McCall launches city-focused comprehensive plan update, highlights award-winning climate plan

The McCall City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission on the morning of the November workshop convened to kick off a city-focused update to the city’s comprehensive plan, launch an interactive project-and-metrics exercise for elected officials and staff, and announce that McCall’s Rooted and Resilience climate action plan received the John Keller Planning Initiative Honor Award.

Michelle Brunvelt, the city’s community and economic development director, opened the session and read the award citation: "the rooted and resilience plan is a community centered and community-driven climate action plan," noting the plan’s broad local participation — reviewers cited more than 2,000 survey responses in a city of about 4,000 residents. Brunvelt told the council the award recognizes the plan’s connectivity to local culture, history and existing initiatives.

Consultants running the session described a reversed approach to the update: instead of starting with abstract vision statements, the team asked officials to propose concrete projects and at least one metric per topic the city could track. The team outlined a schedule that keeps the comprehensive plan work coordinated with a transportation master plan and design guidelines, with large-scale public outreach events planned over the coming year and an anticipated adoption next summer.

Council members and planning commissioners used a round-robin exercise to highlight recent successes and surface priorities. Council Member Ly Nelson pointed to health and education partnerships and said "the community raised $5 million" for a local health facility as an example of partner success; Nelson also called out the city library’s growth, saying the library "has literally doubled the amount of kids and and users." Several members identified the streets local-option tax renewal as a major implementation success that enables integrated project delivery.

Participants repeatedly raised sewer capacity as a constraint on future development, with several officials noting that large projects are queued until sewer issues are resolved. Commissioners and council members also flagged the need for a proactive sidewalk program, downtown parking solutions, and policies to encourage infill housing that supports year-round residents rather than second-home ownership.

Commissioner Liz Rock urged stronger city involvement in wildfire preparedness, pressing for defensible-space practices, fire-resistant building materials and evacuation-route planning: "where I live, it's not if, it's when," she said. Other suggestions from the exercise included a multi-story downtown parking structure, paid parking with local validation, interpretive downtown signage tied to stewardship messages, light industrial reuse of the concrete-plant site, cycle tracks and year-round bike infrastructure.

Consultants emphasized measurable tracking: officials were asked to nominate at least one project and one indicator (for example, units of local housing or parking capacity) so staff and elected leaders can monitor progress and adapt priorities. The consultants also said they will prepare a "report card" summarizing achievements from the 2018 plan and use that audit to inform recommended actions in the new plan.

Staff noted outreach plans will be mixed (events, boards in public meetings, online questionnaires) and emphasized a locally focused engagement strategy that will still welcome input from second homeowners and visitors. The team encouraged council and commissioners to forward additional ideas by email and to sign up for a project newsletter and engagement list.

The meeting included routine actions: council approval of the meeting agenda early in the session and a motion to adjourn at the close of the workshop. The city staff will summarize today’s input for the public engagement materials and bring recommended next steps to future sessions.