Planning commission reviews draft economic development goals; discusses creative district, microenterprises and tourism

The Anacortes Planning Commission discussed draft 2025 Comprehensive Plan amendments to the economic development element at its May 14 meeting, with staff and consultants outlining proposed changes to goals and policies and commissioners raising questions about wording, scope and implementation.

Commissioners said the update matters because it would guide city support for small businesses, arts and culture, visitor-serving lodging and incentives that affect land use, public funding applications and future development regulation. Staff said the changes are intended to make the goals more actionable and to fold a catch-all “other growth” goal into more focused goals on a balanced economy, retail/commercial, tourism and industry clusters.

John Coleman, director of the Planning, Community and Economic Development Department, introduced the item and told the commission, “Tonight we're gonna be talking about the economic development element goals and policies,” and said the city had recently received about $108,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the current cycle; staff noted that reference to microenterprise incubator space in the plan helps the city…