Planning Commission backs expanded downtown color palette, schedules public hearing

The Snoqualmie Planning Commission voted to send a proposal to expand the city's downtown exterior-paint palette to a public hearing, after hearing public comment from a local business owner and a technical presentation from King County preservation staff.

Ashley, owner of June and Jem Ceramics, told the commission she wants more color choices available to business owners. "Right now... you got these groups that you have options to choose from, but they're pretty limited... it's a lot of gray and brown and beige," Ashley said during public comment. She asked the commission to allow additional muted colors for storefronts and trim.

King County landmarks staff had told the commission that paint color decisions are often administrative and that paint is a reversible, non‑structural change — but that the commission should be cautious about painting historic substrates such as previously unpainted brick. Sarah Steen, King County landmarks coordinator, said the office generally favors incentive-based approaches and an administrative path for paint decisions to avoid subjective commission-level debates.

City staff presented three options: keep the current four-option palette; allow mixing of the current palette; or expand the palette by adding 24 Sherwin-Williams historic color references (the "Orting" set) and permit mix-and-match. Staff recommended not allowing black as a building's primary color. After discussion, the commission voted to send the expanded-palette proposal (staff's third option) to public hearing and instructed staff to advertise and solicit downtown business outreach. The commission also asked staff to draft accompanying guidelines (for example, no neon colors and limits for main building color) that the Planning Commission will refine after hearing public comments.

Planning staff said the public hearing will be noticed in the newspaper and distributed to downtown businesses and the city's communications channels; the public hearing is expected at the next meeting on May 19. Staff added that individual landmark properties and contributing buildings in the designated landmark district may remain under the Snoqualmie Landmarks Commission review path to preserve eligibility for county and state preservation incentives, while noncontributing buildings in overlay zones could be covered by an administrative color palette.

The commission's motion to proceed to public hearing passed by voice vote; commissioners instructed staff to include both the Sherwin-Williams-derived expanded palette and a guideline-based approach for administrative review in the public materials.