Lacey staff summarize public outreach for 2025 comprehensive‑plan update; transportation and connectivity top resident priorities

City planning staff on Feb. 4 briefed the Lacey City Council on community outreach completed to date for the 2025 comprehensive plan update, reporting results from events, interviews and an online survey that closed in December 2024.

Ryan Andrews, community planning manager, told council staff contact methods produced approximately 45,000 outreach touch points and about 400 completed online surveys. Andrews said in‑person engagement produced about 282 written comments. "The number one feedback that we got was related to transportation infrastructure and network connectivity, especially walkability," he said. The next most common topics were public health, safety and social services; affordable housing and housing choice; sustainability and environmental conservation; community identity, amenities and recreation; and economic growth and local businesses.

Andrews summarized outreach techniques: visioning sessions held in early 2024, attendance at community events (South Sound Barbecue Festival through a December holiday market), targeted business outreach with 32 interviews, and tenant/renter outreach that included visits to 32 multifamily complexes. The planning team also purchased targeted social‑media boosts to reach potential renters and offered surveys in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

As part of an interactive “geo‑budgeting” exercise, participants placed map pins where they would prefer 8,250 new homes and roughly 9,000 new jobs to be located over the next 20 years. Andrews said responses clustered around the Quil Ceda Village/near‑Queen area, the Woodland District (Exit 111/auto‑retail area), South College/Yelm Highway and parts of the urban growth area; respondents also placed pins on undeveloped parcels such as Woodland Creek wetland edges on aerial imagery.

Andrews said survey respondents generally matched Lacey’s demographic profile: roughly 88 percent of respondents lived in Lacey; 77 percent identified as white; 7.2 percent Hispanic/Latinx; 6.8 percent Asian; and 5 percent Black/African American. Median respondent age was 35–49 and median household income range $100,000–$149,000. The staff noted that renters were underrepresented in the initial responses but that targeted outreach raised renter responses to about 19 percent of the survey sample.

Andrews said the city will hold a public open house Feb. 12 from 6–8 p.m. in council chambers to present future‑land‑use map alternatives and draft goals and policies. He told council that the comprehensive plan process will continue through phased engagement this spring, with draft elements returned to council and the Planning Commission concurrently and a final plan anticipated later in 2025.

Why it matters: The comprehensive plan sets long‑range policy and a future‑land‑use framework that will guide rezonings and code implementation. Andrews cautioned that implementation (development‑regulation changes) would follow the plan and likely extend into 2026 because of the scope of work and staff capacity. The council’s joint work session with the Planning Commission next week will begin detailed review of land‑use alternatives, the transportation element, the housing element and the climate/resiliency element.

"We started with visioning sessions, and now we're moving into the draft plan phase," Andrews said. "This will set the stage for the next several years of work."