Shelton council hears comprehensive plan draft; staff to start 60-day state review
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Summary
City staff and consultants presented draft updates to Shelton's comprehensive plan covering land use, housing, transportation, climate resiliency and parks. Council was asked to authorize a 60-day Department of Commerce review and environmental scoping; formal adoption is anticipated after public comments, likely in January.
City of Shelton staff and consultants on Tuesday presented a near-complete draft of the city’s comprehensive plan update and asked the City Council to authorize the start of formal state and environmental reviews.
Interim economic development director Jason Doz and Kirsten Peterson, project manager with SDJ Alliance, walked council members through proposed changes including higher residential density allowances in residential and mixed-use areas, return of a multifamily land-use designation, new “residential target areas” and a regional retail overlay for highway commercial corridors. Doz told the council the package is intended to align local policy with recent state housing and planning laws and to set the stage for follow-on zoning and development-regulation changes.
The draft includes required elements for land use and housing and updates to the capital facilities, transportation and climate-resilience chapters. “We are proposing to bring back the multifamily zone,” Doz said, explaining the change would make it easier for existing multifamily properties to expand without the planned-unit-development process. Peterson noted state requirements that led to several changes: “Comp plans have to be updated every 10 years,” she said, and the plan must address recent legislation on housing, tribal consultation and climate planning.
Why it matters: The plan sets policy direction used later to change zoning and regulations. Several proposals — allowing more accessory dwelling units (ADUs), permitting duplexes/triplexes more widely, creating multifamily tax-exemption target areas and increasing mixed-use density — would be implemented through separate code updates after plan adoption. Those follow-on zoning changes could affect housing supply, development costs and infrastructure needs across Shelton.
Key details and next steps - State review and environmental scoping: Staff asked the council to authorize initiating a Department of Commerce 60-day review (a Notice of Intent to Adopt) and to proceed with environmental review scoping (the draft anticipates using SEPA procedures and an EIS where needed). Doz said beginning those reviews does not bind the council to final adoption but will bring state agencies, tribes and other reviewers into the process. - Timing: Staff reported they expect to receive comments and revise the draft; adoption is anticipated after the review and public hearings and was described as likely in January, but Doz cautioned that schedule is fluid. - Growth assumptions and allocations: The draft applies the required population and housing projections. Peterson said Shelton would receive about 41% of the countywide housing-unit allocation in the methodology used for this plan, and staff concluded the urban growth area (UGA) currently contains sufficient land for projected growth. - Housing and incentives: The draft adds “residential target areas” where a future multifamily tax-exemption ordinance could apply. Peterson described typical state timelines and implementation: an 8-year tax exemption for market-rate multifamily and 12 years for projects meeting affordable-housing thresholds, noting state approval and county implementation are required. - ADUs and middle housing: Staff discussed recent state laws affecting ADU rules (removal of some local owner-occupancy and parking requirements was mentioned as a state trend) and new tools such as unit-lot subdivisions to enable ownership of small-lot units. Doz said the city currently permits few ADUs (permitted ADUs were described as “less than 10” in recent years) but that code changes could ease construction of additional units. - Transportation and infrastructure: The transportation chapter uses a regional travel-demand model and identifies needs including the Wallace Neland interchange and several city/UGA corridors (Johns Prairie Road, Olympic Heights area, Paris Boulevard extension, etc.). Staff said the city’s adopted intersection level-of-service standards would not change in the draft (LOS D generally; Wallace Neland described as LOS E in the current standard). The draft includes candidate intersection and corridor studies and notes coordination with WSDOT and Thurston Regional Planning Council. - Climate resilience and shoreline: The draft adds a climate-resilience chapter to map hazards and vulnerabilities (flooding, wildfire and extreme heat were emphasized) and to align climate goals with infrastructure, housing and emergency planning. Shoreline policies retain existing goals by reference to the city’s shoreline master program; staff said some policies were moved between chapters for clarity but were not removed. - Parks, public facilities and redevelopment: The draft identifies public-institutional and medical/educational designations and suggests overlay zones to facilitate redevelopment of public facilities while maintaining design standards. Peterson and councilors discussed using public facilities districts and other funding strategies for regional amenities, and staff indicated existing PROS (parks, recreation, open space) and capital-facilities plans would be referenced. - Brownfields and UGA constraints: Councilors and staff discussed UGA parcels with pollution histories (C Street, Ashland/Lincoln’s Lake areas) and the possibility of pursuing brownfields grants or phased cleanup before residential use.
What council asked and what remains unresolved Council did not take a formal vote during the study session. Staff asked for direction to start the Department of Commerce 60-day review and to proceed with environmental scoping; Doz said that request will be brought formally to the council at the next regular meeting. Multiple council members and staff flagged topics that will need more detail in later drafts or in code revisions: specific design standards for higher-density development, how multifamily overlays will be applied, parking and infrastructure implications for infill, and financing strategies for regional parks and public facilities. Staff also committed to further edits after agency, tribal and state comments and to bring a final draft for public hearing and adoption.
Taken together, the draft is intended to meet state statutory requirements, identify where zoning and code changes will be needed to comply with recent housing legislation, and prioritize transportation and climate resilience projects. Council members asked staff to return with the formal request to initiate the Commerce review and with clarifications on the multifamily-target-area process, ADU implementation, and funding options for regional facilities.
Ending: Staff encouraged further public review during the upcoming 60-day state review and said they would return with a formal request to start that process at the next council meeting; adoption will follow public hearings and revisions once state and agency comments are resolved.
