College Place planning commission recommends countywide planning policies for city council ratification

The College Place Planning Commission voted Jan. 21 to recommend that the City Council ratify the final draft of updated countywide planning policies, advancing a document that staff say will guide future comprehensive-plan amendments across Walla Walla County.

The recommendation moves the draft to the city council, which must decide whether to ratify the county commissioners’ Dec. 23, 2024 action to forward the document; if ratified by the cities, the county commission will consider final adoption. “We have 90 days to ratify the board of county commissioners’ actions,” City staff member John Rickard said during the meeting.

Why it matters: the countywide planning policies set a shared framework for how Walla Walla County and its cities allocate growth and amend comprehensive plans under the state Growth Management Act. Commissioners discussed the document’s history, the creation of an advisory group to keep the policy current, and the next steps in the multi-step approval process.

At the meeting Rickard summarized the process work to date, saying the original countywide planning policies dated to the 1990s and that jurisdictions jointly hired a consultant and formed a technical advisory committee. He said the TAC unanimously recommended the draft to the county commissioners and that the county sent the draft to the cities for ratification. “Part of it is creation of an advisory group that’ll make sure that the contents of the documents stay up to date,” Rickard said, describing the committee’s role in developing methodologies for distributing urban growth area allocations.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about legal requirements and timing. Commissioner Claudia Santillano asked whether the advisory group was part of the document; Rickard confirmed it was and explained the group would help determine growth allocations and other methodologies early in the comprehensive-plan process. Commissioner questions also focused on how often the countywide policies must be updated and whether the policies are required by the Growth Management Act; Rickard and commissioners characterized the policies as a framework that helps jurisdictions meet statutory comprehensive-plan requirements.

A formal motion to “affirm the efforts of the PMT and recommend the final draft be presented to the city council for ratification” was made by Commissioner Claudia Santillano and seconded; the commission carried the motion. Commissioner Santillano moved the recommendation and Commissioner Angie Peters seconded the motion as recorded in the meeting; Ian Jean also indicated a second during roll. The commission chair declared the motion carried and recommended the draft be forwarded to the City Council.

Next steps: the Planning Commission’s recommendation will be presented to the College Place City Council, which must adopt a resolution to ratify or reject the county commissioners’ action; if the council rejects the draft, the council must provide written reasons and those would go back to the county commissioners. The county remains the adopting authority for the countywide planning policies. The meeting record shows the county commissioners voted unanimously Dec. 23, 2024, to send the final draft to the cities for ratification and that cities have 90 days to act.

The commission’s discussion included process details about an implementation/advisory committee, and commissioners requested more details before final council consideration; staff offered to provide documents to new commissioners and to follow up with materials and links.