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Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission approves work plan, outlines housing and infrastructure priorities
Summary
At its Feb. 24 meeting the Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission accepted the Jan. 27 minutes, reviewed its 2025 work plan and annual report for presentation to City Council on March 13, and discussed required state-driven code updates including a June deadline for a housing action plan and an end-of-year update to the critical areas ordinance.
The Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission on Feb. 24 accepted its Jan. 27 meeting minutes and reviewed a 2025 work plan that centers on housing code updates, a housing action plan funded with ARPA money, required revisions to the city's critical areas ordinance and updates to the water and sewer comprehensive plans.
The Commission will present the work plan and the commission's annual report to Mountlake Terrace City Council at 7 p.m. on March 13 in Council Chambers; staff prepared a memo for Chair Batista to accompany that presentation. "A couple items that we need to take care of tonight is 1 is your work plan for this year," the department presenter said while outlining timelines and tasks for the year.
Why it matters: several of the commission's tasks are driven by state law and hard deadlines. Staff told the commission the housing action plan must be adopted by June and that the city has a required update to its critical areas provisions due by the end of the year. Those statutory and regulatory timelines will shape the commission's schedule for zoning and code amendments this year.
Key items and near-term schedule
- Housing action plan and middle-housing code updates: The city will use ARPA funds to produce a housing action plan that includes a development-feasibility analysis. Staff said the plan must be adopted by June; the middle-housing and related zoning amendments will be bundled with the housing action plan work. The commission is scheduled to see initial materials at its next meeting and a public work session on March 26. "We have to have this adopted in June of this year," staff said regarding the housing action plan.
- Critical areas ordinance: Staff reported an update of the city's critical areas protections (steep slopes, wetlands, habitat, floodplain, etc.) is required and under way with a consultant; staff anticipates bringing provisions to the commission with a goal of early fall adoption.
- Water and sewer comprehensive plan updates: Engineering and public works are working with consultants to update the city's water and sewer plans; staff said those updates will be presented to the commission tentatively in late 2025 and will move to council adoption in 2026. Commissioners pressed for the comp-plan updates to include analyses of infrastructure steps needed to meet future growth and upzoning scenarios.
- Subarea planning and zoning details: Commissioners asked staff to reexamine the city's subarea boundaries and consider smaller subareas or an "urban village" approach for commercial cores such as Cedar Plaza. Staff said reexamining subarea boundaries would likely be the first step before pursuing individual subarea work in late 2025 or 2026.
- Permitting timelines and Title 18.05: Staff noted recent state changes to permitting timelines that took effect Jan. 1 and said staff will review local code (chapter 18.05) this summer to evaluate options allowed by the legislation.
- Transportation and engineering standards: Commissioners asked that transportation master plan (TMP) priorities and street-design details be advanced sooner rather than later because street classifications and multimodal metrics will affect development. Staff said engineering and traffic staff are working on TMP-related updates and the engineering design manual and will report back on priorities.
- Outreach and stakeholder engagement: Consultants (Echo Northwest and Methune, per staff) will conduct roughly eight stakeholder interviews for the zoning portion of the housing work; staff said those interviews will include developers, community representatives and people who took part in the comprehensive-plan process. Commissioners asked whether planning commissioners could observe or submit questions; staff said they would request that commissioners be allowed to attend or to have their questions included in the interview materials.
Other meeting items
- Main Street Phase 2: Staff reported two open-house presentations for Main Street Phase 2, with roughly 75 participants at the recent public event; the project remains contingent on federal grant funding.
- Staffing: Staff said Sarah (recently promoted to senior planner) and other staff will lead portions of the code work. The department is recruiting for an associate planner and a permit specialist (front counter) and has scheduled interviews.
- Community Academy and outreach: Staff reminded commissioners that the Mountlake Terrace Community Academy begins March 5 and said planning staff will present at the session; commissioners were invited to attend.
- Resident concern: A commissioner raised a complaint about bright landscape lighting from a new residential development near Creekside Church that shines toward drivers; staff said it may fall under existing shielding and landscaping standards and that staff would look into it.
What was not decided: The meeting included policy discussion and direction but no formal votes on code amendments or subarea boundaries. The only formal action recorded in the meeting was acceptance of the Jan. 27 minutes.
Next steps and deadlines: Staff will present zoning materials to the commission at its next meeting (the presenter said the commission will see materials on March 10), hold a public work session March 26, and present the work plan and annual report to City Council on March 13. Staff emphasized the June adoption deadline for the housing action plan and the end-of-year deadline for critical areas updates.
