Walnut Creek planning commissioners urge council to prioritize housing, office reuse, infrastructure and disaster resiliency

Walnut Creek Planning Commission members on an item focused on input for the City Council’s biennial priority-setting process recommended that council emphasize housing, reuse of underutilized office space, broader infrastructure needs and disaster resiliency while retaining attention to diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental sustainability. Erica Van de Brand, Community Development Director, told commissioners that the council’s next priority-setting meeting is scheduled for Feb. 11 and asked the commissioners to identify roughly three to five recommended priorities for the next two years.

The commissioners said the city has completed much of the initial work on several items but recommended shifting emphasis on how those programs are implemented. "This is your evening to be able to talk about and share information ... regarding upcoming priorities for the next two years," said Erica Van de Brand, Community Development Director, opening the discussion.

Why it matters: Council priorities guide the city’s budgeting and project planning for the next two years. The commission’s input will be summarized by staff and forwarded to the council as informal recommendations.

Commissioners debated the five areas that appear in the staff packet — diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); economic development and job creation; environmental sustainability and climate action; parks, facilities and other infrastructure; and public safety and social wellness — and identified additional cross-cutting concerns that they believe merit explicit emphasis.

DEI: Commissioners said the core DEI programs are in place…