Spokane Valley staff present land-capacity analysis; current zoning shows shortfall against state allocation

City planning staff presented a land-capacity analysis and the start of the comprehensive-plan update process to the Spokane Valley Planning Commission, describing the exercise required under the Washington Growth Management Act and the next steps for code and element updates.

The presenter (identified in the meeting as Tony) said the county-level population projection used in the analysis is from the Office of Financial Management and showed an estimated county population of roughly 255,000 by the 20-year horizon used for the comp plan. Staff reported Spokane Valley's assigned allocation from the county was approximately 21,000 people, and the city's housing allocation figure shown in the presentation was 16,661 housing units. Tony said the land-capacity methodology uses vacant and underutilized land, removes critical areas and land needed for public purposes, and applies a market factor to reflect parcels unlikely to be available during the planning period.

Under current zoning, staff reported the city has approximately 661 buildable residential acres that equate to about 6,000 housing units and capacity for roughly 14,000 residents. Tony said the discrepancy between the city's capacity under current zoning and the county-assigned allocation reflects assumptions in the Housing Action Planning Tool (HAPT) used in the analysis — including an "underproduction" adjustment and a portion allotted for houseless populations — and that more detailed analysis and policy choices will follow. He said the next steps include a public-participation plan, consultant deliverables, a climate impact analysis for the new climate/resiliency element, and code updates to implement statutory changes.

Why it matters: the Growth Management Act requires jurisdictions to demonstrate sufficient land capacity for housing and employment at the 20-year horizon; the commission will use this analysis to guide code changes and policy decisions that affect future zoning and development capacity. Commissioners raised questions about the methodology, unit-counting conventions (an apartment building with 100 units counts as 100 dwelling units), assumptions about household size (staff said they used 2.5 for single-family and 1.5 for multifamily in the preliminary analysis), and how county allocations were derived.

State deadlines and funding: staff reminded the commission of the statutory update deadline (June 30, 2026) and noted a bill in the legislature would extend the deadline by six months but would not extend state funding for the work; staff said meeting deadlines is important to preserve available funding. The presenter also flagged the required additions to the comp plan, including a climate-change and resiliency element and greenhouse-gas emissions accounting, plus integration with the State Environmental Policy Act review.

Next steps: staff said they will return with a deeper review of the HAPT outputs, consultant materials (public-participation plan and element drafts), and code updates. Commissioners requested more detail on the county allocation methodology and comparisons to previous plan cycles; staff agreed to follow up with additional analysis and to share interactive mapping tools (Valley Viewer) so commissioners can examine parcel-level data.