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Anacortes council advances Complete Streets code updates, asks staff to document exception decisions
Summary
Public Works Director Lee presented ordinance 5031 to update AMC 12.60.060 (Complete Streets). Councilmembers supported the update for grant competitiveness and ADA goals and agreed to add language requiring documentation when city engineers grant exceptions; the ordinance will return for a second reading.
The Anacortes City Council heard a presentation June 1 from Public Works Director Mr. Lee on Ordinance 5031, which would update AMC 12.60.060 to clarify the city's Complete Streets policy for city capital projects and align definitions with state guidance.
Mr. Lee told the council the revised code expands policy guidance and applicability, establishes formal exception criteria when a full Complete Streets buildout is not feasible, clarifies ADA and multimodal-safety references, and adds "shared-use path" language to address comments that trails should be recognized alongside sidewalks and bike facilities. Staff noted suggested edits from Evergreen Islands and recommended incorporating changes for the second reading.
Councilmembers focused on transparency and implementation details. Councilmember Fantini asked whether exception determinations by the city engineer would be publicly available; Mr. Lee said such determinations would likely be recorded as internal administrative notes as part of project files. Fantini and others suggested adding a requirement in the ordinance to document exceptions on the project page or in bid/design specifications so the public can see when and why a Complete Streets element was not built. "A great place to add that actually would be on the project page of the website," Fantini said; multiple members favored inserting documentation language into section 12.60.550 (exceptions).
Council also clarified the ordinance applies to city capital projects and grant-eligibility language (e.g., Transportation Improvement Board Complete Streets grants) and does not change private-development permit standards, which continue to follow existing frontage and cross-section rules.
There was council consensus to add documentation requirements for exceptions, incorporate other agreed edits, and return the ordinance for a second reading the following week. No final ordinance vote occurred at the meeting.
