lead a virtual transportation network analysis town hall on June 12 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. via Zoom to share modeling and solicit feedback. Key also said the city has hired a consultant and that Jen Camp is the project manager for the Parks and Recreation master plan; that kickoff meeting was noted as occurring the following night.

Key described several targeted outreach elements staff plan to run this year: a housing-focused town hall in the fall, a climate virtual open house in mid-to-late June emphasizing wildfire preparedness and resiliency, and an energy-efficiency and green-energy town hall later in the fall aimed at building emissions and cost savings. She said the city will log each engagement activity, capture attendance, and use QR codes and ZenCity tools to gather feedback.

Key also explained trade-offs in engagement format. She said virtual formats were chosen for data-rich topics, including the transportation modeling and the climate story map, because participants can review interactive maps and scenarios over multiple days. For other issues, staff plan in-person booths at Farmers Market and targeted town halls where interactive activities ("dot" exercises, visual preference polling and simulations such as a "Housing Monopoly" exercise developed with consultant SCJ Alliance) can collect neighborhood-level input.

Commissioners asked about outreach breadth and target audiences. One commissioner suggested printed flyers or mailers; Key said mailings are expensive and recommended reserving a city-wide mailer for a later stage when a full working draft is available for review and commerce review is imminent. Commissioners also discussed coordination with utility and service providers; Key said staff are scheduling meetings with Avista, sewer and water purveyors, Liberty Lake Water and Sewer District, and Central Valley School District to assess capacity and capital needs tied to projected growth.

Ending: City staff asked commissioners to share ideas for additional engagement and to volunteer to staff upcoming outreach events. Staff emphasized that some plan elements are governed by state rules and that early, continuing engagement will inform the locally discretionary pieces of the plan.