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Commission reviews comprehensive plan draft and staff updates county docket for urban growth area proposals
Summary
Consultants reviewed the draft comprehensive plan update elements, new climate and resiliency requirements, and schedule for public review; staff reported county staff recommended denial of some UGA expansion applications and outlined next steps including technical exhibits and legal representation.
Consultants Elizabeth Smith and Derek Brotten presented a draft update to College Place’s comprehensive plan at the April 21 Planning Commission meeting, walking commissioners through the project timeline, chapter structure and state‑required updates including a new climate change and resiliency element.
Smith said the update combines required elements — land use, housing, transportation, capital facilities, utilities — with optional elements such as parks and historic preservation into a single consolidated document. “This document will be one comprehensive document. You won't have to go to other studies... everything is going to be included in the comprehensive plan,” Smith said. She noted the draft adds element‑specific goals and policies and incorporates recent Washington state law changes.
Derek Brotten summarized the housing chapter and state‑required policies addressing displacement risk, zoning barriers and anti‑displacement strategies. Commissioners discussed several technical clarifications — for example, a suggestion to revise a transportation paragraph about Martin Airfield’s urban growth area status and a grammatical fix in the historic inventory paragraph — and staff said they would collect comments and update the draft.
Smith and Brotten described the public engagement schedule: a community block‑party review on May 17 and a requested planning commission comment deadline of April 28 to submit redlines for incorporation into the next draft. Staff emphasized that the climate and resiliency element is being developed in parallel and that additional comments will appear in future drafts.
Later in the meeting staff updated the commission on comprehensive plan amendment applications to expand or reallocate urban growth area (UGA) boundaries. City staff reported the county docket process is underway and that county staff and their consultant recommended denial of the city's UGA expansion applications while recommending one swap application move forward. The city plans to submit technical utility and transportation exhibits next week, has hired legal counsel for the county hearing, and continues one‑on‑one briefings with county commissioners ahead of the docket hearing scheduled for the 30th.
Staff said property owners in the proposed swap area were notified and town‑staff have had no substantive objections reported to date. Commissioners were invited to request individual briefings on the UGA materials if they wanted more background before the docket hearing.
Next steps for the comp plan update are incorporation of commission comments, community outreach at the May 17 event, a revised draft in summer and formal adoption steps in the fall, with staff continuing to coordinate county interactions related to UGA applications.
