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Committee reviews CPD draft 2026 work program; members push for study sessions on major priorities
Summary
Olympia staff presented the draft 2026 Community Planning & Economic Development work program, outlining staffing constraints and major projects including a Southeast UGA annexation placeholder, Plum Street rezoning/visioning, commercial parking code changes and housing-oriented items; council members asked for study sessions to set priorities.
City planning staff presented a draft 2026 work program for the Community Planning & Economic Development (CPD) department, highlighting capacity constraints and a list of long-range projects the department plans to advance next year.
Tim Smith, CPD director, said planning/permitting currently has about five full-time-equivalent staff and two long-range FTEs, and that staff capacity will shape what projects can be completed. "We currently have 5 staff or we call them full time equivalents," he said, and noted a recent position reduction has tightened capacity.
Smith described several priority projects: a placeholder for a Southeast urban growth area (UGA) annexation, rezoning and subarea planning for Plum Street/Eastside, elimination of commercial parking standards downtown, code changes to implement the comprehensive plan and updates tied to battery energy storage systems. He said the Southeast UGA annexation, if pursued, would require a multi-party interlocal agreement and could consume substantial staff time.
Jacinda Steltas of the housing division outlined housing-related work (manufactured-home-community preservation, a rent-to-own tenant-opportunity-to-purchase pilot, continued implementation of the housing action plan and affordable-housing incentives tied to the city's emergency declaration). She said those items may depend on state or grant funding and staff capacity.
Committee members asked staff for study sessions and briefings to set priorities. Council members requested that the full council be briefed on the Southeast UGA before staff makes major commitments and suggested early-year study sessions on downtown parking policy, vacancy strategies for housing and commercial property, land-banking for affordable housing, and whether visioning consultants are needed for the Plum Street focus area.
Tim Smith said staff would bring a more detailed work-plan schedule in January after the councils retreat; members suggested inviting planning-commission leadership to some discussions. The committee did not vote on the work plan at the meeting; members said they plan to finalize and approve the committees work plan at the next meeting in January.
