Anacortes council continues comp plan and development-regulations review; public comment window set through Dec. 11

The Anacortes City Council continued multi-week review of the draft comprehensive plan and companion development regulations at its Nov. 24 meeting, focusing on transportation policies, small duplex zoning, design standards and police staffing metrics. Planning Director John Coleman opened the discussion and said staff would publish the council—s requested changes on Wednesday, open a public-comment period that closes Dec. 11, and seek final council action at the Dec. 15 meeting.

Councilmember Walters asked whether a provision that would have treated West 2nd Street like an alternate arterial had been addressed. Consultant Chris Como recommended removing the arterial language (policy T0.19/T1.9(d)), saying the street is residential and the original text appeared to be a remnant of a past policy. "My recommendation is to simply strike it from the overall policy," Como said; council agreed to the edit.

The council and consultants also discussed Kansas Avenue, which staff said is on the city—s 2026'031 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and cannot be functionally classified as an arterial until the roadway is constructed. Staff proposed a policy (T0.28) directing the city to work with SCOG and WSDOT to obtain federal functional-classification approval so that state and federal grants could be pursued for multimodal improvements.

On walkways, staff proposed exploring a fee-in-lieu-of-construction program for sidewalks to allow the city to complete sidewalk gaps by collecting fees when on-site construction is impracticable. Councilmembers emphasized the program should avoid double-collection where impact fees apply and said prioritization would likely focus on arterials and other high-priority locations.

Council also debated the level-of-service (LOS) standards in the capital facilities plan and the police-staffing ratio included in the plan. Staff said the police chief recommended a target of 1.83 officers per 1,000 residents as the goal tied to a recent levy-lid lift; other council members urged flexibility, noting funding and scheduling constraints and suggesting metrics tied to call volume or response times. Staff pointed out that police protection is listed as a concurrency service in the development code (Title 19) and that concurrency can be satisfied with improvements or financial commitments within a six-year window.

On development-regulation specifics, staff introduced a new table row to separately identify "small duplex" lot-size minimums and added a 1,400-square-foot gross floor area cap per unit for small duplexes (the council had debated whether to set a lower figure). Council discussion centered on appropriate lot minima in different zones (R2, R2A, R3) and whether to adopt the planning commission—s more restrictive recommendations; the council favored retaining allowances in more zones while keeping R3 minimum lots at 4,500 square feet.

Staff presented façade-length and stepback drawings to clarify a 25-foot requirement and the bonus-density stepback standard (an 8-foot stepback across 75% of the façade, with alternatives). Staff said planning-committee discussions had generally resolved questions but offered to provide more detail if council requested it.

Coleman closed the item by reiterating the timeline: changes will be posted Wednesday, the public-comment period closes Dec. 11, staff will compile comments and provide them to council, and the council may consider final adoption Dec. 15.