College Place council ratifies Walla Walla Countywide planning policy updates

The College Place City Council on Jan. 28 ratified updates to the Walla Walla Countywide Planning Policies, a document the city says is required under the state Growth Management Act and intended to coordinate county and city planning work.

City planner John Rickard, who represented College Place on the project management team, told the council the update modernizes a document that dates to 1993 and had only been revised once in 2005. Rickard said the revisions focus on shared principles for urban growth areas, consistent land-capacity analysis and new state-driven housing requirements that require planning for multiple income bands, including extremely low- and very-low-income households.

Why it matters: Countywide planning policies (CPPs) guide how cities and the county align comprehensive plans, capital facilities planning and development regulations. Rickard said the update is intended to produce a shared methodology for population allocation, employment projections and buildable-land analysis that jurisdictions will use as they revise their comprehensive plans in 2026.

Council discussion focused on process and implementation. Rickard and City Administrator Mike Rositello said a project management team and a new Walla Walla County Growth Management Advisory Council coordinated the work; their group included representatives from College Place, Walla Walla, Waitsburg, Prescott and the county. The council heard that the advisory council will have three members from each jurisdiction and an alternate, and that staff would continue work on land-capacity methodology and population allocation.

Council members asked about dispute-resolution provisions and whether the updated methodology prevents the types of disagreements that previously went to the Growth Management Hearings Board. Rickard said the updated CPPs include guidance on methodology and a small section on resolving differences, which he said should reduce disputes by specifying the "nuts and bolts" of agreed methodologies. Several council members praised the multi-jurisdictional process and said they appreciated that the draft had been revisited across many meetings.

The council voted to ratify the CPP updates and to support adoption of the 2024 updates by the Walla Walla County Board of Commissioners; no amendments were made during the council vote.

Looking ahead: College Place staff said the city will use the CPPs and state-provided population projections to complete its 2026 comprehensive-plan update and associated development-regulation changes, including new work on planning for multiple housing income bands and potentially higher densities inside existing urban limits.