Planning commission hears public input on capital facilities, utilities; continues housing action plan discussion

The Anacortes Planning Commission on Feb. 26 held a public hearing on proposed amendments to the capital facilities and utilities sections of the city’s 2025 comprehensive plan and continued work on the Housing Action Plan strategies, including recommended changes to housing types allowed in Old Town.

Planning manager Libby Grage told commissioners the amendments mostly reorganize and clarify existing language, update level-of-service standards for public facilities and utilities, and add a proposed funding-prioritization process to guide future capital decisions. "As a reminder, the capital facilities element identifies existing publicly owned facilities, current capital facility needs, future needs to serve the growth anticipated in the land use element, and how to fund them," Grage said.

Nut graf: The revisions being reviewed guide how the city plans water, sewer, stormwater, parks, public safety, transportation and utility services to serve anticipated growth and set priorities for scarce capital dollars; the same meeting also advanced discussion of specific housing code changes for Old Town that could alter what housing types are permitted there.

Most important facts first: Grage said the city is compiling the updated capital facilities and utilities elements with other plan elements and aims to have a complete draft available for public review in June. She described minor policy updates to the utilities element — including an update to reflect the current status of the city’s fiber network — and noted the 2021 comprehensive-plan docket included new recycling and composting policies that are also incorporated.

On outreach to utility providers, a commissioner asked whether telecom companies had resisted sharing operational details now that the city operates a broadband network. Grage said staff is "still in the process of reaching out to the different utility providers" and that, "so far, not that I'm aware of," the city has not experienced pushback.

The commission opened the public hearing but no members of the public testified in person or online; the hearing was closed. Grage said the information gathered at the hearing and prior sessions will inform edits to the goals and policies, and that staff is still completing companion background inventory and forecast information that will accompany the goals and policies.

Housing Action Plan discussion: Commissioners and staff continued reviewing a discussion draft of proposed code amendments to implement HAP recommendations. Grage said she had updated the draft to reflect prior meeting discussion and highlighted outstanding items. One area discussed at length was the Old Town designation: commissioners previously recommended that triplexes and townhouses be added as permitted uses in the Old Town zone, subject to alley-loading requirements and maximum unit sizes. Grage reported she reviewed the comprehensive-plan land-use element and found language saying "other dwelling types such as cottages, triplexes and town homes may be allowed under certain circumstances" in Old Town, and said the proposed development-regulation changes appear consistent with that guidance.

Several items remain open. Grage identified an added code section on development standards for service areas and mechanical equipment; she said that item had previously been omitted and is now included in the draft. She also said staff will return with a recommendation on open-space standards for supportive housing after reviewing "new guidance that came out from Commerce." The commission flagged a small list of other technical items to revisit at a future meeting.

Next steps: staff will collect the hearing record and other feedback, update the draft goals, policies and background materials, and return the revised sections to the Planning Commission for additional review and future public hearings. The department also plans a public open house on March 20 as part of the comprehensive-plan outreach.

Votes at a glance: At the start of the meeting commissioners voted to excuse two members. A motion to excuse Chairman Martin passed (motion and second on the record; vote recorded as "Aye" with no roll-call tally provided). A separate motion to excuse Commissioner McCombs likewise passed (motion and second on the record; vote recorded as "Aye" with no roll-call tally provided).