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West Richland planning staff outline heavy 2025 workload, state-mandated periodic update and Lewis & Clark master plan
Summary
Community Development presented a prioritized 'parking lot' list and described state deadlines, grant funding and limited staff capacity. Council was told many nonfunded items will remain on hold while mandatory updates proceed.
At the Jan. 28 special workshop, Eric of West Richland’s Community Development department presented the department’s 2025 work plan and a status update of “parking lot” items, telling the City Council that state-mandated updates and a large master plan will drive staff priorities and that limited personnel will constrain other projects.
Eric said Washington’s periodic update process requires jurisdictions to revise their comprehensive plans roughly every eight years and to incorporate recent state legislation. “This year includes adding a climate element to the comprehensive plan,” Eric told the council, and West Richland has partnered with Pasco, Kennewick, Richland and Benton County for a regional approach.
Key mandatory changes Eric listed include a climate element, significant housing-element updates to address affordability and to allow a wider range of housing types (including multifamily in some residential areas and up to two accessory dwelling units per lot), and environmental-element revisions. Eric said these code changes will require “significant public outreach, feedback, and council discussion.” He emphasized deadlines tied to state review: the periodic update work is due to Commerce by June 2026.
The council also reviewed the Lewis & Clark master plan, which Eric said began in 2021 and includes analysis of water, sewer and transportation. A private property owner has funded the consultant for that master-plan work, and Eric said staff is aiming to finish the plan by October 2025 so development proposals can move forward.
Eric described available grant funding tied to the periodic update and the climate element. He said the city has roughly $500,000 in climate-related grant funds (the city’s portion of the regional award is about $100,000) and a separate periodic-update grant of about $125,000. Portions of the climate funding have been earmarked for implementation work, Eric said, and staff reallocated some funds to cover additional consultant support.
Staffing constraints were a recurring theme. Eric said his department lacks the staff levels typical for this scale of work: he named Roscoe and himself as the two planning staff currently available to handle permits and the periodic update. Several council members and staff noted prior requests for a senior planner had not been funded in prior budgets. “I don’t have staff to work on those,” Eric said, referring to the unfunded parking-lot items, and he warned that missed deadlines could halt grant-funded capital projects tied to other departments.
Council members asked clarifying questions about which parking-lot items are funded, the timeline for master-plan adoption, and whether the city could seek outside planning help. Eric confirmed that highlighted items on his slide are funded; other items are not funded and will remain lower priority. The mayor noted the list could be revisited during the 2026–27 budget cycle when council can consider adding staff or reprioritizing projects.
No formal motions were made. The council asked staff to distribute the slide deck and noted that, if additional staff or consultant support becomes available, some parking-lot items could be advanced. Eric said he has requested a senior planner in prior budget requests and that he will continue to press for resources to meet state deadlines and complete the Lewis & Clark master plan.
