Anacortes Planning Commission holds public hearing on capital facilities and utilities updates to 2025 comprehensive plan

Anacortes Planning Commission members opened a public hearing Feb. 26 on proposed amendments to the capital facilities and utilities sections of the city’s 2025 comprehensive plan and heard a presentation from planning staff. The hearing was informational only; no formal recommendations or decisions were made and no members of the public spoke.

Planning manager Libby Grange told commissioners the capital facilities chapter identifies existing publicly owned facilities, current capital needs and future needs to serve growth anticipated in the land‑use element, as well as options for funding those improvements. “Capital facilities in the city of Anacortes include water systems, stormwater, sewer, parks and recreation, police and fire protection facilities and services and transportation,” she said.

Grange said proposed edits are largely organizational with targeted updates to level‑of‑service standards and a new proposed funding‑prioritization process and criteria to guide future capital spending. On the utilities element, Grange said staff is compiling background inventory information supplied by utility providers and making minor policy updates, including a revision to reflect the current status of the city’s fiber network and a 2021 docket item proposing new policies to increase recycling and composting.

Staff outlined the project schedule: a Climate Team meeting is scheduled for the next day at 6 p.m., the commission will focus on parks and recreation in March, and the city plans a public open house on March 20. Grange said staff’s goal remains to compile all elements into a fully integrated draft comprehensive plan for public review in June.

Acting chair opened the hearing for public comment and reported no in‑person or online speakers; the commission officially closed the hearing later in the meeting. Grange said staff will gather the comments heard at this and prior meetings, update the goals, policies and supporting background materials as needed, and return the revised sections to the commission for further review and future public hearings.

Next steps: staff will continue outreach to utility providers to collect operational and planning information, complete background inventories for both chapters and present revised text at a future meeting ahead of the June public‑review milestone.