College Place planners review public outreach and propose condensing 32 goals into thematic statements

College Place Planning Commission members received an update on the city's comprehensive plan periodic update and worked through findings from recent public outreach, including a public survey and an open house.

Angela Singleton, a public involvement specialist with JUB Engineers'linked consultant team, told the commission the survey ran Sept. 25 through Nov. 1 and drew 76 responses. "We had 76 responses on our public survey," she said, and described additional outreach at farmers markets, a public open house and targeted TAG (Technical Advisory Group) meetings.

Elizabeth Smith, lead planner and project manager for the update, walked commissioners through proposed next steps: condense the existing set of 32 goals into a smaller set of theme-based goal statements, migrate goals into appropriate plan elements, and return drafts to the TAG and commission for review before presentation to city council. Smith said the update process will continue through data refinement in early spring, with plan development next spring and a proposed Planning Commission and City Council review in fall 2026.

Commissioner comments focused on housing affordability, preserving College Place's small-town character, and whether the plan should explicitly call out specific assets. Commissioners asked about including large employers and Walla Walla University in outreach; staff said they had reached out to the university and could add additional interviews with major employers.

Specific issues discussed included: - Housing types and demand: the survey ranked single-family homes (including duplexes and manufactured homes) as the most desired, followed by multifamily options; commissioners debated preserving single-family neighborhoods while allowing higher-density housing to meet needs. - Infrastructure and services: the plan will address walkability, broadband and maintenance of city facilities as priorities that intersect with housing and economic goals. - Martin Airfield: staff described the airfield as a unique community asset with potential for light industrial or aviation-related uses; commissioners discussed whether to keep a Martin Airfield-specific goal or broaden it to "unique community assets" to preserve future grant opportunities.

Consultants and staff said no policy decisions or ordinance changes would be made at the workshop; instead the meeting served to collect commissioner feedback to refine goal statements and policies. The consultants asked commissioners to review the draft goals and to keep participating in TAG outreach; they noted additional TAG and public events will be scheduled before a draft plan is prepared for formal adoption steps.

The commission proceeded to other business after the workshop portion concluded.