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Lakewood planning commission reviews 24-item amendment package, staff recommends approval of 11
Summary
Planning staff presented a 24-item comprehensive-plan amendment docket including state-law compliance updates (lot splits, parking, energy standards), park-zone consolidation and several items recommended for continuation; commissioners scheduled a public hearing for June 17.
The Lakewood Planning Commission on June 3 reviewed a 24-item package of proposed comprehensive-plan and code amendments and heard staff recommendations ahead of a public hearing set for June 17.
Tiffany Spear, planning and public works department staff, told the commission the docket grew to 24 items after an added parks request and a withdrawn private rezone. “There are 11 amendments that the planning and public works department is recommending to approve,” Spear said, and outlined changes required by state law and local corrections.
Key state-driven items include a new administrative lot split process (new chapter 17.25) to allow staff to approve divisions of single residential lots; code changes to permit exterior insulation and other energy-efficient wall and roof assemblies; a reduction in the historic-landmark age threshold from 50 to 40 years; and revisions to minimum parking standards under the Growth Management Act. Spear summarized the parking changes this way: the city “no longer can require more than 0.5 parking spaces per multifamily unit or more than 1 space per single family home,” and commercial parking is capped at two spaces per 1,000 square feet.
Spear also presented non-substantive corrections (for example, replacing “Pierce County Transit” where the plan mistakenly used “Pierce Transit”), and a parks proposal to consolidate two park land-use zones into a single open-space-and-recreation zone so maps and allowable uses are consistent across City parks. Staff said two Edgewater Park rezones included in the packet (a redesignation and a rezoning of 9132 Edgewater Drive SW from residential to park to improve water access) would be unnecessary if the commission adopts the single park zone.
Spear said several docket items require no action because the city already implemented the changes during its recent periodic review; others are being recommended for continuation to next year while the state issues additional guidance (notably transit-oriented housing) or staff completes outreach (for example, food-truck siting and preapproved ADU designs).
The commission did not vote on any amendments at the meeting; staff reminded members that the public hearing is scheduled for June 17 and that action would likely follow at the July 1 meeting unless commissioners request further study or amendments.
