Council begins review of draft climate element; members press for clearer targets, costs and tree strategy

The Lacey City Council held a work session April 15 to review draft goals and policies for a new climate element of the city’s comprehensive plan. Staff described two required subelements — a greenhouse-gas (mitigation) subelement and a climate-resiliency (adaptation) subelement — and asked council for policy direction before the next drafts.

"This is going to be the first of three sessions," planner Ryan told the council, outlining the schedule of upcoming work sessions on the comprehensive plan. Staff said the draft follows state Growth Management Act updates and Department of Commerce guidance and uses 2022 as the baseline year for greenhouse-gas inventory work.

The draft resilience framework presented to council contains a dozen high-level goals, including outreach and education, community leadership, resilient land use, nature-based resilience, a thriving urban forest and accessible shelters or "resiliency hubs" for extreme-heat, wildfire smoke and…