Airway Heights council transmits land-capacity analysis showing a shortfall in housing capacity

Planning Director Ethel Troutman briefed the Airway Heights City Council on a land-capacity analysis the city must submit as part of a 2026 comprehensive plan periodic update and asked the chair to sign a letter transmitting the report to the county steering committee.

Troutman said the state and county assigned the city an additional 6,665 people between 2023 and 2046 and a housing assignment of just under 4,000 units. “The conclusion based on the available land, including the application of our pending missing middle housing, indicates that we have a unit capacity of about 1,644 and a population of about 4,176,” Troutman said. She told the council the estimate uses the city’s average household-size assumptions and peer review from adjacent planning departments.

Why it matters: the analysis identifies a gap between the assigned housing target and what the city’s current land-use capacity would yield. Troutman said the transmittal is a formal, early step in the state-mandated update process and that other jurisdictions in the county are sending similar materials to the steering committee of elected officials.

The presentation outlined the data the city used and the next procedural steps: transmit the report, engage in the steering-committee review, incorporate feedback, and use the analysis to inform the 2026 comprehensive-plan amendments. Troutman described the report as “high level” and said peer reviewers found it suitable to move forward, while noting that staff will continue work to reconcile persons-per-household figures and housing projections.

The council voted unanimously to authorize the chair to sign the transmittal letter and send the analysis to the steering committee. Council action clears the report to enter interjurisdictional review; any zoning or policy changes to add capacity would come later in the periodic-update process.