Duval planners preview updated comprehensive plan, public resources and outreach
Loading...
Summary
Senior planner Naomi Montez De Oca walked new commissioners through Duval's periodic comprehensive plan update, highlighted QR-linked resources and a pilot podcast, and used a role-play to show how state, county and regional rules affect local implementation.
Senior Planner Naomi Montez De Oca told the Planning Commission on Jan. 14 that Duval recently completed a two-year periodic update of its comprehensive plan and provided commissioners with an overview of the plan's elements, online resources and outreach tools.
"We just finished updating the comprehensive plan. It took 2 years to do," Naomi Montez De Oca said, describing the document's elements — land use, housing, parks and open space, transportation, capital facilities and the environment — and the suite of QR-code resources staff prepared so commissioners and the public can quickly access element summaries and supporting materials. She said staff produced a short audio "podcast" introduction to help residents and decision makers absorb the plan without reading the entire document.
During a role-play demonstration, Montez De Oca walked commissioners through how state agencies, King County, regional councils and local staff interact when a new state rule requires a municipal change, using an imagined electric-bicycle rule to illustrate outreach, interagency review, drafting, public notice and city council action. The exercise aimed to clarify the many stakeholders and workload implications when higher-level rules require local code changes.
Why it matters: Commissioners are the gatekeepers for the city's comprehensive plan and make recommendations to the council on policy and code changes that flow from the plan. Montez De Oca noted some plan-adjacent items will require further code updates and follow-up (for example, critical areas, sign code and other compliance items).
Next steps: staff will continue targeted briefings for commissioners and circulate reference materials and the training packet ahead of future hearings and code amendments.
