Yelm staff previews comprehensive-plan draft, schedules public open house and outlines annexation steps

City staff told the Yelm Planning Commission on Tuesday that the draft comprehensive plan has expanded substantially from the prior plan and that staff will hold an open house and a public hearing on the update in the coming months.

A staff presenter said the new draft is about 111 pages, roughly double the 50-page previous plan, and includes new chapters on transportation, housing and climate. "The plan itself is a little over twice as long as our previous plan, which was about 50 pages, and this is right now at a 111," the presenter said.

Staff said they will schedule an open house at the community center (staff proposed moving the meeting time to 6 p.m. to increase public accessibility). The open house would feature chapter-specific stations where residents can review draft material and speak with the consultant team and staff. The presenter proposed a hearing on the comprehensive plan in December; however, staff also said that the city is pursuing an annexation that the current draft assumes has occurred.

"The jurisdictions are supposed to have their comp plans adopted by their council by December 30," the staff presenter said, noting that Yelm had sent the draft to the Washington State Department of Commerce for the required 60-day consistency review. Staff told commissioners they prefer to complete the annexation process before final adoption so the plan's land-use and housing capacity analyses match the city's final boundaries.

Staff described the annexation pathway as an "interlocal agreement" method with Thurston County that requires both jurisdictions to hold hearings and then for the county to schedule the agreement before its board. Staff said once the county approves the interlocal agreement and the city ordinance for annexation is adopted, a Boundary Review Board 45-day review period would follow before the annexation becomes final; staff estimated council consideration of annexation could occur in January with comp-plan adoption to follow six weeks afterward.

On outreach metrics, staff reported that a Facebook post promoting the plan received about 4,000 views and 66 visits to the plan page on the city website; 14 people had completed a transportation survey the consultant is compiling. The presenter also described a plan to mail information to property owners in the proposed annexation area, including an FAQ and a sign-up listserv for updates.

The commission discussed public awareness and asked staff to include annexation materials at the open house if timing allows. Staff said they will mail notices to property owners in the annexation area well before council action and will host an open house for those residents.

Ending: Staff will circulate a redline/list-of-changes document to commissioners and continue to schedule the open house and the public hearing; commissioners were asked to submit edits by a target date so changes can be incorporated into the packet for the hearing.